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AlvinofDiaspar

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From the Post:

Firm tries to counter 'bad guy' image over condo bid
North Toronto residents fear scale of project too big

Katie Rook, National Post
Published: Tuesday, October 03, 2006

A new front in the city's development wars has opened in north Toronto where residents are battling a proposed seven-storey condo development they say will disfigure their residential neighbourhood.

The Ontario Municipal Board is to decide the fate of RioCan's application to build a 101-unit condo with street-level stores on Avenue Road north of Lawrence Avenue.

"At the end of the day, the residents wanted the opportunity to say: 'Look, this is how we wanted our street to grow and develop, because we know it's going to develop.' The residents feel they didn't have the opportunity because this development is being rammed through," said Eglinton Lawrence Councillor Karen Stintz.

Last week, city council voted overwhelmingly against the application even though city planners supported it. Mayor David Miller cast one of five votes in favour of the development.

Residents are concerned the proposed project, sandwiched between St. Germain and Fairlawn avenues, is without an eastbound entrance from Avenue Road, forcing traffic on to nearby residential roads already laden with vehicles.

Residents are also worried the development will set a precedent for the construction of other large developments.

"Our concern is that this development will became a baseline, no developer will say they want less," said Robert Amaron, a spokesman for one of four residents groups opposing the application.

RioCan said it has held at least five meetings with residents' groups, and scaled back the plan because of their concerns, including a reduction of three metres on the top floors of the building's north side because of concerns about shadows on area houses.

"It's not like we're bad guys trying to pull a fast one," said Fred Waks, a RioCan spokesman.

Mr. Waks said many residents support the plan -- RioCan receives about five calls a week from locals inquiring about buying a condo as they downsize.

The developer first applied to build in November, 2004. In May, 2006, when the city did not deal with application amendments within its own timeframe, it appealed to the Ontario Municipal Board.

Mr. Amaron said the residents' groups are not opposed to all development, but say this project is too big for the neighbourhood.

"It is fair to say the range of opposition runs the gamut. There are people who don't want any development at all and that would certainly be a minority. Having been door-to-door, the broad consensus is [development] is premature and is a little bit excessive for the neighbourhood."

On Saturday residents held a rally that Ms. Stintz and mayoral candidate Jane Pitfield attended.

"We'd be happy to have the issue put to a vote in the area," said Mr. Amaron.

"If we were in fact a vocal minority, we wouldn't have the support of politicians who depend on the majority to get re-elected."

City lawyers will next week oppose the application when an OMB hearing begins. Residents have hired their own lawyer, who will also attend the hearing.

Ms. Stintz noted the Official Plan requires that communities are consulted about the impact of proposed developments, which she says has not fully been done in this project.

"This is an important test case for how the Official Plan is going to be implemented in the city," she said.

krook@nationalpost.com
© National Post 2006
_________________________________________________

Hmm, Karen and Jane - Minto is too big; a 7s condo with ground floor retail is too big. What is it that both of you want, a Mattel Barbie Playhouse?

AoD
 
Sounds like a perfect Avenues-style building.

For its reputation as being at the heart of a wealthy neighbourhood, I'm amazed by how dumpy the intersection of Avenue & Lawrence and Avenue Rd north of Lawrence is. It isn't any better than Dufferin.

I wonder what will happen if these types finally figure out that generic strip malls actually detract from a neighbourhood. They're ugly and cheap and destroy any form of asethetics. Manage to convince these folks that projects like these will actually increase their property values and I could see a dramatic shift in attitudes.

Though this IS Rio Can, so I may be assuming too much.
 
Well, the street and sidewalks *are* being currently rebuilt after something like 35 years, so that may mitigate the dumpiness factor somewhat. There is also supposed to be a BIA going in, so I think they're looking for a Bloor West Village-type of vibe to take hold. And that stretch actually contains hardly any strip malls at all, it's a pretty intact 2-3 storey streetscape. The only real gaps I can think of are the RioCan property, the two strip plazas on either side of Avenue and Lawrence, and the area where the McDonald's is. Other than that, it's a streetscape not unlike many parts of the Danforth, or Yonge for that matter. For North York, it's positively Bay Street-ish dense-urban in comparison to Dufferin, which has the misfortune of abutting many industrial districts.
 
Has Karen or Jane made any noise about the monster houses/McMansions going in all over that part of Toronto?

Good to see Miller voting in favour of this. This is exactly what the official plan calls for. The neighbourhood retail isn't bad at all, but it does look a bit shabbier than what should be expected.
 
Quote:

"...battling a proposed seven-storey condo development they say will disfigure their residential neighbourhood."

That's a new one for the nimby's to use. How can people get freaked out over 7 stories?
 
1717 Avenue Road

Ne plus ultra NIMBYism, from the Post:

'Neighbourhood is up in arms'
City Hall to ponder the future of an affluent pocket of North Toronto
Kelly Patrick, National Post
Published: Saturday, April 28, 2007

Dottie Wilson is enjoying a Montreal-style bagel across from the site of a proposed six-storey condo she fears will ruin her North Toronto neighbourhood.

"This is the highest grade in the city. It's going to be a monstrous building," she sighs as she as she finishes her breakfast at The Bagel House on Avenue Road, north of Lawrence Avenue West.

The Bagel House is a two-storey shop on a street full of two-storey shops.

Ms. Wilson, a senior citizen who has lived nearby for 47 years, would prefer Avenue Road stay that way, thank you very much. She is by no means the only one.

For nearly three years, residents of Bedford Park, Old Orchard Park and other upscale neighbourhoods bordering Avenue Road north of Lawrence have been locked in a fierce battle to keep developer RioCan from erecting a condo at 1717 Avenue Rd., where an LCBO and a Blockbuster Video currently stand.

The development's fate is in the hands of the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB), but thanks to deals cut with the city and the lead residents' group, it seems unlikely the project will be halted.

The OMB adjourned the case on Thursday. It will resume hearings in June.

The addition of one tall building to this stretch of Avenue, which is dotted with coffee shops, hair salons and ladies' boutiques, may not seem drastic enough to warrant the digging in of heels.

But residents fear the proposed condo's design will cast unsightly shadows, push more traffic down two residential streets and generally stick out like the proverbial sore thumb.

More important, neighbours fear the RioCan project will be the first of many, a sort of gateway for developers hungrily eyeing this affluent pocket of the city.

"We understand there has to be an evolution, but does it have to be a drastic evolution?" says Mrs. Wilson, who insists her beef is with the city.

Her friend Lillian Marson, a 42-yearold mother of two, puts it more bluntly.

"We find it mind-boggling that the city would destroy a stable, familyfriendly neighbourhood," she says.

With those concerns in mind, and with an eye toward preventing the bad blood that resulted from the RioCan fight, the city on Tuesday will officially kick off a study of the future of Avenue Road between Lawrence and Wilson.

Karen Stintz, the second-term city councillor for the area, said development in that stretch cannot and should not be stopped.

Avenue Road is slated as a growth area in the official plan City Council adopted in 2002 and would benefit from greater intensification, she said.

The key will be agreeing on a shared

vision of the area before the next contentious development application is filed.

That is the purpose of the Avenue Road study.

"When I look back at all the conflict we had [on the RioCan project] it was because the rules, expectations and the decision-making were not clear," Ms. Stintz said. "So there's a fundamental distrust of the process."

Prior to the past decade or two, Bedford Park, Old Orchard Park and the areas that surround them were filled with modest bungalows, mostly owned by seniors who had stayed put for decades.

The old bungalows were not sought after; the lots they sat on were.

The housing market boomed. Developers bought the bungalows, tore them down and erected million-dollar homes. Young, well-off families moved in.

"This neighbourhood is now a passing- through point for people who are getting their first taste of corporate Canada
and are on their way to Forest Hill," said John Nusca, the 45-year-old owner of Fairlawn Market, a fresh flower shop just south of the RioCan site.

Mr. Nusca has lived and worked in the neighbourhood all his life.

"We have a very well-heeled, vocal and now -- because of the RioCan fight -- a very defensive and acrimonious neighbourhood," he said. "The neighbourhood is up in arms."

RioCan officially filed its application to change the zoning bylaws to accommodate a seven-storey condo tower, with commercial tenants on the first floor, in October, 2004.

The plans called for no driveway onto Avenue Road, an artery to Highway 401 that is already clogged with traffic.

Instead, the entrance and exit to the plaza would be on two side streets, something residents feared would send more cars whizzing through down streets full of children.

Barring access to Avenue Road was the city's call, said Edward Sonshine, the president and CEO of RioCan.

"We'd love to keep our Avenue Road access, but the city has been very firm about that," he said.

Hundreds of people attended public meetings about the project in February, 2005, and again in February, 2006.

Last September, with a municipal election looming, city council voted 31-5 to oppose the project. (Mayor David Miller voted in favour of the development.) RioCan appealed to the OMB.

Bob Amaron, the secretary of the Bedford Park Residents' Association, said four residents' groups united to oppose the development at the OMB, with the city on their side.

His group took the lead and was granted official status at the hearing.

Then, a few weeks before this spring's hearing was slated to begin, the city settled with RioCan.

The two camps inked a deal that would see the building's height reduced from seven storeys to six and the total number of condo units capped at 90,Mr. Sonshine said. That left the residents in a bind.

The city would no longer be presenting evidence against the development at the OMB, meaning the residents would have to scrounge up the money to pay for a team of lawyers and consultants to fight the developers and the city.

"We had long, hard, highly emotional discussions about what to do," Mr. Amaron said.

In the end, they too cut a deal with RioCan -- but one that included traffic measures designed to nudge cars toward Avenue Road, not down Fairlawn and St. Germain avenues.

"I walked the streets the morning after and I had three people stop me to say we'd sold them out," Mr. Amaron said

The traffic deal, however, threw a wrench in the works.

At the OMB hearing, the city indicated it was not automatically prepared to grant the changes. Instead, they will have to be taken to North York community council next month, prior to the resumption of the OMB hearing.

Mr. Sonshine said he does not believe many of the existing commercial lots on Avenue Road are deep enough to accommodate a project like his condo, meaning fears of highrises lining the street are overblown.

Ms. Stintz also said there were, at the moment, no other highrise development applications in the pipeline.

"It's a wonderful neighbourhood, and people are never fans of change," Mr. Sonshine said. "But whether they like it or not, they're part of the city. Everything south of the 401 is urban."

Kpatrick@nationalpost.com

AoD
 
Oh, how silly. So silly, I think I'll make a pile of random responses.

The Bagel House on Avenue Road, north of Lawrence Avenue West
Click to expand...

Highly reccomended.

We understand there has to be an evolution, but does it have to be a drastic evolution
Click to expand...

You need to look up what "drastic" means.

We find it mind-boggling that the city would destroy a stable, familyfriendly neighbourhood
Click to expand...

Translation: 3 storeys = OK, 6 storeys = destroying families for miles in each direction.

streets full of children
Click to expand...

They really should find somewhere better to store their kids than the streets.

Edward Sonshine, the president and CEO of RioCan
Click to expand...

How can you argue with someone whose name is "Mr. Sonshine"?

We had long, hard, highly emotional discussions about what to do
Click to expand...

Maybe it's a good idea to stop depending on emotional arguments.
 
Wait a minute...

The neighbourhood's already been destroyed...by 3 storey homes with garages as basements fronting onto the street! The very nimbies who are complaining about a modest 6 storey building (totally appropriate unless north toronto has more in common with Parry Sound than they'd like to admit;) are the ones that bought these new homes that replaced old-fashioned bungalows!

I'll reserve full judgement until i see the development; possibly might be hideous. But that lcbo isn't exactly an architectural marvel either. Will have to walk that stretch myself--note to self or others with camera: why not have more photos of these neighbourhoods? That's where the "real" toronto is imho.
 
urbandreamer said:
why not have more photos of these neighbourhoods? That's where the "real" toronto is imho.
Click to expand...

Well, I hope that's not true... What makes this Toronto more real? The fact it seems to be ignoramus-infested? If that were the only "real" Toronto, I'd be packing it out of here lickety split.
 
The extreme language used is amusing. That said I for instance would not criticize vocal opposition that saught a moritorium on buldings above 5-6 storeys in an argument defending the low-rise character of a neighbourhood. My point being measured on a continuum of reasonability at some point the NIMBY's have a point.
 
Very amusing that Karen Stintz, originally elected by Yonge-Eglinton NIMBYs to oppose Minto Midtown, is now telling Avenue-Lawrence NIMBYs that they have to get used to some intensification. Maybe Ila Bossuns can exploit that in 3 1/2 years.

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