Zoning Amendment Application UDZ-98-06 -
Liberty Walk Developments Inc. -
760 Lawrence Avenue West -
North York Spadina
The North York Community Council, after considering the deputations and based on the findings of fact,
conclusions and recommendations contained in the following report (January4, 1999) from the Director,
Community Planning, North District, and for the reasons that the proposal is an appropriate use of lands,
recommends that the application submitted by Liberty Walk Developments Inc. regarding Zoning Amendment
Application for 760Lawrence Avenue West, be approved, subject to the conditions outlined in the referenced report:
The North York Community Council reports having held a statutory public meeting on January20, 1999, with appropriate
notice of this meeting, in accordance with the Planning Act.
The North York Community Council submits the following report (January 4, 1999) from the Director, Community
Planning, North District:
Purpose:
The purpose of this report is to recommend a zoning by-law amendment for 760 Lawrence Avenue West to permit a
condominium development consisting of 245 four storey townhouse units at 760Lawrence Avenue West. The subject
property is vacant and is currently being used for parking by employees of the adjacent office building to the east (Bank of
Commerce).
Recommendations:
It is recommended that this application be approved subject to the following conditions:
(1)the M1 zoning of the property be amended to RM1 (28), with the following provisions:
Permitted Uses:
(a)the permitted uses shall be multiple attached dwellings and live\work uses;
Definitions:
(b)for the purpose of this exception, "Live\Work Uses" are defined as personal service shops, studios, custom workshops
making articles or products to be sold at retail on the premises and business and professional offices that:
(i)are located within the multiple attached dwelling units that front onto Lawrence Avenue West and the use is directly
accessible from the front exterior;
(ii)occupy not more than 50 percent of the total gross floor area of the dwelling unit;
(iii)are conducted only by a member or members of the household who reside in the dwelling unit which is their principle
residence; and
(iv)for the purpose of this exception, "Lower Floor" is defined as being the floor below the first floor which measured at
the front yard setback is less than 25 per cent below established grade;
Exception Regulations:
(c)the maximum number of dwelling units shall be 245;
(d)the maximum permitted gross floor area shall be 21,900 square metres for all uses.
(e)the minimum yard setbacks shall generally be as set out in Schedule "C".
(f)building height:
(i)the maximum building height shall be 4 storeys and 12 metres, provided that the height of any part of the building or
structure including mechanical structures shall not exceed the horizontal distance between that part of the building and the
rear property line; and
(ii)the maximum building height may be increased an additional 2.85 metres for stair enclosures to the roof top terraces
only;
(g)parking:
(i)There shall be a minimum of 1.5 parking spaces provided for each dwelling unit, of which 0.25 spaces per dwelling unit
shall be for the use of visitors.
(ii)There shall be no additional parking requirement for the home business use.
(h)the provisions of Section 15 and 16 relating to Landscaping, Lot Area, Street Frontage, Lot Coverage and Floor Area
shall not apply; and
(i)the provisions of this exception shall apply collectively to the lands zoned RM1(28) notwithstanding their future
severance, partition or division for any purpose;
(2)prior to enactment of the zoning by-law, the Director, Community Planning, North District shall have granted site plan
approval generally as described in the site plan considerations attached as Appendix "A" to this report;
(3)the applicant shall submit a Record of Site Condition, acknowledged by the Ministry of Environment prior, to the
issuance of any building permits;
(4)the western portion of the private road shall be 7.5 metres and no parking shall be permitted. The remaining portion of
the private road shall comply with the North District's Public Roads Policy which requires a minimum pavement width of
8.5 metres, 6 metres for municipal vehicles and 2.5 metres for visitor parking spaces; and
(5)the applicant shall enter into an undertaking to ensure that the project is owned or intended to be operated by a single
entity, such as a condominium corporation, in accordance with City policy.
Background:
History:
In 1994 North York Council approved a similar residential rezoning application (UDZ-93-01) to permit a townhouse
development with ground floor commercial uses in the building fronting onto Lawrence Avenue West. The application was
not finalized (760 Lawrence Avenue West Limited) and the zoning by-law was not enacted. The current application
represents a similar built form and density as the previous application.
Proposal:
The applicant proposes the construction of 245 four storey condominium townhouse units as shown on Schedule "C". The
building along the Lawrence Avenue West frontage is proposed to contain live\work uses within the residential units which
have separate entrances onto Lawrence Avenue. The pertinent statistics of the current proposal are as follows:
Lot Area |
1.66 hectares (4.1 acres) |
Proposed Gross Floor Area
- residential
- live\work uses
Total Gross Floor Area |
21,000mē
876mē
21,879mē |
Proposed Floor Space Index (F.S.I.) |
1.3 |
Proposed Parking
- at grade visitor spaces
- underground visitor spaces
- underground resident spaces
Total Number of Parking Spaces |
31 spaces
30 spaces
306 spaces
367 spaces |
Total Number of Dwelling Units |
245 |
Official Plan:
The site is designated as an Arterial Corridor Area (ACA) which permits a mixture of residential and commercial uses
generally up to a Floor Space Index of 2.0. The lands are also subject to Specific Development Policy C.9.8 which permits
residential uses to a maximum of 148 units per hectare. The proposal is for residential uses having a maximum of 147 units
per hectare. No Official Plan amendment is required.
The industrial study (OPA 443) amends the Official Plan to include the subject property in the Yorkdale Residential
Community and the new industrial by-laws amend Schedule "Q" of the By-law No. 7625 to include the area in the
Mulholland Neighbourhood.
Zoning By-law:
The property is zoned Industrial Zone One (M1) permitting primarily employment uses. A zoning by-law amendment is
required to permit the proposed townhouses. The Official Plan designation and zoning of this site and surrounding land
uses are shown on Schedules "A" and "B".
Comments:
Other Department Comments:
The following section summarizes the comments received from the departments and agencies circulated.
The Transportation Services Division of the Works and Emergency Services Department advise they concur with the
findings of the traffic impact study submitted by Entra Consultant's Inc., which concludes the traffic generated by the
proposed development will have minimal impact on the adjacent intersections and can be satisfactorily accommodated by
the surrounding road network. They also advise that a parking ratio of 1.5 spaces per dwelling unit, of which 0.25 spaces
would be for use by visitors, is acceptable for this development. The Departments comments are attached as Schedule "G".
Technical Services of the Works and Emergency Services Department have no objections to the proposal subject to the
conditions outlined in their comments attached to this report as Schedule "H". They advise that the equivalent population
increase generated by this development will result in an equal decrease in the interim trunk capacity available to other
developments on the Don Trunk Sanitary Sewer Area. Issues relating to Solid Waste and Recycling Collection, Service
Connections and the condition of the soil will be finalized prior to the applicant receiving Site Plan Approval. Garbage
storage areas, mechanical and electrical rooms will be accommodated within the underground parking structure.
They also advise that the applicant must comply with the North District's Public Works Policy which requires a minimum
pavement width of 8.5 metres on private roads.
The Parks and Recreation Division comments are attached as Schedule "I". They advise the applicant will be subject to a 2
percent commercial and 5 percent residential cash-in-lieu of parkland dedication payment payable at the time of building
permit application. Given this proposal is for a multi unit residential development, they encourage the applicant to provide
a pre-school play area and a multi-purpose sports pad in the outdoor amenity areas. The applicant supports this initiative
and will be submitting detailed plans at the site plan stage for the proposed outdoor amenity areas.
The subject lands fall within the South Bathurst Park Planning Area which has a surplus of 1.36 hectares of parkland and
are within the Yorkdale Residential Community which has a parkland surplus of 1.58 hectares.
The Toronto District School Board has advised that the schools designated to accommodate students emanating from the
proposed development are Flemington Public School, Lawrence Heights Middle School and Bathurst Heights Secondary
School. The anticipated number of students emanating from the proposed development can be accommodated at
Flemington Public School and Bathurst Heights Secondary School. The Toronto District School Board may be required to
make alternative accommodation arrangements for some or all of the students once the schools reach their maximum
capacity. They also advise that the anticipated student yield from the proposed development can not be accommodated at
Lawrence Heights Middle School and alternative accommodation arrangements will be required for these students. Their
comments are attached as Schedule "J".
The Toronto Catholic School Board has indicated that children emanating from the proposed development can be
accommodated in permanent facilities at St. Charles Catholic School and Marshall McLuhan Catholic Secondary School.
Their comments are attached as Schedule "K".
Community Consultation:
A community meeting was held on January 28, 1998, with the local councillors and a number of land owners from the area
in attendance. Issues such as traffic, parking, garbage collection and storage, setbacks, building height and landscaping
were discussed at the meeting. Attached as Schedule "F" is a summary of the comments made at the community meeting.
The issues raised by the community have been specifically addressed in the following discussion.
Discussion:
Arterial Corridor Areas:
Lands which fall within the Arterial Corridor Areas (ACA) of the Official Plan are intended as potential areas of
reurbanization. For lots with a frontage of greater than 30 metres, the ACA designation permits redevelopment generally to
a Floor Space Index of 2.0. In addition, the ACA policies encourage a mix of residential and commercial uses along the
major arterial road to establish a vibrant and interesting frontage which contributes to the animation of the street.
The residential proposal, at a density of 1.3 F.S.I. meets the ACA policies. The live\work uses proposed along the
Lawrence Avenue frontage are consistent with the intent of providing a mix of uses along the major arterial road to
promote a vibrant, interesting and active street-front. The applicant has brought the building fronting onto Lawrence
Avenue as far forward as possible and the home business uses are directly accessible from the front exterior to further
promote a pedestrian friendly environment and enhance the street relationship.
Redevelopment on lands designated ACA shall also have regard to the housing objectives established in Part C.4 of the
Official Plan. The proposed development generally meets the criteria for new housing. Therefore, issues relating to built
form and zoning, parking and traffic and urban design considerations become key in our evaluation of this proposal.
Built Form and Zoning:
Building Height
The height of new buildings in ACA areas shall generally be from three to six storeys. In any event, the height of no part of
a building shall exceed the horizontal distance separating that part of the building from the nearest residential property line
that coincides with the boundary of the Arterial Corridor Area. The proposed 4 storey buildings have a maximum height of
12 metres. There are terraces proposed for the upper units of this development which are accessed by stairs to the roof. The
stair enclosures add an additional 2.85 metres to the height of the building. The proposal conforms with the building height
and angular plan policies of the Official Plan. Elevation drawings for this proposal are shown on Schedules "D1" and "D2".
Some of the live\work units have stairs leading to the lower floor level with separate street entrances directly from
Lawrence Avenue. In order to ensure the entrances remain visible from the Lawrence Avenue frontage, it is recommended
that the lower floor be no more than 25 per cent below established grade.
The height of the proposed buildings, especially along the northern portion of the site, adjacent to the single family
dwellings was an issue raised by the residents. At the north end of the subject property there is a substantial increase in the
grade elevation between the subject lands and the houses on Dane Street. The grade difference between the two properties
results in the townhouses having a comparable height with the existing homes to the north which minimizes the impacts of
overview and shadowing from the new development.
Setbacks
The proposed setbacks are generally shown on Schedule "C". The building along Lawrence Avenue has a front yard
setback of 4.5 metres to create a street oriented development at this site. The most northerly building is setback 18 metres
from the rear property line. Under the previous application a rear yard setback of 7.5 metres was proposed. The additional
rear yard setback proposed under the current application provides for a greater buffer between the townhomes and adjacent
homes that front onto Dane Street, which further mitigates the impacts of new development on surrounding land uses. The
side yard setbacks and the distance between buildings (16 metres for the most part) reflect the nature of redevelopment
opportunities along this portion of Lawrence Avenue and are generally consistent with the RM1 provisions of the zoning
by-law. The RM1 exception zone will specifically address the performance standards for this site.
Parking, Traffic and Private Roads:
Parking
The zoning by-law requires parking for townhouse developments to be provided at a rate of 1.75 spaces per dwelling unit,
of which 0.25 spaces are to be for the use of visitors. Under the by-law, a total of 428 parking spaces are required for this
development. A parking assessment was submitted by the applicant's consultant suggesting that this location is served by a
high level of surface transit and is in close proximity to the Lawrence Avenue West subway station which will result in a
higher transit modal split for the owners of the townhouse units. The study concludes that a lower parking rate should apply
to this development.
The Transportation Services Division of the Works and Emergency Department have reviewed the consultant's reports and
determined that a reduced parking ratio of 1.5 spaces per dwelling unit would be appropriate for this development, of which
0.25 spaces per dwelling unit must be allocated for visitors. A total of 367 spaces are proposed, 61 visitor parking spaces
(31 at grade and 30 below grade) and 306 below grade resident spaces which satisfies the requirements of the
Transportation Division. A gate with card access will separate the below grade resident parking from the below grade
visitor parking areas. Refer to Schedule "E" for the underground parking layout.
Additional parking will not be required for the home business uses fronting onto Lawrence Avenue given that the visitor
parking demand associated with the home business uses will occur primarily during the day time when most of the visitor
parking spaces for the townhouse units will be available.
Dufferin Street and Lawrence Avenue Intersection
The subject site is one of five properties located on the north side of Lawrence Avenue West, between Dufferin Street and
Blossomfield Road, which have high density residential use permission in the Official Plan. It is anticipated that the Bank
of Commerce office complex, located to the east of the subject property, will remain for some time. The remaining
properties to the west of the subject site have potential for redevelopment. The previous planning report had suggested
possible road improvements, if determined to be necessary, to accommodate the future redevelopment of these lands.
As part of the comprehensive transportation review of this application, a Traffic Impact study was submitted and reviewed
by the Transportation Division. It concluded that the traffic generated by the proposed development will have minimal
impact on the adjacent intersections and can be satisfactorily accommodated by the existing surrounding road network. The
Transportation Division concurs with these findings.
Public Roads Policy
The Public Roads Policy for the north district requires a minimum pavement width of 8.5 metres on private roads to ensure
sufficient traffic flow for emergency vehicles and municipal garbage pick-up trucks while allowing for tenant and visitor
parking along the same road (6 metres for municipal vehicles and 2.5 metres for visitor parking). The applicant is proposing
a private road of 8.5 metres around the east and north perimeter of the site and 7.5 metres along the west side of the
property.
The applicant contends that given no parking will be provided along the western portion of the road, the intent of the policy
to ensure adequate traffic flow for emergency vehicles and garbage collection/recycling vehicles will be maintained. The
east and north portions of the road contain 31 parking spaces and there is no parking proposed on the west side. To ensure
the pavement width remains sufficiently wide enough for service vehicles, the west side should be posted as a no parking
area.
Urban Design:
The proposal generally conforms to the urban design policies of the Official Plan. The townhouses provide a positive
streetscape and built form treatment while establishing a good transition to the stable residential areas to the north.
Soil Condition:
The environmental site assessment reports that have been submitted in support of the application have been evaluated by a
peer review consultant retained by the City. The peer review report concurs that the site is suitable for the proposed mix of
uses. The suitability of the soil conditions to accommodate the proposed residential and home business uses should be
verified by a record of site condition, and acknowledged by the Ministry of Environment prior to the issuance of any
building permits. Copies of the Consultants reports are available within the Planning Department.
Conclusions:
The proposal creates a street oriented development and enhances the pedestrian relationship along the Lawrence Avenue
frontage while ensuring the adjacent stable residential areas to the north are protected. The development is consistent with
the policies of the Official Plan and represents an opportunity to bring added reinvestment and affordable housing to the
area through reuse of the vacant land. Staff recommend approval of this application subject to the conditions outlined in
this report.
Contact Name:
Anthony Rossi
Telephone: (416) 395-7114Fax: 395-7114
(A copy of the Schedules referred to in the foregoing report is on file in the office of the City Clerk, North York Civic
Centre.)
________
The North York Community Council also reports having had before it a communication (January4, 1999) from Mr. Joseph
Pede, advising of his concerns with the application and requesting that an environmental study be conducted to ensure that
there is no land contamination in the subject area.
No individuals appeared before the North York Community Council in connection with the foregoing matter.
A recorded vote on the recommendation moved by Councillor Moscoe, was as follows:
FOR:Councillors Mammoliti, Moscoe, Feldman, Berger, Chong, Filion, King
AGAINST:Councillors Li Preti, Flint
ABSENT:Councillors Sgro, Augimeri, Gardner, Minnan-Wong, Shiner
Carried