Toronto Emerald City Phases 1 to 3 including Dream Tower | ?m | 36s | Almadev | WZMH

a Settlement has been reached for the El-Ad Development on Parkway Forest Drive (Sheppard and Don Mills).

On July 11, the OMB allowed, in part, appeals by El-Ad Group for OP and zb/l amendments to permit a residential development on 100-125 Parkway Forest Drive,just north of Highway 401 and south of Sheppard Avenue East in North York.

The proposal was revised following the city’s initial refusal in 2005 (El-Ad plannedto build 2,500-residential units and demolish and replace a 332-unit rental apartment in towers ranging up to 50 floors. The original proposal included retaining and improving and additional 1,221-rental units on the property).

The amended proposal ensures that the development is more street related, with two 36-storey towers proposed for the corner of Sheppard Avenue East and Don Mills Road, and 7-9 storey buildings along Sheppard Avenue East and Don Mills Road.

The revised proposal includes 5,643-sq.m. of non-residential uses and 1,357-sq.m. allocated for community services and facilities fronting onto Sheppard Avenue. City of Toronto staff recommended approval of the proposal subject to the modifications set out in a March 2006 planning report. The modifications addressed issues such as a reduction in condominium units to 2,200 as well ascriteria to be fulfilled prior to development in excess of 1,655 units; urban design considerations and Section 37 conditions.

North York Community Council amended the recommendations to include contributions to the Toronto District School Board of $1,000 per unit and $1-million cash in-lieu for affordable housing. In the final settlement the TDSB contributions were decreased to $500 per unit.

Representatives of area residents’ associations appeared at the hearing and expressed reservations with the planned intensification, but supported the city’s settlement recommendations as a more appropriate scale of development for the area.

The OMB found that the settlement is “highly appropriate for the development of such a large, complex and significant site to proceed in accordance with the terms of a settlement achieved through a process that included area residents and their representatives.â€

Is this another example of the developer proposing 50, knowing it will be turned down and squished to about 36?

Wouldn't surprise me if it were. When I had these listed on the 400-foot-list I always suspected the developer was proposing high.

Nice additional density for the Sheppard line.

The same developer is proposing a very similar project amongst some old rental buildings in the Keele Finch area. I believe the project runs along the same lines in that it will fill in some of the 'no-mans land' between old 1970s towers-in-the-park and replace some old rental stock.

The area residents (Keele-Finch) are up in arms about the increased density.

The good news is the proposal will be right around the proposed new Keele-Finch subway station. I would anticipate that the local councillor will play politics and side with the ratepayers, usually other councillors just follow the lead of the local councillor, which essentially leaves the actual decision based on the merits of the application (rather then on the political whim of local councillors) to the OMB.

Doesn't Sorbara own a bunch of buildings on Keele?

Keele-Finch, too!

Its amazing how this developer's projects correspond directly with what the city says it WANTS to do: develop along our major transit arteries. I'm becoming a fan.

The people at Keele-Finch want the subway, but only for them? F*** off.

If this area cannot be intensified, all is lost.

"Nice additional density for the Sheppard line."

Even nicer for the future-but-should-have-been-built-30-years-ago Don Mills line...

Area residents, when you talk to them, are really pretty reasonable about the whole thing. The thing about the subway, they say, is that at rush hours, the Sheppard line might be operating at roughly half-capacity, but once you get to the Yonge line, you have to wait three or four trains just to cram on.

It's hard to look into what's going on here without shaking one's head. You can't live in the suburbs without a car, even if there's a subway at your doorstep. So the Sheppard line, built and run at massive expense, brought massive development, which in turn is bringing massive numbers of cars to an area where the traffic problems are already ungodly because of the confluence of the 401 and the 404. (Every time either one gets jammed, the whole area floods with fleeing traffic. It's like living in a flood plain.) This isn't as simple as intensifying the suburbs.

The overloading of the neighborhood TDSB school was a major concern at the time. I wonder if this agreement does anything substantial to redress it?

"The thing about the subway, they say, is that at rush hours, the Sheppard line might be operating at roughly half-capacity, but once you get to the Yonge line, you have to wait three or four trains just to cram on."

They may say it, but it's not true.

Area residents, when you talk to them, are really pretty reasonable about the whole thing. The thing about the subway, they say, is that at rush hours, the Sheppard line might be operating at roughly half-capacity, but once you get to the Yonge line, you have to wait three or four trains just to cram on.

It's hard to look into what's going on here without shaking one's head. You can't live in the suburbs without a car, even if there's a subway at your doorstep. So the Sheppard line, built and run at massive expense, brought massive development, which in turn is bringing massive numbers of cars to an area where the traffic problems are already ungodly because of the confluence of the 401 and the 404. (Every time either one gets jammed, the whole area floods with fleeing traffic. It's like living in a flood plain.) This isn't as simple as intensifying the suburbs.

The overloading of the neighborhood TDSB school was a major concern at the time. I wonder if this agreement does anything substantial to redress it?

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They need to start demanding a relief line along Don Mills. With Weston residents successfully demanding a rethink of the Blue22 line, their voices could be enough to get a proper DRL back on the radar. That's assuming, of course, that they're not just NIMBYs.

If the new rental tower on the southwest corner of Sheppard and the 404 is any indication of the new development, then I'm terribly disappointed. The tower is faux art deco (a block of concrete sticking out of the top of the tower with a lightning rod attached to it). It looks plain, and there is a surface parking lot in front of it just like the older buildings in the complex.

What I would like to see is the surface parking eliminated from all the buildings and put in a multi-storey parking facility, next to the commercial/community facilities that they are planning. After going to Parkway Forest recently and seeing a family try to sell boxes of fruit on the sidewalk, I think it would be nice to put in some sort of marketplace in the community.

Lastly, there should be better connection between the forest of apartment buildings and Don Mills station. The closest entrance to the buildings is on the south side of Sheppard. I'd like to see an entrance that is right within the community.

That's assuming, of course, that they're not just NIMBYs.

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But of COURSE they're nimbys. It's just that sometimes (not always) people have a good point about what's going on in their backyards.

"If the new rental tower on the southwest corner of Sheppard and the 404 is any indication of the new development"

Different developer with a decent precentage of rent-geared-to-income units

"But of COURSE they're nimbys. It's just that sometimes (not always) people have a good point about what's going on in their backyards."

And in this case, they might be right...there are too many people living in the area when you compare the population to the kind of services (schools, shopping, roads, etc) available. I hope this updated offers more than just a dry cleaners and a sub place along Sheppard.