Keele-Wilson

[screenplaying]

We just came across some interesting formerly confidential City documents relating to some 'bizarre' municipal development issues. They were leaked to the press last year, but now are available (although partially blacked out) for us lowly civilians.

Mind if I post them here first? Nothing libelous, I swear! I'll do some laundry and then get around to not having a great discussion with all the urban planners here who love ignoring this sort of stuff. I do apologize for the sarcasm that still escapes me from time to time. Some might not believe it, but I am a fan and avid reader of this forum and wish only the best for Toronto. It needs a cleaning though.

Here are the reports...

http://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2007/cc/bgrd/cc2.6attach1.pdf

http://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2007/cc/bgrd/cc2.6 attach.pdf

http://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2007/cc/bgrd/cc2.6attach2.pdf

http://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2007/cc/bgrd/cc2.6c.pdf

http://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2007/cc/bgrd/cc2.6a.pdf

http://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2007/cc/bgrd/cc2.6b.pdf

Wow, it almost seems like this sort of stuff was routine in the ancient Toronto of a couple years ago.

 

[ShonTron]

You still obsessing over Keele/Wilson? LOL!

I just don't get the links you posted. They're old, and not that interesting (where's the beef?)

Okay, I'll bite. But play safe (there are seven of us with mod status now if you go out of line - no libel).

Last time I checked (I am in the area from time to time and follow development all over Toronto), the whole neighbourhood's changing. The parkette on the corner (MOTH Gardens) looks quite good and is quite interesting for a suburban corner - even Chris Hume of the Star wrote about it, so I had a look for myself. There's a 10 story condo (a new one) that's almost finished on the NW corner, and looks OK for the neighbourhood. The plaza fixed itself up, the MTO lands will be the site of the Humber Regional Hospital (though will likely be a P3). The condo you obsess over (2737 Keele) is finished, it looks OK, and seems to be well kept up, despite the ugly garage at the back. The same developer has stuck around (despite your predictions otherwise), and is supposed to build the second phase, which is at the OMB, but the local councillor is in support, along with those on Ingleside (a residental street behind), who will see that garage finally cleaned up.

Wilson between the MTO lands and Dufferin, and from Wilson Station to the 401 has been rezoned for Avenue Multiple uses, with 10 floor blanket zoning for all the properties surrounding the Keele-Wilson and Bathurst-Wilson intersections, and is one of the first of the Avenues to be pushed ahead. That is one big reason why I am interested in the area and what's going on there - like Regent Park will be to various social housing redevelopment projects in Toronto, Wilson may be to all the mid-ring of 416 redevelopment schemes.

Another development, another developer is proposing a 10 floor building at 1055 Wilson. The local councillor is not supporting that one, unless changes will be made to move the building closer to the street and traffic and landscaping changes are made (here's the report)

Now, from what I hear (and not from your "forum"), the townhouses on the old Canadian Tire site is an interesting story. The developer of that property skipped town and built without permits from the city, and residents of that developed were screwed, and are not getting city garbage pick-up. As for 2737, it was an old hotel that probably wasn't doing that great by the end. I'd call that adaptive reuse.

But I think the immediate area's improving.

 

[screenplaying]

Thank you, sincerely. I waited a long time for a response like that! I'll take it even if it is through the rose-colored glasses.

I agree with you. As a long time resident of the area, I see intense beautification happening on 3 corners of Keele/Wilson. The 4th is a total screwup. Do me a favor and actually drive through the building property. Then tell me about the condition of the building. They recently paved the front driveway. Because it's the 'front' driveway.

The reports were confidential and are only very recently public. They discuss special treatment awarded the 2737 Keele property. The road plans are a mess and Phase 2 isn't happening. It's quite a mess you're glossing over.

I'm content. Thanks!

 

[ShonTron]

I think I know where you're going.

Yes, the back is a mess still from what I remember, but looks attractive enough from Keele (which I see more often). It also looks like the bottom floor's still being worked on for the medical offices.

I guess that will change once there's a decision on the "Terraces" phase on the top of the garage. Unlike you, I figure though that will go ahead - the councillor and the Ingleside residents (I know people in the area, another reason for my interest, that's where I heard of the townhouse ordeal and the Avenues plan) are not opposed, which might make it easier for the OMB approval (there usually isn't a development proposal that the OMB doesn't like, a common theme on this board). There's also the matter of the unfinished road, which I think is the problem of the townhouse complex.

 

[screenplaying]

I know that my last post and response to Sean in this old thread was censored (actually it was completely deleted). Just know that I did not agree with his take on the situation.

An update...

http://www.insidetoronto.com/news/northyork/article/32605?thePub=northyork

Westmount condo must go through public meetings before being developed

'It should be through the full planning process': Moscoe
BY SUSAN O'NEILL
October 30, 2007 12:07 PM

The owners of a North York condominium project won't have the opportunity to redevelop a parking garage located behind the former hotel without filing an official planning application.
Ward 9 (York Centre) Councillor Maria Augimeri attempted to convince her colleagues last Tuesday to include the Westmount condominium, at 2737 Keele St., in the Wilson Avenue study area, thereby enabling the property to be revitalized.

But Toronto council voted to exclude the site, which means the developer can't pursue a plan to build an apartment on top of the five-storey parking garage without a public process.

"The applicants made a planning application to convert the hotel that went through due process. There was no talk of stacking a building on top of the cement garage at the rear of the property," said Ward 15 (Eglinton-Lawrence) Councillor Howard Moscoe. "If the proponents of this proposal want to do something with this proposal, let them come through the front door, let them put in an application, let them hold the public hearings."

Had the property been included in the study area, the developer would have had the rights to build up to 10 stories on the site, without having to hold a public hearing, staff said.

Councillors were told that no planning application has been filed.

However, the North York committee of adjustment refused the applicant's two minor variances, which sought to develop an apartment on top of the parking garage.

"If you've seen the pictures of the area that is going to be redeveloped you'll see that it's a five-storey concrete parking garage and that if redeveloped that will certainly take the eyesore away from the community," said Augimeri, who presented a petition in support of the redevelopment signed by residents living in the converted hotel.

"There is no way to fix it except to put a new face on it," Augimeri added. "The new facade will make it fit into the streetscape and make it more attractive and that's one of the reasons the community is supporting it."

Augimeri's motion, which was defeated at North York Community Council, was lost in a 16-15 vote at the city level.

"A project may and perhaps should go forward with respect to this garage but it shouldn't be done in this way. It should be through the full planning process," Moscoe said.

Now my question to the experts here, and I seriously don't know the answer... is what happens at the OMB on November 13th? Can a developer argue for a project that doesn't even have a planning app submitted? You think the Auditor General is following this situation? <---I permitted myself one sarcastic tease