The new owner of the site wants to build an 82,391 square foot, 50 foot high (equivalent to 4-5 storey) retail building, which would include 2-3 ground floor retail units, another 50,000 sf retail unit on the second floor, and underground parking, accessed via both Broadway & Bayview.
The proposed a gross floor area of the lot area is 192% (149% excluding the enclosed loading/circulation area), where 100% is permitted. The proposed lot coverage is 95.7% where 33.33% is permitted. They proposed to have 223 parking spaces where a minimum of 275 is required.
They went to the Committee of Adjustment (COA) to have the plans approved as a minor variance. The COA heard the application and deferred consideration of it pending receipt of further information, such as might be provided in a Site Plan Application. For example, the Transportation Services Division had problems with the scale of the development, the driveway access locations and operations and on-site operations that could not be assessed with the level of detail provided
The applicant declined to submit a Site Plan Application - and cannot be compelled to do so. Instead they appealed the deferral to the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB). The Planning Act does not provide for an appeal of a deferral - but the OMB set the date of June 2 to hear argument on whether it is a valid appeal.
