Church Wellesley Update
News from the Church Wellesley Neighbourhood Association
Join us on May 6th for CWNA's 14th Annual General Meeting.
Place: The 519, 519 Church Street, Room 106 Date: Monday, May 6 Time: Registration and membership renewals: 6:30 pm Business meeting: 7 pm ArQuives presentation: 8 pm Committee reports and the election of officers will take place. All members with a paid membership are eligible to run for office and vote. Email info@cwna.ca for more information on running for a position on the Board. We hope to see you there. In March 2024, the City approved a proposal for the redevelopment of 34-42 Maitland, including The Maitlands Apartments. The proposal, originally for a 61-storey building, is approved at 56 storeys, including a 4-storey podium that retains the heritage character of the existing buildings. There will be 55 rental replacement units.
The approved height reflects changes made at the provincial level as to what is now allowed on Yonge Street and the side streets running off of it. A Community Consultation took place on April 26, 2023. The City issued an Intention to Designate the property under the Ontario Heritage Act in May 2023. City Staff issued an approval report on March 14, 2024. In March 2023, the developer applied for a 68-storey tower with 663 condo units at 543 Yonge Street. There are no provisions for residential vehicle parking. The site is currently occupied by an LCBO and a Dollarama.
A community consultation meeting was held in March 2024. More information: Development Application Information Centre: https://tinyurl.com/jkxmr2uc Urban Toronto: https://tinyurl.com/5n6pezz8 City staff have issue a Refusal Report regarding the new tower proposed at the north-east corner of Church and Wellesley. The properties are currently leased to several businesses, including the Pizza Pizza at the corner. There are apartment rentals above. 505, 507 and 509 Church St. and 68, 72 and 76 Wellesley St. E. are owned by KingSett Capital, which submitted a development application on Feb. 1, 2024 for a 28-storey tower with about 258 dwelling units, preserving the existing heritage buildings. The building (centre) would be the same height as the recently completed 81 Wellesley East (right) and the recently approved 66 Wellesley East (left) but with little setback from Church Street. A virtual Community Consultation Meeting was hosted by City staff on March 5, 2024. Among the concerns expressed at the meeting: • the height, massing and location of the building • shadow impacts on Barbra Hall Park; • the impact on the Church Street streetscape • inadequate stepbacks from the street in regards to the heritage building The refusal report reflects many of the same concerns expressed by the community. For more information:
Development Application Information Centre: http://tinyurl.com/mu52dzk2 Staff Decision Report - Refusal https://tinyurl.com/5n6vw9bp Urban Toronto: http://tinyurl.com/3p72wmt3 In May 2023, BV Realty Partners proposed to demolish the houses from 2 to 12 Cawthra Square and to redevelop the site with a 45-storey residential tower, including a 3-storey podium. The proposal is for 488 residential units.
On January 18, 2024, a Community Consultation was held. Community members had many objections to the project. CWNA Board members attended the meeting and have submitted a written response to the proposal. Among the concerns raised: - Height: The current buildings in and around the project are low rise. Even if one concedes that the site could be developed at a greater height it should be consistent with buildings to the south that are in the 20-storey range, rather than the proposed 45 storeys. - Community benefits: Those outlined are vague and sometimes debatable as to how they qualify as "benefits" (ie a public easement on the west side of the property; a walkway to Montieth Street). - Transportation: The street is a dead end, only 1 1/2 lanes wide and the sidewalks are narrow. Despite underground parking for service vehicles, the potential for vehicles blocking the street and sidewalks is very high. - Parks and Trees: the building will create shadow over Barbara Hall Park; the park will experience overuse from increased foot and bicycle traffic; 15 trees will be removed on the building site. Heritage: The City has listed 6-12 Cawthra Square on the Heritage Register. The Heritage Study should be resubmitted and at least the facades of the listed buildings should be saved. A copy of the full CWNA response to the development can be downloaded here. You can review the development application documentation, including the architectural plans, the block context plan and the shadow study by clicking "Supporting Documentation" at the Development Application Information Centre page for this application. Barbara Hall Park will be undergoing major improvements in the near future. The City is collaborating with the Church Wellesley community to develop a new vision and Master Plan. The objectives of the park vision and Master Plan are to enhance the park’s function for everyday use and, as a central gathering space for the City’s LGBTQ2S+ community, a space capable of accommodating passive and active uses, special events, moments of reflection, and to improve park maintenance and safety.
Phase 1 of Community Engagement started in May 2023. During this phase, the City worked with residents and stakeholders to define a renewed overall vision for the park, including a series of Design Principles and Big Moves which will guide the development of design options in Phase 2. This section, reproduced verbatim from the City of Toronto website, is organized as follows:
Finalized Drivers of Change These are the opportunities and challenges driving the need for a change to the park’s design. A place with diverse users and needs Barbara Hall Park has diverse users with varied needs. In many ways, the space is expected to be “everything to everyone”: a space for the everyday, while also being a place for reflection, mourning and celebration, and where people come to access the services of the 519 Community Centre. In the past, the park accommodated all of these uses quite well, but this has not been the case more recently. There is a lack of cohesion between the different park elements, and the park struggles to accommodate the huge number of users who visit during the annual Green Space Festival. A green heart in need of improvement The park is the green heart of the Church-Wellesley Village – a highly prized oasis of green within the community that is also its central gathering place. The raised lawn, garden beds, and canopy trees are all highly valued by nearby residents. However, the park lacks an appropriate range of seating, is not properly lit, and the pathways are not wide enough to accommodate heavy use. The programmed spaces present maintenance challenges that the community would like improved. The park has a lack of flat surfaces which make it difficult to program. A place for reflection and grief As the home of two significant LGBTQ2S+ memorials, the Toronto AIDS Memorial and the Trans Memorial, Barbara Hall Park is an important community space for grief, reflection, and activism. There is a strong desire to maintain these memorials as places where people can grieve or reflect quietly. However, there is a feeling that these memorials are not properly or clearly identified or maintained and they are sometimes vandalized. In addition, the AIDS Memorial does not resonate strongly with HIV-positive youth, who feel it should also inspire hope and celebrate the lives of those people who are currently living with HIV. A place where people sometimes feel unsafe The lack of clear sightlines throughout the park and the presence of dark corners present safety challenges and often attract undesirable activities, like drug use and drug dealing. Particular areas of the park, including the area to the south of the 519 and the northeast corner of the park, lack good lighting and/or programming and can feel particularly unsafe. Draft Vision Statement A vision statement is a short description of the ideal future park. It inspires everyone towards a common understanding of the project’s overall goals. The draft vision for Barbara Hall park is: A revitalized Barbara Hall Park will be an inclusive and welcoming space that is the green focal point of the City’s 2SLGBTQ+ community in the Church-Wellesley Village. As home of the AIDS and Trans Memorials, the park will offer calm and quiet space for reflection and mourning of those lost, while also celebrating the history and resilience of the 2SLGBTQ+ community through heritage interpretation, art and culture. The park design will ensure it is a place where everyone in the surrounding community feels welcome and comfortable while centering needs of the most vulnerable. Barbara Hall Park will be a highly accessible, functional and cohesive space that is easy to program and is animated throughout the year with community-focused programming for people of all ages, ethnicities, abilities, and incomes. It will be a place to gather, celebrate, and heal. Draft Guiding Principles Guiding principles are high-level directions that reflect the community’s most important values and ideas for how the park should look and feel. They help guide how the park should be designed so that the vision statement can be achieved. The draft guiding principles for Barbara Hall Park are:
Big moves are the main priorities for the design of the park. They are specific directions to the design team that flow from the vision and principles and help to make them a reality. In no particular order, the draft big moves for Barbara Hall Park are:
A Phase I Summary Report is expected to be released very soon. The timeline for the project, subject to change:
City Council has approved an 831 unit, 69-storey condominium tower at 90-94 Isabella.
Capital Developments first submitted the application in May 2022. After consultations, the developer submitted a revised application in July 2023. The building would remain at 69 stories. The front portions of the existing heritage buildings on Isabella would be preserved to a depth of 10 metres and the rear portions demolished. The revised application was approved by Toronto and North York Community Council in November 2023 and by City Council in December. More information: City Staff Decision Report - Approval https://tinyurl.com/4bn89ret City Council Approval http://tinyurl.com/mr2buczj Toronto Development Application Information Centre: https://tinyurl.com/2pxnbxfu City Council has approved Kingsett Capital's development proposal for two towers of 78 and 75 storeys at 475 Yonge, between Wood and Alexander Streets. The proposal includes a small park on the east side of the property and a privately owned publicly-accessible space between the two towers, connecting the park and Yonge Street.
The plan to replace the Couryard Marriot Hotel dates back to 2017, when the City approved Kingsett's original proposal for two towers of 58 and 48 storeys. In 2021 Kingsett submitted a new application for the much taller towers. A community consultation took place in June 2022. In November 2023, City Council adopted the approval recommendation: https://tinyurl.com/nrw47rjv For more information: City Staff Preliminary Report (Dec. 2021) https://tinyurl.com/4kp97vzn City Staff Approval Report (Sept. 2023) https://tinyurl.com/55dxbpze Development Application Information Centre https://tinyurl.com/3s8btafn Urban Toronto: https://tinyurl.com/ycn3kszb In October 2022, Carlyle Communities applied to build a 49-storey condominium tower at 33 to 37 Maitland Street. The proposal would demolish the existing rental building at 33 Maitland Street, while keeping the front portion of the existing building at 37 Maitland Street, incorporating it into the base of the tower.
In March 2023, the developer appealed to the Ontario Land Tribunal. In July 2023, City Council adopted recommendations to state its intention to designate the properties at 33 and 37 Maitland Street under the Ontario Heritage Act. In September 2023, City staff issued an Appeal Report recommending the City oppose the application at the Ontario Land Tribunal and continue discussions with the developer to resolve outstanding issues: https://tinyurl.com/wbp8fzjc For more information: Development Application Information Centre: https://tinyurl.com/5y34jcu6 Ontario Land Tribunal: http://tinyurl.com/4jyuw36x Urban Toronto: https://tinyurl.com/2p8bu9av In August 2022, Originate Developments submitted a proposal for a 58-storey, 690 unit condo tower at 102-120 Earl Place and 561 Jarvis Street. The new building would replace a block of ten three-storey condominium townhomes on Earl Street as well as the three-storey rental apartment block at 561 Jarvis Street.
In February, 2023 a Community Consultation Meeting was hosted by City staff. In March 2023, the developer appealed to the Ontario Land Tribunal, having resubmitted the application. The resubmission added a parkland dedication at 6-8 Huntley Street. City Staff released an Appeal Report in August 2023, recommending that the City oppose the application at the Ontario Land Tribunal and continue discussions with the developer to resolve outstanding issues: https://tinyurl.com/mw6j8hzn For more information: Development Application Information Centre: https://tinyurl.com/ynfsraz8 Urban Toronto: https://tinyurl.com/yncmrjhj |
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