City-Initiated Zoning By-law Amendment Application Z97021

579 to 587 Kennedy Road

Kennedy Park Community

Ward 15 - Scarborough City Centre

The Scarborough Community Council, after considering the deputations and based on thefinding of fact, conclusions and recommendations contained in the report, dated September25,1998, from the Director, Community Planning, East District, recommends that the report of the Director, Community Planning, East District, be adopted.

The Scarborough Community Council reports having held a statutory public meeting on December9, 1998, in accordance with Section 17 and Section 34 of The Planning Act and the regulations thereunder.

The Scarborough Community Council submits the following report (September 25, 1998) from the Director, Community Planning, East District:

Purpose:

To recommend approval of the City-initiated rezoning application Z97021, to amend the Kennedy Park Community Zoning By-law with respect to five properties on the east side of Kennedy Road, south of Corvette Avenue, presently zoned Highway Commercial and Single-family Residential, to provide for Multiple Family Residential zoning.

Recommendations:

It is recommended that City Council amend the Kennedy Park Community Zoning By-law, as amended, with respect to 579 to 587 Kennedy Road, being Part of Lots 3, 4 and 5, Plan 3507, as follows:

(A)Zoning By-law Amendment

(1)Permitted Use: Multiple Family Residential;

(2)one suite (individual dwelling unit) per 199 m² (2,142 square feet) of lot area;

(3)minimum front yard setback 6 metres (20 feet);

(4)minimum side yard building setback:

for single-family dwellings 0.9 metres (3 feet) from side lot lines;

for semi-detached dwellings, 0.9 metres (3 feet) from side lot lines on one side only;

for a row of townhouses, 0.9 metres (3 feet) from end walls to side lot lines;

(5)minimum rear yard setback 7.5 metres (25 feet);

(6)maximum coverage: 50 percent of the area of the lot or parcel;

(7)each dwelling unit shall have an attached or detached garage; and

(B)authorize any unsubstantive technical, stylistic or format changes to the Zoning By-law Amendment as may be required to give effect to this resolution.

Context:

The subject land is situated on the east side of Kennedy Road, south of Corvette Avenue and is bounded by one and two-storey single-family dwellings on the east and south, by Pine Hills Cemetery on the west and vacant, undeveloped land on the north. Each property has a residential building on it.

Site Statistics:

Site area:0.34 hectares (0.84 acres)

Frontage:81 metres (267 feet)

Proposed residential density:50 units per hectare (20 units per acre)

Number of dwelling units:up to 17 townhouses

Building coverage:50 percent

Background:

In January of 1997, the former City of Scarborough Council directed the Commissioner of Planning and Buildings to undertake a Zoning By-law amendment to rezone the two Highway Commercial zoned properties at 585 and 587 Kennedy Road, to bring them into conformity with the Official Plan.

On June 24, 1998, Scarborough Community Council deferred the scheduled statutory public meeting for the City-initiated Zoning By-law Amendment application, to provide for further consultation with abutting property owners to the south ( 579, 581 and 583 Kennedy Road), that had expressed interest to be included as part of this City-initiated rezoning. Over the summer months, planning staff met with the property owners and have now consolidated these properties in the rezoning which provides for Multiple Family Residential zoning.

Existing Zoning:

The land containing the properties at 585 and 587 Kennedy is zoned Highway Commercial and permits Day Nurseries, Places of Worship, Automobile Service Stations, Funeral Homes, Hotels and Motels, Libraries and Art Galleries, Limited Retail Shopping, Professional and Business Offices, and Recreational Uses. This land is under site plan control.

The three properties 579, 581 and 583 Kennedy Road, are presently zoned for Single-family dwellings and contain three single-family homes.

Official Plan:

All of the land is designated Medium Density Residential (RM) in the Official Plan. The Kennedy Park Community Secondary Plan provides for a maximum net residential density of 50 units per hectare (20 units per acre) in this area. It is intended that the Medium Density Residential designation will predominantly provide accommodation with at-grade access for families with young children, but it will also provide a choice of intermediate density low-rise accommodation for individuals and families without young children.

The Medium Density Residential designation provides for a variety of dwelling unit types including street townhouses, stacked townhouses, low-rise apartments and other such projects, to a maximum height of four-storeys. In addition, the Official Plan provides for single and semi-detached dwelling unit forms within this designation.

Comments:

(1)At this time, there are no development applications pending and we do not have any specific development proposal tailored to the site. The lot area of the five properties (if they were to be redeveloped together) is approximately 3400 m² (36,600 square feet). If we apply the Official Plan density of 50 units per hectare (20 units per acre) permitted in the Medium Density Residential designation, up to seventeen (17) residential units may be developed on this site. In addition to townhouses, single-family and semi-detached dwellings could also be provided on this site. This is consistent with the policies of the Official Plan to maintain low building heights and these uses are permitted in the Multiple-Family Residential Zone.

Presently, each of the existing properties has its own driveway on Kennedy Road. Potential redevelopment of the site with up to 17 residential units can be accommodated with direct access to Kennedy Road, provided that driveways are paired.

(2)The By-law presently restricts building coverage to 33 percent of the lot in residential areas, to ensure that sufficient space remains for vehicle parking and for private open space. However, to achieve reasonable medium density development on narrow properties that may result in this case, the building coverage should be increased to a maximum of 50 percent on this site. The 42 metres (137 feet) deep lots would adequately accommodate the residential units and provide for vehicle parking and sufficient rear yard for the enjoyment of the residents.

(3)The application was circulated to technical agencies and departments for their comments. There were no comments or objections raised to the proposed Zoning By-law amendment by the reporting agencies.

(4)The present property owners of 585 and 587 Kennedy Road have expressed concern about the potential loss of commercial value of the property, since they acquired land zoned Highway Commercial. The use of the properties on the day the amending by-law is passed, may continue as a legal non-conforming use, for as long as the use continues uninterrupted. When the existing use on these two parcels ceases to operate, then the non-conforming status will be lost.

Conclusions:

The proposed rezoning of this land to Multiple Family Residential will implement the policies of the Kennedy Park Community Secondary Plan and will provide for the removal of Highway Commercial zoning, while at the same time it will provide for the potential redevelopment of older housing stock to revitalize the area.

Contact Name:

Aristotle Christou, Senior Planner

(416) 396-5228

(416) 396-4265 Fax No.

christou@city.scarborough.on.ca

The Scarborough Community Council submits, for the information of City Council, the following communication (November 27, 1998) from Mrs. Ruth Lunel, Toronto:

I was at a recent meeting of the Community and was surprised to learn that the City was rezoning property at the above address without any hearings being made public by notification.

This area is now Highway Commercial, but for years has had single family dwellings and, therefore, has fit into the community. On Kennedy Road, right from Eglinton Avenue, we have nothing but a bad mixture of lock up stores in small plazas which, I might add, are very unkept.

Apartments could be placed above these lock up stores preventing break-ins which adds to crime in our community. At the corner of Merrian Road was a landmark home which was demolished which gave us the two corners of Merrian Road with these lock up stores.

In our area, we now have five churches, one of which is a lock up store just behind the A & P plaza. Anglican Church, Catholic Church, Nazarene Church, one on Eppleworth as well as another church group up where the lumber yard used to be off Kennedy. All these places have day care as well as schools and apartments in this area.

To add more housing into this area where we have no sidewalks would place more children's lives at stake as Kennedy Road is now more of an area where we have more traffic re persons from all over and from the recent TTC passes allowing persons to park free at Kennedy and Eglinton as well as over at Warden station.

We do NOT need any more public housing in our area and this is what I am afraid would happen. When I was at the meeting previously, I was shocked to see the head of Metro Housing in the audience. He left when I said I wanted to speak on this proposal.

There was a proposal for a three storey seniors building in the same area and the home owners voted it down a few years ago due to blockage of sun from their gardens and possibility of garbage piling up.

I have owned my home here for over forty years and have been very active in my community (in fact in all of Scarborough).

Since joining Metro, Scarborough has gone down hill and now that we are into the Mega City, it is much worse re the following:

1.Cut off of TTC services.

2.Possibility of school closings in our area in the future.

3.Dumping of more public housing here in Scarborough (a perfect example is Kingston Road).

Lastly, our Councillors do NOT speak up on behalf of Scarborough down at the meetings at the Mega City Council and try very hard to pass things off here in our so-called Community meetings with little or no input from the electorate.