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PMT

PMT

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Mixed-use, low-rise proposal at Sheppard and Willowdale.

181 SHEPPARD AVE E
Ward 23 - North York District

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Proposed Use --- # of Storeys --- # of Units ---
Applications:
Type Number Date Submitted Status
Site Plan Approval 16 225701 NNY 23 SA Sep 20, 2016 Under Review
Rezoning 16 225685 NNY 23 OZ Sep 20, 2016 Under Review

Renderings:
Screenshot 2016-09-29 16.48.15.png
Screenshot 2016-09-29 16.48.35.png
 

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I'm a little suspicious of the retail treatment.

At first blush it needs more height, both internally and in terms of visual presence.

***

I don't suppose we could get knock-out panels and some extra space in the parking garage that could accommodate a future Willowdale Station?
 
Northern Light said:
I'm a little suspicious of the retail treatment.

At first blush it needs more height, both internally and in terms of visual presence.

***

I don't suppose we could get knock-out panels and some extra space in the parking garage that could accommodate a future Willowdale Station?
Click to expand...
The ground floor height is 5.4 metres/17'8"… so that's pretty good, enough for a mezzanine if any of the retail units wants one at the back. (The Beer Store will occupy the western more unit.)

There is no provision in the plans for a connection to the potential subway station.

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Wow, this site takes over the former PizzaPizza/7-11/garage site and the Beer Store site,... issue with the Beer Store is most customer currently drive there and with the new design, parking will be less intuitive and more challenging,....

The Willowdale Subway station was eliminated prior to construction of the Sheppard STUBway line due to low ridership prediction and MikeHarris cut-backs,.... the entire Sheppard Subway line was cut from it's terminius of Downsview Station and ScarboroughTownCentre to just Yonge and DonMills Station. In addition, Willowdale Subway Station also suffered from local community opposition which didn't want to see high density development at the Willowdale and Sheppard Area. But provisions where built on the Sheppard Stubway line at Willowdale Avenue to allow for a future subway station.

Similarly when Yonge Subway was extended to Finch Subway station in 1974, provisions were made for a future subway station between Sheppard and Finch at ParkHomes/Empress Ave which allowed for the new NorthYorkCentre subway station to be built around 1988 as part of the NorthYorkCityCentre development; NorthYorkCentre TTC subway station is the busiest subway station in the TTC network that isn't serviced directly by bus or streetcar line (terminus); it's all walk-in traffic mostly from the surrounding high density developments.

A future Willowdale Station is still a very long way off,...

Anyways,.... This development proposal is within the Sheppard Avenue Commercial Secondary Plan which allows about 4-6 storeys (as I recall),.... mixed use on this side of Yonge Street,.... but interestingly this site is one of the few that has been left out of the SecondaryPlan,... meaning it would likely get a site specific designation depending on the outcome of this development application. So 10 storey here?,... could happen,.... but lot depth seems to be about 130ft so due to transition might have to chop a storey or two.
 
This is certainly an improvement over the dreary strip plaza there now. The road network would need to be fixed here. Traffic from here to get to the 401 via Yonge or Sheppard is brutal. Maybe instead of a subway, we need to provide a south to east 401 onramp. It would likely be cheaper to build than the fancy fly-over that John Filion has been pushing for without much progress.
 
lead82 said:
This is certainly an improvement over the dreary strip plaza there now. The road network would need to be fixed here. Traffic from here to get to the 401 via Yonge or Sheppard is brutal. Maybe instead of a subway, we need to provide a south to east 401 onramp. It would likely be cheaper to build than the fancy fly-over that John Filion has been pushing for without much progress.
Click to expand...

There's no plan for road improvements nearby,.... Outside of Doris Ave extension south of Sheppard to Avondale,... which was supposed to start construction this year or next but has been delayed to at least 2021,.... 5 years from now and counting,.... this is an idea that's first proposed in 1991,.... 30 years ago!

A Willowdale - 401 interchange has been examined before by the City of North York and refused by MTO. At the foot of Willowdale Ave (a few blocks south of Sheppard) is the eastern part of Glendora Park - open hilly grass little valley with tennis court (hilly valley leads to a large water drain tunnel under 401 - considered to cycling infrastructure but city liability in flash flood says no); that area would have been the Willowdale - 401 interchange ramp. It was refused by MTO because it's too close to the Bayview-401 interchange and Yonge-401 interchange (MTO prefer 2km between interchanges); it would have caused weaving issues especially with Bayview-401 interchange.

BTW, Councillor Filion's southbound Yonge to eastbound 401 flyover ramp won't happen. Too expensive, better solutions at bigger bang for bucks. Problem now is MTO not willing to improve Yonge-401 interchange.
 
This was appealed to the OMB last year. A pre-hearing in July determined parties and participants, and a hearing was scheduled for Mar, 2018. That, however, has since been adjourned. Not sure what's coming next.

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What a stupid waste of staff time and public resources for the City to fight this at the Tribunal. A completely unnecessary time delay and cost escalation to the project and its end users. Ridiculous.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Kenojuak said:
What a stupid waste of staff time and public resources for the City to fight this at the Tribunal. A completely unnecessary time delay and cost escalation to the project and its end users. Ridiculous.
Click to expand...

Here, City defending zoning, Secondary Plan as part of its Official Plan for this area. If Developer didn't want to waste City Staff time & public resources then Developer should have proposed something allowable within current zoning & Secondary Plan for area.

Given developer proposal beyond what's allowable by City here originally came in when market prices increasing about 20% per annum, developer's decision to appeal city's refusal - it's really the developer that's wasting time and money. If developer thought time & money was being wasted before,... developer must be new to this area! Now that market prices aren't increasing as dramatically but building cost have,... a lot of nearby OMB/TLAB/LPAT approvals aren't likely to be built either (ie: 53-63 Sheppard West, 245 Sheppard West).
 
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