January 27, 2000

To: North District Community Council

From: Rob Dolan, Director, Community Planning, North District

Subject: PRELIMINARY EVALUATION REPORT

Applications for Zoning By-law Amendment

1153345 Ontario Inc. - Patrick Berne

5575 Yonge Street; 7,11,15,19,23,25 Finch Avenue East and 16,20,22,24,26,28, & 30 Olive Avenue.

UDZ-99-33 and UDZ-99-34

Ward 10 - North York Centre

Purpose:

To provide preliminary information on the above-noted applications and to seek Community Council's direction on further processing of the applications and on the community consultation process.

Financial Implications and Impact Statement:

None

Recommendations:

It is recommended that:

(1) Staff be directed to schedule a Community Information Meeting in consultation with the Ward Councillors.

(2) Staff be directed to prepare a Final Report for the Public Meeting.

(3) Staff be authorised to schedule a Public Meeting under the Planning Act to consider this application, targeted for the third quarter of 2000.

(4) Notice of the Public Meeting be given in the manner prescribed in the Regulations under the Planning Act.

Background:

In 1994 Council approved a site specific by-law [Site Specific By-law C(41)] permitting a 350 unit residential development in three residential buildings of 8, 11, and 15 storeys. A 17- storey commercial building had been proposed on the Yonge Street site, however was not included in the approved by-law. The applicant has since purchased 11 Finch Avenue East which is being incorporated into this development site.

Comments

Site Description

The owner has applied to rezone two properties in the southeast quadrant of Finch Avenue East and Yonge Street. The westerly site (site A)(UDZ-99-33) with an area of 1405.3 m2 fronts onto Yonge Street and is separated from the main site by a public lane running parallel to Yonge Street. Site A is occupied by a one-storey commercial building. The remaining 10,422 square metres of property (site B)(UDZ-99-34) is vacant except for the recently purchased single family dwelling at 11 Finch Street East.

A service station at 5571 Yonge Street is located south of site A. A two-storey commercial building containing retail uses on the ground floor with office space above is located at the south-east corner of Finch Avenue East and Yonge Street and abuts the north boundary of site A.

A Bell Telephone office is located on the easterly boundary of site B while low density housing is located on the south side of Olive Street.

Proposal

The applicant is proposing to demolish the existing commercial building on site A and dedicate the property to the City for park purposes. On site B east of the lane, the applicant is proposing two 25-storey condominium towers on the westerly portion of the site and two 20- storey towers on the easterly portion of the site. 14 townhouses line the Olive Street frontage and 13 townhouses line the Finch Avenue frontage. A small retail area is being proposed at the most northwesterly portion of the building complex. The development will consist of approximately 900 units. Vehicle access is proposed from Olive Street with a southbound one-way service access on the eastern edge of the property.

The applicant is proposing to transfer the residential density from the park parcel on Yonge Street to the main site including the density transferred to this site from previous road widenings. The pertinent statistics are shown below.

Official Plan:

The Yonge Street site and the majority of the Finch Avenue site are designated Uptown Mixed Use - One (UMU1) permitting Residential with up to 65% commercial @5.0 FSI. 30 Olive Avenue (Lot 109, R.P. 2282) is designated Uptown Residential - One (UR1) @ 4.0 FSI allowing up to 20% of the gross floor area to be used for commercial purposes. In addition, the Yonge frontage and a portion of the Finch Avenue frontage is included in the Prime Frontage Area Map D.1.2. Section 2.2.4 Street Retail, requires all buildings within the Prime Frontage area to incorporate at grade street-related retail uses at the build-to line. A maximum height limit of 87 metres above grade is permitted.

Zoning:

The existing zoning by-law permits a combination of residential (350 units 30,980 m2) and commercial uses (608 M2). Density incentives were permitted for recreational space and bicycle storage areas and a density transfer of 644 m2 from a Finch Avenue road widening. The applicant has requested that the density transfer for the road widening remain credited to this proposal.

Site Plan Control

The applicant has submitted a zoning by-law amendment application and has included conceptual drawings of their proposal. A Site Plan Approval Application has not been submitted. Council policy requires that a concurrent Site Plan Approval application and fee be submitted with all amendment applications within the North York Centre. Accordingly, it is recommended that the applicant be required to submit a Site Plan Approval application and fee prior to the scheduling of a community consultation meeting.

The applicant has advised that he will be sumitting his site plan application within a week of this report. We will also request the applicant to provide more detailed elevations of the project.

Tree Preservation

The applicant will be required to submit a landscaping plan detailing the location of any existing landscaping and trees.

Reasons for the Application

The applicant has chosen to use the density for both sites for residential purposes. The Yonge Street property is being dedicated for park purposes.

Issues to be resolved

Site Specific By-law C(41) envisioned the closure of the public lane running parallel to Yonge Street. Urban design matters related to the nature with which the proposed building massing addresses the public lane, pedestrian comfort and the park edge should be reviewed.

The proposed development will be reviewed to ensure that the scale, built form and massing is sensitive to the residential area on the south side of Olive Avenue.

Official Plan Amendment 447 encourages underground connections to rapid transit stations especially under arterial roads. Due to the development's close proximity to the Finch subway station, direct access to the subway will be reviewed.

Conclusions:

It is recommended that a Community Consultation meeting be scheduled by staff, in consultation with the local Councillors, and that staff be directed to prepare a Final Report on the application and provide Notice of the Statutory Public Meeting at the appropriate time.

Contact:

Dennis Glasgow

Community Planning, North District

Telephone: (416) 395-7109

Rob Dolan

Director

Community Planning, North District

Exhibit 1. Location Plan.

Exhibit 1. Official Plan

Exhibit 2. Zoning

Exhibit 3. Site Plan