STAFF REPORT

December 23, 1999

To: Scarborough Community Council

From: Ted Tyndorf

Director of Community Planning, East District

Subject: STATUS REPORT

Scarborough Malvern

Purpose:

This report provides an update on the status of staff negotiations with the applicant and their review of the environmental, servicing and fiscal impacts of the proposed development, as directed by Scarborough Community Council at its meeting of November 9, 1999.

Financial Implications and Impact Statement:

Although there are no immediate financial implications for the City, the residential uses now proposed would likely result in a less favourable net cost/revenue financial impact on the City in the future than development under the existing employment designations.

Recommendations:

That Scarborough Community Council direct the Director of Community Planning, East District to:

(1) continue to process the applications with a community information meeting to be held in late February, 2000, and a public meeting targeted for March 28, 2000.

(2) continue to negotiate with the applicant with the objective of retaining the westerly one third of the site for employment uses.

Background:

At its meeting of November 9, 1999, Scarborough Community Council adopted the following:

(1) That Council refer these applications back to staff for further study and negotiations with the applicant with respect to the environmental aspects, servicing and fiscal impact of the proposal, and report back no later than January 18, 2000 with recommendations to Scarborough Community Council.

(2) That the applicant be asked to consider amending the applications to retain a significant a area for future employment uses.

(3) Direct staff to target the Public Meeting under the Planning Act for the meeting of Scarborough Community Council scheduled to be held on Tuesday, March 28, 2000.

(4) Request staff to convene a community information meeting, in consultation with the Ward Councillors, prior to March 28, 2000.

(5) Request the City Solicitor to report to the Community Council meeting on January 18, 2000, respecting the status of the tripartite agreement affecting McAsphalt Industries Limited, the Regan Lands, and the former City of Scarborough.

Comments:

As directed by Scarborough Community Council, staff have given further consideration to the environmental, servicing and fiscal aspects of the applications.

Fiscal Impact:

The comments of the Office of Economic Development are appended in full. In short, while it is recognized that there are difficulties in maintaining the entire McAsphalt site for employment or industrial purposes, demand is up for industrial uses.

The Office of Economic Development can accept industrial development on the western portion of the property which accounts for approximately 1/3 of the Rouge River Business Park. This would allow for industrial development on about 45 acres (18 ha). At 40 percent coverage, the magnitude of industrial development would be approximately 830,000 square feet. Using this conservative industrial build out, and utilizing the remaining 2/3 of the land for residential purposes, the following economic impact would apply:

Economic Impact Table

McAsphalt/Rouge River Business Park

Environmental Aspects:

As noted in earlier reports, the site has a history of excavation and filling, to depths of over 10 metres (33 feet) in some locations. The uncompacted fill includes approximately 105,000 cubic metres (137,000 cubic yards) of fly ash.

The applicant's consultants have undertaken a comprehensive analysis to determine the additional foundation costs which would be incurred to support the weight of industrial buildings. These costs are estimated to be $192,000 per hectare ($78,000 per acre), averaged over the whole site. Costs are much higher in the eastern two thirds of the site than in the western third, which was less subject to excavation and fill. The average additional cost in the western part of the property is in the order of only $73,000 per hectare ($30,000 per acre).

The Works and Emergency Service staff have reviewed this documentation with one exception are satisfied that its assumptions and conclusions are generally supportable. The assumption that "existing fly ash can be recycled for use as a road sub-base…" has yet to be substantiated.

The Works Department has not been in a position to comment on the fly ash issue, as the Department has not been provided with enough information to make an informed judgement on any proposal made by the applicant. Additional information has been recently submitted by the Developer's Consulting Engineer (John Emery Geotechnical Engineering Ltd.) but it is does not address all concerns.

This information received has been circulated to different divisions within the Works Department and a Departmental position on the proposed uses of fly ash on the McAsphalt site will be developed shortly.

At this time the Works comment is that the site must be fully decommissioned in a manner satisfactory to the Commissioner of Works and Emergency Services and that all land to be deeded to the City must be decommissioned to a level equivalent to the highest use proposed for any adjacent lands. This would include lands for right-of-ways, park and any other City uses. The decommissioning must meet or exceed the Ministry of Environment Land Use Guidelines (1997).

Fly ash is not the only decontamination issue related to this site The applicant's environmental and geotechnical consultants have done extensive boreholes and test pits in order to assess the site condition status with respect to the applicable Ministry of Environment criteria. Borehole readings exceeding acceptable limits for residential use were found for nickel, lead, arsenic, boron, lead, cadmium, cobalt, copper, titanium and vanadium, at a number of different locations on the property. The applicant is expected to address all such issues to the satisfaction of the Commissioner of Works and Emergency Services.

Subsequent to development of each phase of the subdivision, and site plan, the applicant will be required to submit Phase I and Phase II Environmental Site Assessments which indicate that the site meets the MOE 1997 Guidelines for the 'intended use category'. If the site was previously under industrial use, the applicant must provide a Record of Site Condition [RSC] (signed by the MOE owner and consultant) prior to building permits being issued. All assessment reports and supporting documents will be reviewed by an external peer reviewer, at the applicant's expense.

The Record of Site Condition serves the following purposes:

· Contains a statement signed by the property owner or agent on behalf of the owner and an affidavit signed by the owner's/agent's consultant indicating that the information on the RSC will be disclosed to interested parties and may be used by others subject to the limitations outlined in the Guideline and on the RSC;

· confirms that the site/portion of the site is suitable for the land use and groundwater condition indicated on the RSC;

· indicates the restoration approach applied, provides summary data of the final environmental conditions of the site, lists the relevant reports detailing the site assessment and any restoration, and provides a summary of any Level 2 risk management measures, if any were used at the site;

· makes the MOE aware of sites where assessment or restoration has taken place. Where stratified site conditions exist or Level 2 risk management measures are in place, the RSC provides MOE with the mechanism to ensure that the stratified conditions and the Level 2 risk management measures are maintained and the requirements are registered on title to inform future interested parties; and

· triggers the MOE's audit process so that the MOE can monitor the application of the Guideline for these self-initiated site restorations.

Planning:

The applicant proposes to move the boundary of the Rouge Community Secondary Plan, to the south, to include the McAsphalt site and the intervening lands south of Sheppard Avenue, including lands owned by the Province for the East Metro Transportation Corridor or "Morningside Extension".

Should Council decide to redesignate the McAsphalt site for residential uses, staff would support the inclusion of all these lands within the Rouge Community. The redesignation of the lands south of Sheppard Avenue for residential uses could be addressed at a later date, when specific proposals are made for these properties.

The proposed redrawing of boundaries has prompted a request by an abutting land owner to widen the boundary to include his property at the south-east corner of Sheppard Avenue and Conlins Road.

The Toronto District School Board has identified a need for a public elementary school site and has asked that a site be held for a ten year period for this purpose. The site includes the proposed location of the principal neighbourhood park.

Both the Toronto District School Board and Parks staff are reluctant to accept sites with concentrations of fly ash. As the park is being considered as a location for a community centre serving the Rouge Community, a site closer to Sheppard Avenue is preferred.

Other Matters:

The following briefly addresses items 2 to 5 of the Council resolution:

(1) McAsphalt's solicitor by letter of November 8, 1999, clearly stated his client's unwillingness to retain the western part of the property for employment purposes, noting that the removal of the liquid asphalt plant is a precondition of interest in the site by residential developers.

The applicant and his consultants have given no indication in recent discussions with staff that they are prepared to amend their proposal to retain any part of the site for employment uses in the long run.

(2) Staff are targeting a Public Meeting for March 28, 2000.

(3) A community information meeting is now scheduled for February 28, 2000 at the Churchill Heights Baptist Church at Morningside and Sheppard.

(4) The City Solicitor is reporting separately on the status of the tri-partite agreement between McAsphalt Industries, Mr. Regan and the former City of Scarborough.

Conclusions:

The proposed reliance on the Ministry of Environment Record of Site Condition process places the onus fully on the landowner to achieve acceptable environmental standards. A site-specific Official Plan policy could require that these standards be achieved on each phase of development before building occurs on subsequent phases. The existing Holding Zone "H" provisions of the Scarborough Official Plan require that Council be satisfied that the conditions identified in the Holding By-law be satisfied before the "H" is removed.

Contact:

David Beasley, MCIP, RPP

Scarborough Civic Centre

Telephone: (416) 396-7026

Fax: (416) 396-4265

E-Mail: beasley@toronto.ca

Ted Tyndorf, MCIP, RPP

Director of Community Planning, East District

DB/PH/nk

December 20, 1999

To: David Beasley

Principal Planner

East District

From: D. Ronald Rea

Manager, Economic Development

East District Office

CC: Bruce Graham, Director

Business Development & Retention

Re: McAshphalt Industries Ltd. & Rouge River Business Park Limited

Development Applications

Comments from the Economic Development Division

The Economic Development Division does not support Official Plan Amendment Application SC-P1999009 and Zoning By-law Amendment Application SC-Z1999035 without an industrial component approximating 1/3 of the site.

The Office of Economic Development recognizes the difficulty of maintaining the entire McAsphalt site for industrial or employment purposes. The Office is cognizant however, of a considerable increase in demand in recent months for industrial lands.

The commercial/industrial real estate office of Royal LePage indicates that industrial development indicators are the strongest in years for the City of Toronto. The availability rate for industrial buildings stands at 3.1% as compared to 13.4% in 1994, just five years ago. More than 40 acres of vacant land were absorbed in the employment areas of the former City of Scarborough in 1999. The Rouge River Business Park represents one of the last large vacant sites designated for industrial use in the Scarborough area.

Lease rates, which are an indicator of economic activity, have risen by 7.5% over the past year. Canadian manufacturing inventories remain stable while new orders and unfilled orders rose to their highest levels in the past two years in the second quarter of 1999.

The Canadian industrial capacity utilization rate rose to 86.2% in the second quarter of 1999, its highest level since 1979. The ICU measures the ratio of actual manufacturing output to estimated potential output. This is another indicator of high economic activity which is likely to translate into increased demand for industrial building product.

In recent months several requests for large (>20 acres), serviced vacant industrial sites have come through the Office of Economic Development. It is difficult to consider the requests because of the lack of acceptable sites.

Although property taxes are higher in Toronto than in the 905 area, manufactures and distributors continue to choose the City of Toronto for expansions and business start-ups. The tax differential is offset, in large part, by the availability of inexpensive and reliable public transit, access to a large labour pool and the absence of development charges for industrial and commercial development.

With the average age of a Scarborough industrial building at 29 years and over 58% of the industrial buildings having a clear height of less than 17 feet, there is a need for new industrial inventory for new and relocating businesses that want to be within Toronto. A stock of industrial/employment land is essential for the creation of new jobs and the generation of new assessment and taxes.

The Office of Economic Development can accept industrial development on the western portion of the property which accounts for approximately 1/3 of the Rouge River Business Park. This would allow for industrial development on about 45 acres (18 ha). At 40% coverage, the magnitude of industrial development would be approximately 830,000 sq.ft. Using this conservative industrial build out, and utilizing the remaining 2/3 of the land for residential purposes, the following economic impact would apply:

Economic Impact Table

Rouge River Business Park

I would be pleased to discuss the matter further at any time.