A block and a half west of Yonge Street, a site on the south side of Sheppard Avenue West straddles the boundary of what the City of Toronto regards as three very different contexts. Just west of Beecroft Road and Albert Standing Parkette, a 4,300 m² lot at 53-63 Sheppard West (and 62-68 Bogert Avenue to the south) is subject to a relatively longstanding development plan, which calls for a 14-storey residential building on Sheppard alongside a four-storey stacked townhouse component fronting the quieter Bogert Avenue. 

The revised proposal, looking southeast, image via submission to the City of Toronto

Designed by Pellow & Associates and WZMH Architects for Grmada Holdings, the project's initial iteration (seen below) called for a similar scale and configuration, albeit with terraced massing in place of the flat Sheppard Avenue streetwall now planned.

The 2015 proposal, image via City of Toronto

At the south end of the site, plans for the four-storey townhouse volume remain largely in keeping with the previous plans, notwithstanding aesthetic changes. 

The updated proposal, looking north, image via submission to the City of Toronto

The 14-storey building is planned with 182 units, while eight townhouse suites are planned for Bogert Avenue. Animating the Sheppard Avenue frontage, five retail units are planned, with the mid-block condo lobby—accessible via a hallway fronting Sheppard—tucked away from the street. 

The ground floor plan, image via submission to the City of Toronto

In the works since 2015, the project has gone through revisions as the planning process unfolded, with an appeal filed to the OMB following initial commentary from City Planning, who regarded the proposal as overdevelopment of the site. For many Toronto developments, that general narrative is par for the course. At 53-63 Sheppard West, however, the circumstances are somewhat atypical, with the contextual validity of the City's new Secondary Plan guidelines disputed in the appeal.  

The site in relation to the 'Growth Centre' (red) and 'Avenues' designations (brown), image via submission to the City of Toront

Situated just beyond the high-rise North York 'Growth Centre' designated under the City of Toronto's Official Plan, the north side of the site is designated as an 'Avenue,' while the Bogert frontage is part of a residential 'Neighbourhood.' Under the Official Plan, the greatest density is to be be directed towards the 'Growth Centres,' of which there are five in Toronto, including Downtown. From there, comparably gentler density is to be geared towards the 'Avenues,' with the 'Neighbourhoods' set to be insulated from new development.

Aerial view of the site, which occupies the parking lot just west of the park, image via Google Maps

Combining a 14-storey 'Avenues' building and a four-storey townhouse typology in the 'Neighbourhood' to the south, the proposal's two buildings generally reflects the City's community designations. However, the project also sits within the 'Sheppard Avenue Commercial Area Secondary Plan' (SACASP), a recent Review of which was adopted by City Council on January 31st of this year. Much of the OMB appeal hinged on the auspices of the SACASP Review, which was undertaken following the initial submission.

The site is situated in the southeast corner of the SACASP Review area, image via City of Toronto

As explained in detailed and ongoing correspondence between developer counsel WeirFoulds LLP and the City of Toronto, the developers lobbied for the project to not be assessed with regard to the SACASP Review. Regulating the scale of new development, the Review set out new height and density parameters and updated urban design guidelines. However, as the initial submission was made prior to the Review process, the lawyers argued that the proposal's planning review ought not take the SACASP Review into consideration.

A closer look at the 14-storey tower component, image via submission to the City of Toronto

On the basis of a legal precedent known as the Clergy Principle, the lawyers argued that the site be exempt from the "study area" for the Review. In short, the Clergy Principle dictates that a proposal should be assessed with regard to the planning regulations that were in place at the time of the initial application. The rationale behind the Clergy Principle is that new applications should not be judged based on evolving planning criteria, with submissions instead pursuant to the existing frameworks already in place.  

A closer look at the townhouse frontages, image via submission to the City of Toronto

For the proposal at 53-63 Sheppard West, this means that the proposal need not be consistent with the auspices of the SACASP Review. "[T]he study must accommodate the Site-specific Applications, not vice versa," a letter— dated April 12 2016—reads. 

Now, with updated architectural plans submitted to the City in late May ahead of a final OMB hearing on July 4th, it appears that the City and the developers may have worked out a settlement to be ratified at the OMB. A distinct planning context informed the proposal's planning process, which may partially explain the project's somewhat unusual evolution. While developments are more typically scaled down to meet approval, the 14-storey building's terraced massing has been revised into a flat streetwall, making it slightly larger than it used to be.  

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We will keep you updated as additional information becomes available, and the project continues to take shape. In the meantime, you can learn more by checking out our Database file, linked below. Want to share your thoughts? Leave a comment on this page, or join one the ongoing conversation in our associated Forum thread.