0FFICIAL PLAN AND ZONING BY-LAW AMENDMENT APPLICATION

RUTLEDGE DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION SOUTHWEST CORNER OF

EGLINTON AVENUE WEST AND BLACK CREEK DRIVE

Ward 27 - York- Humber

Director of Community Planning, West District

(June 3, 1999)

Purpose:

To consider a site specific proposal for an amendment to the City of York Official Plan and to Zoning By-law 1-83, with respect to lands located on the south west corner of Eglinton Avenue West and Black Creek Drive. Rutledge Development Corporation has requested the amendments to permit the development of a retail project consisting of a supermarket and a future one-storey commercial building generating a total gross floor area of 9 300 m² (100,000 sq. ft.). The application is premised on the applicant assembling additional lands owned by the Ministry of Transportation and exchanging lands with the City to create the proposed development parcel.

Funding Sources, Financial Implications and Impact Statement:

City funding is not required. There are no impacts on capital or operating budgets.

Recommendation:

It is recommended that:

1.The application submitted by Rutledge Development Corporation to amend the City of York Official Plan (Sections 21.8J(1b(i)) and 21.8M(2)) and Zoning By-law 1-83 (Section16(336)) to permit a retail development be approved, subject to the holding of a Public Meeting to obtain the views of interested parties and the conditions outlined in this report; and,

2.Prior to the enactment of an amending by-law, satisfactory comments from the Works and Emergency Services Department shall be received.

Background

The subject lands are located within the York City Centre Plan area and are designated City Centre Mixed Use (Exhibit No. 1). Council for the former City of York adopted the York City Centre Plan (OPA 98) in 1989. The Plan encourages the development of a civic/corporate centre with a multi-dimensional, mixed-use character and a variety of high density uses established around a transportation gateway facility comprising a rapid transit line, Go station and bus terminal.

The subject lands were zoned City Centre Mixed Use with a holding provision (CCM-H) in 1993, in accordance with an application made by the former owners of the site, Dumez Real Estate North America Inc. (DRENA). The DRENA application contemplated a high density, high rise development containing two office buildings, high rise residential apartment development and retail development at grade, all centered around a transportation node. The site specific By-law [Section16(336)] which implemented the application as proposed allows for mixed use development containing a maximum of 7 500 m² of retail floor area, 850 residential units, 87 500 m² of office floor area and 11 613 m² of institutional floor area, all arranged in accordance with certain block configurations and specific development provisions. The type and amount of development permitted in the first phase is also specified. With the decline in the economy and the cancellation of the Eglinton Rapid Transit Line in the early 1990's, the DRENA application was never pursued and the site has remained vacant.

The current project is also premised on the applicant assembling additional lands owned by the Ministry of Transportation and exchanging lands with the City to create the development blocks shown in Exhibit No. 2. The proposed land exchange would provide the City with a 0.9 hectare (2.2ac.) parcel of land for a potential future transportation facility possibly containing a GO station, and facilities ancillary to the future York City Centre Subway station, including a bus terminal. On March2, 1999, Council adopted a report from the Commissioner of Corporate Services, authorizing staff to proceed with negotiations to formalize terms and conditions for the exchange of lands, subject to a future report back to Council, among other matters (Exhibit No. 3). Issues with regard to the land exchange, road closures and the creation and retention of an appropriate parcel of land for a future transportation facility will be addressed through the Corporate Services Committee, prior to Council.

Site Description and Surrounding Uses

The lands located at the southwest quadrant of Eglinton Avenue East and Black Creek Drive are vacant, relatively flat and slope down to the east towards Black Creek (Exhibit No. 1). The site is well treed around the perimeter, primarily on the public boulevard. In the past, the lands have been used as a quarry pit, a land fill site and construction storage yard.

Lands at the northeast and southeast quadrants of Eglinton Avenue and Black Creek are owned by the Province (Ministry of Transportation (MTO)) and are primarily zoned Green Open Space (G) except for a small area zoned Prestige Employment Zone. These lands are currently being utilized as part of the valley land park system. The lands at the northwest corner of the intersection are primarily owned by Kodak, except for a small area owned by the City, and are zoned strategic industrial employment zone (SI) and Prestige Employment Zone (PE). Much of these lands are occupied by the Kodak manufacturing and office facility with the exception of a vacant area which runs along the west side of Black Creek Drive (Exhibit No. 1).

Proposal:

The applicant's first application which was received on January 28, 1999, consisted of a Zoning Amendment application for a mixed use project containing retail uses and residential uses (155 units). More recently the applicant has revised the application to remove the proposed residential component. In the revised application, the applicant is requesting amendments to the Official Plan and Zoning By-law to permit a 9 300 m² (100,000 sq. ft.) retail development. The retail project would contain a Loblaws supermarket with a gross floor area of approximately 8 500 m² (91,500sq.ft.) (Exhibit No 4). Such a store typically consists of approximately 7 500m² (81000sq.ft.) of grade related food and commercial floor space, and 1 000 m² (11,000 sq. ft.) of mezzanine floor space which could contain staff rooms, office space, meeting rooms/community rooms and non-food retail area. A new Loblaws store often provides the following kinds of commercial services: a photo lab, bakery, wine sales, restaurant, bank and banking machine, travel agency, book and video sales, laundry and dry cleaning depot. The proposal also includes a request for a future one-storey commercial building with a maximum size of 800m² (8,600sq. ft.) which could be located at the south end of the site abutting Photography Drive.

Based on the most recently revised site plan, dated May 24, 1999, the supermarket is proposed to be located at the rear edge of the site, parallel to Photography Drive, with the store front well setback from the Eglinton/Black Creek intersection. Loading and servicing functions are proposed at the north side of the building. The parking area would be located primarily to the front of the building facing Eglinton Avenue West and Black Creek Drive and would contain 458 parking spaces. Access to the site would be provided from four driveways; one off Black Creek, two off Photography Drive, and one off Eglinton Avenue West. It should be noted that the northerly driveway which provides access from both Eglinton Avenue West and Photography Drive, would be contained on City owned land.

Landscaping is proposed around the perimeter of the property, along the main internal driveways and within the parking area.

Exhibit No. 1 is a map showing the location of the subject property. Exhibit No. 2 is a reduction of the proposed Block Plan. Exhibit No. 4 is a photo-reduction of the applicant's site plan. An elevation of the proposed front façade of the supermarket is attached as Exhibit No. 5.

The following table is a summary of additional information that is relevant to the subject application and obtained from the above-noted site plan.