Toronto 4800 Yonge Street | 168.24m | 49s | Menkes | Arquitectonica

Actually,.... Menkes 4800 Yonge applied to OMB the day after Province announce they will be reforming OMB (without specifying specific changes); Menkes getting in under the deadline,... regardless of where Province place deadline. City staff miffed since they felt both sides making some progress and negotiating in good faith,.... Menkes showing their intent to go to OMB regardless.

Biggest issues are:
- Mainly residential condo proposal in area zoned for 100m office only commercial development (Menkes argument of 1 Bloor East & West is different since those were previously zoned commercial retail use)
- City fighting hard for office only on this site since it's on subway interchange.
- Menkes proposed 12.0FSI density is insane,... since max is 4.5FSI within North York Centre Secondary Plan area with option to "buy" up to maximum of 6.0FSI density by paying for Section37 Community Benefits at higher rate.
In the end, whatever gets built here,... expect it to get chopped slightly in height but mostly in girth,... it'll be thinner,.... going from 12.0FSI to 6.0FSI will make this fat-piggy tombstone into a thin tombstone!

As I stated previously throughout this thread, generally height isn't too much of an issue since it basically matches HullmarkCentre North Tower but still might have to be chopped down a few floors,... there's seems to be proper transition from EmeraldPark east tower to south but not from Nestle Building to west.
 
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Actually,.... Menkes 4800 Yonge applied to OMB the day after Province announce they will be reforming OMB (without specifying specific changes)

Whether or not Menkes (or others) push to the OMB was motivated in part by the looming reforms, the date of the government's announced legislative intentions won't represent any kind of milestone. The "effective date" under the Act is to be the date of its coming into force:

http://www.ontla.on.ca/web/bills/bills_detail.do?locale=en&Intranet=&BillID=4936


We are still at second reading, with its legislative committee and third reading still to come:

http://www.ontla.on.ca/web/bills/bi...n&BillID=4936&detailPage=bills_detail_debates

There's still lots of time.
 
At the pre-hearing they determine who all will be participating, and to what degree, and then they are asked by when they can get everything together to present their case. Hearings used to be several months ahead. In the last year, with the huge rush to the OMB following the changes that are bringing in LPAT and TLAB, the demand for OMB time has doubled, and it's taking ages to find space in OMB member's schedules and to book rooms for the hearings!

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I've got a friend that works at the board as a case coordinator and he says that they expect it to be 3-4 years before the OMB closes up shop - the backlog of appeals is simply massive.
 
It makes me wonder how many appeals will be dropped simply because of the wait time to hear some of them, and if in fact this will cause a problem with new supply: will there be a noticeable percentage drop of new units coming to the market because so many developments are tied up for so long? No doubt developers and the City will continue to negotiate on some of the proposals, and 2-week-long hearings will end up being switched to day-long settlement hearings instead which can be slotted into space created by cancellations…

Anyway, it's all going to be quite fascinating to watch how the various pieces all fall into place over the next few years.

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A settlement has been reached and will be presented to LPAT on April 23. Hasn't been approved by council yet, but hopefully we'll get some docs when it is.

https://www.canlii.org/en/on/onlpat/doc/2018/2018canlii118861/2018canlii118861.html

Not bad, only 3-1/2 yrs.. on this one

4800 YONGE ST
Ward 23 - North York District

Construct a 49 storey mixed use building 37,411.42 square metres of residential and 536 dwelling units and 5 storeys of commercial and 6 storeys of below grade parking.
Proposed Use --- # of Storeys --- # of Units ---
Applications:
Type Number Date Submitted Status
OPA 15 250774 NNY 23 OZ Nov 12, 2015 Under Review
 
The minimal amount of office space here is a mistake.
I'm interested to see if that changes in the settlement. I can't imagine the City would accept the minimal amount of office space initially proposed when the North York Centre Secondary Plan states that the property should be 100% office.
 
Site is zoned for 100% office with old approval for Nestle twin tower (21-storey); Menkes' original proposal for 49-storey mixed use includes 4 floors of office space,... which would likely have been partitioned to Office Condos a-la Tridel HullmarkCentre across the street and thus only 1/3 get renovated into office space while other 2/3 remains empty cement shell,.... thus, Menkes' 4 floors of office space is really just 1.333 floors of Office employment area!

The local councillor and community is adamant that there be significant office space here at the corner of Yonge & Sheppard.

Menkes original proposal of 12.07FSI density is way off; it's double the highest density in North York Centre Secondary Plan Area (Tridel Hullmark Centre across Yonge St is 6.0FSI and EmeraldPark to south is 5.6FSI (with air rights from Church). Maximum Density allowed in North York Centre Secondary Plan Area is 4.5FSI but developer can go up to 6.0FSI but will be charged higher rate of Section37 Community Benefit development fees.
IMG_5026.JPG


Thus, to get Menkes original 4800 Yonge development proposal to something that's now has a settlement,.... there has to be significant changes. Guessing 12-21 storey office at base (Tridel HullmarkCentre north tower has 12-storey office at base, Nestle Office tower adjacent to west is 21-storey but total office space should be close to Nestle Building), residential condo on top with more 2-3 bedroom family units VS 1-bedroom bachelor. Density chopped in half from 12.07FSI to 6.0FSI and height remains at 168m.

Most seem fine with the original 168m height since it matches Tridel Hullmark Centre north tower; note: 100m is max height limit in North York Centre Secondary Plan Area but developers at key intersections with subway (here) can go higher but will be charged higher rate of Section37 Community Benefit development fees.

With the settlement,... the Section37 Community Benefit development fees and Parkland dedication should be significant. When Edithvale Community Centre opened, CityPlanning and Councillor had some development fees from various North York Centre developments used for acquiring more properties there to expand the adjacent park,.... Directly west of here, Lansing United Church got new Community Centre opening,... thus, their AlbertStanding Park should be expanded as well,.... hmmmm,....
 

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