January 28, 2000
To: North York Community Council
From: Rob Dolan
Director of Community Planning, North District
Subject: PRELIMINARY REPORT
Application to amend the North York Official Plan and Zoning By-law.
Applicant: The Police Credit Union Limited, c/o Walker, Nott, Dragicevic Associates Limited.
Location: 4679-4687 Yonge Street and 20 Avondale Avenue.
File: UDOZ-99-44.
Ward: 10 - North York Centre.
Purpose:
This report provides preliminary information on an application for amendments to increase the maximum permitted
density, and to permit a 12-storey office building, with street-related retail uses, on the north-east corner of Yonge Street
and Avondale Avenue.
This report seeks direction on further processing of the application 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) the applicant be required to submit a Site Plan Approval application and fee, pursuant to North York Community
Council policy for all amendment applications in North York Centre, prior to the scheduling of the Public Meeting under
the Planning Act to consider this application, targetted for the third quarter of 2000;
(3) staff be directed to prepare a Final Report for the Public Meeting; and
(4) Notice of the Public Meeting be given in the manner prescribed in the Regulations under the Planning Act.
Comments:
Proposal:
The owner's lands currently contain a two-storey house-form building, a surface parking lot and the two-storey Police
Credit Union commercial-office building. The site is located approximately 300 metres south of the intersection of Yonge
Street and Sheppard Avenue.
The applicant seeks an amendment to the Official Plan for the former City of North York to increase the base density limit
on the block bounded by Yonge Street, Glendora Avenue, Bales Avenue and Avondale Avenue from 1.5 times the area of
the lot (1.5 FSI) to 4.5 FSI.
The applicant also seeks an amendment to North York Zoning By-law 7625 to permit a 12-storey office building
containing at-grade retail uses on the lands in their ownership.
The pertinent statistics of the application are shown in the table below. Note: The Gross Floor Area and FSI figures
exclude 817 m2 of street-related retail GFA proposed to be exempted from the calculation of GFA pursuant to density
incentive policies.
|
Proposed OPA
For the block, including lands not owned by the
applicant. |
Proposed ZBA
Affects only the lands owned
by the applicant. |
Total Site Area: |
5,419 m2 |
2,476 m2 |
Frontage (Yonge Street): |
72 m |
48 m |
Gross Floor Area: |
24,386 m2 |
11,142 m2 |
Non-residential density: |
4.5 FSI |
4.5 FSI |
Total Floor Space Index: |
4.5 |
4.5 |
Building Heights: |
|
12 m (3 storeys), and
50 m (12 storeys) |
Parking: |
|
100 |
Applicable Official Plan policies:
North York Centre is governed by the policies of the North York Centre Secondary Plan (OPA 447), save and except for
certain sections and policies which are subject to active appeals before the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB).
OPA 447 designates the block bounded by Yonge Street, Glendora Avenue, Bales Avenue and Avondale Avenue as
Downtown Mixed Use-2 (DMU-2), which permits a mix of land uses. The maximum height limit under OPA 447 is 65
metres.
The applicant maintains an active OMB appeal of OPA 447. Therefore, the in-force policies that govern this site are found
in the D.2 Downtown Plan, as amended by OPA 393. The in-force policies designate the site Mixed Use (MU), which
permits a mix of land uses.
The D.2 Downtown Plan, as amended by OPA 393, as well as OPA 447, limits the density on the site to 1.5 FSI, exclusive
of applicable incentives and transfers.
Applicable Zoning:
The lands owned by the applicant are zoned General Commercial (C1).
Issues:
Site Plan Approval application:
The applicant filed the Official Plan and Zoning By-law amendments application and included conceptual drawings of their
proposal with the application. The applicant, however, did not submit a Site Plan Approval application. Council policy
requires that a concurrent Site Plan Approval application and fee be submitted for Zoning By-law amendment applications
in North York Centre. Since the proposal is for both Official Plan and Zoning By-law amendments, a Site Plan Approval
application is not required at this early stage to initiate the review process. However, the applicant will be required to
submit a Site Plan Approval application and fee, prior to the scheduling of the Public Meeting under the Planning Act to
consider this application.
Land ownership:
The application to amend the Official Plan (OPA 447) includes lands not owned by the applicant; specifically, 4691 and
4695 Yonge Street, 16, 18 and 20 Bales Avenue and 19 Glendora Avenue. In the absence of the authorisation of all the
owners of the block in support of the submission, the City will seek input from the owners of the above-referenced
properties.
Density increase:
The applicant proposes to increase the maximum permitted density from 1.5 FSI to 4.5 FSI. The effect and appropriateness
of this increase will be evaluated.
Public lane and widening of Avondale Avenue:
The applicant proposes to acquire the ownership of a portion of the public lane which runs north-south through the block,
while maintaining it as a lane for one-way south-bound service with an east-bound right-only movement onto Avondale
Avenue.
The applicant also proposes to dedicate to the City a 5.2 metre wide strip of land along the Avondale Avenue frontage of
their property to allow for the eventual widening of Avondale Avenue to five lanes. The area of land to be dedicated is
used in the calculation of GFA for the site.
The application has been circulated to the Commissioner of Works and Emergency Services for his comments.
Long Range Development Levels:
Long Range Development Levels are the total GFA limits within North York Centre that can be accommodated by the
capacity of the existing and planned transportation system. The long range development levels represent the anticipated
level of development associated with the land use and density designation.
Should the subject application be approved, the Downtown long range development levels would have to be adjusted to
increase the non-residential development levels and decrease the residential development levels, which requires an
amendment to the Official Plan. If the long range development levels are not adjusted, development on this site may
consume some of the non-residential long range development level allocated to other sites in the Downtown.
Conclusions:
A Final Report will be completed which examines the planning issues following a review of the application.
Contact:
Tom Keefe
Manager, Community Planning, North District
Telephone: (416) 395-7170
Rob Dolan
Director of Community Planning, North District
Maps:
Official Plan (OPA 447)
Official Plan (D.2, Downtown Plan, as amended by OPA 393)
Zoning
Figure 1 Site Plan
Figure 2 Elevations
Location: […Wpfiles\Reports\OZ9944-Prel]
