← Back to summary
Full Transcript
"Scarborough Council Balances Growth, Community Concerns" - Scarborough Community Council - April 30, 2026
Scarborough · May 07, 2026
Hi folks. Can you hear me?
All right. Good morning, everybody. I'm
going to call this meeting to order. Uh,
good morning. I'm Deputy Mayor Paul
Aninsley. I'm the chair of Scar Bro
Community Council. Uh, we do have quorum
this morning. I'm now calling meeting
number 31 to order. Welcome everybody.
Today's meeting is being held by video
conference and in person here at the
Scar Bro Civic Center in the Council
Chamber. This meeting is also being
livereamed at youtube.com/tronto
city Council Live.
For the land acknowledgement, I'd like
to say on behalf of myself, my
colleagues, and all of our amazing staff
that although we may be meeting at
different locations today, Scar Bro
Community Council would like to
acknowledge the land we're meeting on is
the traditional territory of many
nations including the Missosagas of the
Credit, the Ana Nashabi, the Chipoa, the
Honi, and the Wend peoples, and is now
home to many diverse First Nations,
Inuit, and Matei people. We also would
like to acknowledge Toronto is covered
by treaty number 13 with the Missosagas
of the credit and the Williams treaties
signed with multiple Missagas and Chipo.
Uh if you were here this morning or
online to register to speak at today's
meeting, if you could please listen for
me to call your name, I'll be calling
speakers in the order that they appear
on our speakers list for each item as we
get to it. The list of speakers can be
viewed online by visiting the Scar Bro
Community Council page at the city's
website at toronto.ca
and clicking on the speakers box uh to
see where your name is.
Excuse me. Uh for members of community
council, just a reminder, the city clerk
has provided all of our agenda materials
on that same website page at toronto.ca
and also on the clerk's meeting portal.
Clerk's IT staff are available for
anyone if you need help with your
electronic devices. And a reminder to
please submit and approve motions that
you would like to put forward by email.
Staff are available at sec toronto.ca to
help with any motions. At this point,
I'm going to ask if there's any
declarations of interest under the
Ontario Municipal Conflict of Interest
Act.
Seeing none, can I have a motion to
confirm the minutes from our last
meeting of April 1st, 2026?
Moved by Councelor Thompson. All in
favor? That carries. I'm going to run
through the items on today's agenda.
Our first item is SC 31.1 3303 to 3313
Ellair Road official plan amendment and
zoning bylaw. This is a decision report
for approval. Uh, council sham
speakers. Sorry, my apologies. So, we do
have speakers for that one. So, I will
hold that.
Our next item is SC 31.2 3718 and 3730
Kingston Road zoning bylaw amendment.
This is a decision report for final
approval. We have speakers on that. I
will hold that my name.
Item number three, SC 31.3, 1710 and
1712, Ellisme Road, official plan
amendment, zoning bylaw amendment and
draft plan of subdivision application.
This is a decision report for final
approval. We have speakers on that item.
I will hold that in my name.
Uh SC 31.4 for 3000 3004 3008 302 and
3020 Kennedy Road draft plan of
subdivision. This is a decision report
for final approval. I'm holding that for
speakers.
Uh our fifth item SC 31.5 3130 Danforth
Avenue zoning bylaw amendment
application. This is a decision report
for final approval. We have speakers for
that as well.
Item number six, SC 31.6614,
Danforth Road zoning bylaw amendment.
This is a decision report uh with a
refusal recommendation in councelor
Candel's word. Councelor Candel,
>> I'll move staff recommendation if
there's no speakers. I believe there
aren't.
>> Nope, there's no speakers. Councelor
Candel is moving the staff
recommendations. All in favor? That
carries.
>> SC 31.7 changes to the Kennedy Road
business improvement areas Board of
Management. Councelor Thompson.
>> I can move the item.
>> Councelor Thompson is moving the
recommendations. All in favor? That
carries.
SC 31.8 A 226 scar bro Crescent an
application to remove a private tree.
There's uh speakers on this item so I
will hold that.
SC 31.92 Fairfax Crescent application to
remove a private tree in W 20 Scarbor
Southwest. Uh there's speakers on this
item so I will hold that.
Uh SC 31.10 10 naming of a proposed
street for a development at 253 Markham
Road and 1220 and 30 Dunel Street. This
is in my ward. I do have a motion. I'm
going to defer this.
I'm referring this item to the director
of engineering support services,
engineering and construction services
for further community consultation on
suitable names options that better
connect to the community.
Questions of
Sorry.
Are there I didn't think there were
speakers.
No, there's no speakers.
10. 10 on number 10.
That's okay. You had me worried for a
moment.
All right. All in favor of my motion
item as amended. All in favor? That
carries.
All right. We are on S number 11 SC
31.11 77 Victoria Park Avenue
construction staging area in W20 Scarbor
Southwest. Councelor Candel
moving a deferral motion as there's more
work to be done with this u sensitive
staging plan.
>> Okay. Does anybody have any questions of
the mover? No. All right. Councelor
Candel is moving deferral of this item
until our May 28th meeting. All in
favor? That carries.
Uh, item number 12, SC 31.12, Metro Link
subway subway extension, temporary
traffic modifications and public highway
dedications. Kennedy Station Connection,
Emergency Exit Building Number Three and
the Scar Bro Center Station.
Who wants this? Any holds? No, I I don't
have a problem with it. I'm actually
fine. So, I from me, Mr. Chair, I'm
happy. It don't know what my other
>> All right. Covers four awards.
You want to hold it? Okay. Being held by
council meers.
Item number 13, S3 31.13, Metro Links Go
Expansion Program, Reconstruction of the
Birchimount Road Bridge, temporary road
closure and transportation impacts. 420,
Scar Bro Southwest. Councelor Kennel.
Um, I can move the recommendation and
let folks know in the room we'll be
having a town hall on this on May 11th.
>> Okay. Councelor Cannibal is moving the
recommendations to number 13. All in
favor? That carries.
SC 31.14 Scarbor Village Street Plan. We
have speakers on this item, so I will
hold it.
SC 31.15 Scarbo Golf Club Road from
Kingston Road to Hill Crescent and
Gilchrest traffic calming or speed
humps.
I'm going to move this in my ward. All
in favor? That carries
SC 31.17 Nash Road and Tifffield Road
all stop control in W 23 Scarbor North
Council Meyers.
>> Oh, you missed one.
>> I missed one.
>> 16. My apologies. Bottom of the page.
Going back to SC 31.16 Ingleton
Boulevard, Alton Tower, neighborhood
connections, traffic calming for speed
humps.
Uh, I'd like to move the recommendation
and just say a quick thank you to Adam
Poppin who uh worked on this with the
community in my office. Uh, it's a great
outcome and very excited to see this
initiative move forward.
>> Okay. Thank you, Council Meers. All in
favor of the recommendations. That
carries. Now we have number 17 SC 31.17
Nashine Road and Tifffield Road all
hallway stop control 23 Scarbor North.
Council Myers.
>> I'd like to move staff recommendations.
>> Okay. Councelor Myers are moving staff
recommendations in number 17. All in
favor? That carries. Uh our next item is
a new item of business SC 31.18 Youth
Innovation Hub Initiative at the Scar
Bro Civic Center. Uh being put forward
by Councelor Thompson. Councelor
Thompson. motion to add it to the
agenda.
>> Uh yes, Mr. Chair. Thank you.
>> All in favor of adding this item to the
agenda. Thank you.
And then we have one more
which will be known as SC 31.18
1 N. My apologies which is a letter from
me that you should be receiving or have
received.
>> Okay. So I'm moving this is new
business. All in favor? That carries.
Thank you.
All right, we are going back to the
beginning.
So, our first item of business is SC
31.1, 3307, and 3313 Elmer Road. This is
an official plan amendment and zoning
bylaw application decision report for
final approval. Uh, we have four, five
registered speakers, sorry. And just for
all of the speakers, just to let you
know, um, so you have five minutes to
speak. The podium's up here in the
center on the the main floor. You have
five minutes to address uh community
council when your name is heard. Uh, the
practice that or the process that we
have is that once you've spoken for up
to five minutes, each counselor uh has
up to five minutes if they choose so to
ask you questions. Uh, once all the
speakers on the item are done, we ask
questions of staff. the same process. We
have up to five minutes each to ask
questions of staff on any given item. Uh
and then we bring it into committee as
we like to call it where you then have
we each have five minutes uh to speak on
the item at uh on any given item. So
that's how we're going to roll through
this morning. Uh so our first item, we
have five registered speakers. The first
speaker is Paul Molita followed by
Michael Tuscuso from the bigger group.
Daryl Brown, Nicole Curado and then Joy
Love.
So Paul Molita is Paul here
and the timer for your five minutes is
on the wall over there.
Morning
sir. Good to see you again.
>> Uh Mr. Chairman and committee. Uh my
name is Paul Molo. I live at 19 Conland
Road which is just uh a couple of stone
throws uh southeast of this development
at 3313 Ellismeir.
Um, I wanted to get a couple of
confirmations through uh the builder,
but I noticed he's not speaking today.
So, I'm not sure what accommodation has
been made to the two residents who are
affected by this huge development beside
their existing homes and the loss of
rear yard privacy that they will suffer
and the loss of uh property value if
they can sell the properties and also
the emotional stress they must be
experiencing now for the law for those
losses.
I urge the committee to re refuse this
zoning app amendment because the
proposed building basically dwarfs the
two dwellings and the residential uh
subdivision next to this uh development.
It will um adversely affect the uh
adjacent house property values
and this building is
designated as a high building under the
building code. It is a high building
because it exceeds 59 ft.
And the building code um has very
excessive and restrictive building code
requirements for such a building. It's
one of the most restrictive
um requirements next to high hazard
industrial
and the building code defines very
restrictive uh requirements. The code
writers recognize that the potential of
fire risk
and rescue
is um evident in such a building. And
that's why requires two-hour fire rated
floors,
sprinklering to gain access to future uh
and benefits to future requirements. Um
areas of refuge are required for this
building. Pressurized exit stairwells,
fireprotected
uh electrical conductors for emergency
systems in the building, firefighters
elevator, etc., etc., and a central fire
alarm control station for the fire
department. Very excessive, very
excessive
requirements more than for any other
kind of building.
And the and this emphasizes the major
difference between this building and the
adjacent residences.
And I'm concluding that the uh the
building's use and size is incompatible
with the nearby residences.
It doesn't fit.
And there is no accommodation that I'm
aware of to um address the concern of
the nearby residents which are only feet
away from this development.
It's an excessive intensification
with a high load of people.
The loss of privacy next door is just
poor planning and it is a it's in
inappropriate.
So I
I emphasize and urge the committee to
refuse approval for the resoning
application.
That's it.
>> Okay. Thank you, Mr. Molita questions of
the deput.
>> Sorry, Mr. Molita. Um, they would have
had a number of community meetings. Were
they well attended? Like were did you
address your concerns? Were you at the
community meeting and able to bring your
>> I was I was at the uh Rouge uh meeting
last uh last month.
>> Okay. And you brought your concerns
forward at the at that time.
>> I beg your pardon.
>> You brought your concerns forward?
>> Yes, I did. And I believe I wrote some
and issued them to various parties.
>> Okay. And how many your neighbors were
all at the meeting?
>> Neighbors?
>> Yep.
>> There was a very good turnout.
>> All right. Do you know how many people
were in the room?
>> Well, at the Rouge Rec Center, um there
were a good 50 people or more.
>> Okay. All right. Thank you very much.
Appreciate your time this morning. Our
next deput is Michael Testiguza with the
big Larry group.
Good morning, chair. Five minutes
whenever you're ready.
>> Perfect. Uh my name is Michael Tesuza
from the Big Area Group. I am here uh
representing the applicant uh for these
applications before you today. I'd like
to start off by saying that I uh have
reviewed the staff report and obviously
do support the recommendations and the
conclusions therein. I am primarily here
to address any comments that the
committee may have with respect to the
applications. Happy to also go over
changes that were made uh since the
community meeting um as well as discuss
matters of uh rear yard privacy. I will
say um respecting the previous
conversations and deputations made the
building will of course um be
constructed to comply with all the
requirements of the Ontario building
code. So I think that is important to
point out and the deput's quite right to
point out that those standards exist for
such um such buildings as uh is proposed
here. Um with respect to the matter of
re rear privacy, I would note that the
application has been designed to have
regard for the city's uh updated um
mid-rise guidelines. And I would also
point out from a height uh perspective
of course the property is um in line
with a oneto one a um height relative to
the avenue it fronts which is uh quite
typical for the city of Toronto. Uh but
again I will be uh in your hands here if
there's further questions um on the
report or on the application.
>> Okay. Thank you sir. Question to the
deput councelor Shan.
>> Thank you through you Mr. Chair. Um
there were a number of concerns that
were raised at the uh town hall uh the
consultation meeting that happened in
Roach Valley Community Center. I'm just
going to go through some of them to see
what was done from the initial proposal
to address some of those concerns uh
that that had taken place. Um, one of
the concerns raised uh, even though the
city does not have um,
the city's policy falls short in some
ways around the parking requirements uh,
for Scar Bro. Um, this has 746 beds. So
potentially at least 746 if it's meant
to be for students that that many
students in that building. uh how many
parking spots have been allocated and
what's being done to make sure that uh
the consideration that many students in
Scar Bro do have a car
>> certainly I'm happy to address that I do
think since the original proposal first
off um there have been reductions to the
building massing which has resulted in a
reduction of units and a reduction in
number of beds I think it's at uh about
625 now so there was a significant
reduction um following the uh the
community meeting um with respect to
both massing and the number of course as
you mentioned and it is important to
reiterate um this proposal complies with
all the city's requirements with respect
to minimum parking. So that's not
necessarily a consideration of the
zoning amendment that's being put
forward but I do understand the
practical considerations of that. Um, of
course, uh, with respect to that, there
are four, um, spaces at grade that have
been made available. Um the reason those
have been made available is to our
pickup drop off spots to allow for
short-term um you know with the advent
of Uber and and such other uh services
to allow for those people to be have
having space at grade and not needing to
go under into the underground and making
sure they're not idling on Elmir. And
there's also been made available at
grade two short-term parking spots which
will be for you know your Uber Eats or
your Amazon drop off where they would
not want to go into the underground also
don't need to be taking up space and
pick up drop off areas because those
people need to leave their car and drop
off their wares so to speak. So we've
made sure that there's space for those
at grade to avoid any kind of uh queuing
on the street. We've also provided um
the required amount of bike parking
spaces and of course the site's very
well um serviced by existing bus routes
that service uh uft scar bro as well as
of course two planned future transit
routes that will have stops immediately
in front of the site being the DSPRT and
the Egllington East LRT.
>> Thank you. I have a number of questions.
So, I'm just going to go through them in
in groups just so that I don't um miss
them in my time. Um environment related
concerns around water table and the
proximity to water table in the
development trees and shadow from a
health environmental health related
stuff. There were a number of concerns
that were raised uh by residents. So,
what what's changed from the initial
proposal on those?
>> Certainly. And and for all the residents
in the room, I would like to point this
out. Um I do know at the community
meeting there was several questions
asked with respect to groundwater. So I
did consult since that time with my
hydro geologist and had a conversation
with them. The way the building's been
designed with one level of underground
specifically been designed to avoid the
water table. That's important because a
it won't affect the flow of water of
groundwater in the area. um and it won't
result in any need for long-term
dewatering or um affect therefore the
level of the water. So that should
assange concerns with respect to
foundation settlement as well as with
respect to trees in the area that rely
um on groundwater. Of course, an
arborist report has been prepared um and
does indicate that the trees on the
neighboring properties to the south and
the east uh being the stable residential
neighborhood um not be impacted by the
proposal. Um, with respect to shadowing,
I do think there's an important change
that's been made with respect to that.
The building massing um is comprised of
two elements. Uh, an 11story massing at
the front and then a reduced massing uh
stepping down to seven stories in the
rear. Now, the 11story massing has been
designed to um be in proportion with the
avenue width at um 36 m. the depth of
that 11story massing has been reduced by
10 meters in consultation with staff and
in hearing the um discussions at the
community meeting. That reduction in
massing more or less lines up with the
depth of the properties that face Ellir
such that that 11story massing isn't
sitting um in the rear yards of the um
residential homes which uh front Mirror
and Nor Valley Court I believe it is. Um
and of course that reduction in massing
does also reduce uh the shadow impact on
the neighbors to the east in the evening
which is primarily when uh shadows would
be cast out in that direction.
>> Thank you Mr. Chair. Is it possible to
get an extension or I come back on a
second round if
>> yeah
if there's any your call if our
colleagues have any questions.
>> Yeah then do a second round
no others. N
>> councelor Shan you want second round?
Yes, please.
>> All in favor of second round carries. Go
ahead.
>> Thank you. Um have questions around the
space between the neighbors space from
the front. Uh the setbacks. Uh there
were concerns around how small the
setbacks were when the initial design
were proposed. Has there been changes
made to that?
>> Uh certainly yes. Um so I do want to
point out because there was some
confusion at the community meeting. I do
think firstly the front yard setback is
worth uh discussion. So there is a 5 m
road widening being provided. In
addition to the 5 m road widening,
there's a 4.2 meter frontyard setback
being provided that allows for potential
further expansion of the avenue uh if
needed to support the um two um transit
projects I previously mentioned. So all
in all, the building itself is going to
be set back about 9 meters from the back
of curb. to about 30 ft. So, um I think
that pictorially people may have had an
impression that the building was sitting
right up on the street. Again, it should
be about 30 feet or about 9 mters back
from the back of curb allowing for a lot
of streetscape planting um and uh and
generous pedestrian zones in that area.
With respect to the eastern yard and the
southern yard, um the buildings always
maintained a 7.5 meter setback once you
got beyond the uh depth of the first
avenue uh of the properties, the front
Elmir. Um and that's obviously guided by
the mid-rise guidelines. I want to point
out that a typical mid-rise building
would only have those 7.5 meter setback
at the rear. We recognize that there are
neighbors to the east and so we've
provided that 7.5 meter setback to those
rear yards on the east as well. Atypical
from a normal mid-rise building is
there's no rear lane in this instance.
So that entire 7.5 meters is able to be
landscaped with um new trees that
obviously are able to grow pretty
significantly compared to a tree that
would sit in a 1.5 meter um planter
strip at the rear of a typical mid-rise
building. So, we are planning on
planting um uh pretty significantly
along both the eastern and southern
yards. In addition, a change that was
made um following community meeting and
it may seem inconsequential, but I don't
think it is. Along the eastern property
line um at the community meeting, the
building was set back 1.2 meters for the
depth of that first property, the fronts
onto Elmir. In consultation with staff
and hearing the commentary, we've been
able to increase that setback. That's
one of the massing revisions I referred
to to 3 meters. Again, 1.8 meters seems
inconsequential, but in this instance,
it's not. It allows for enough room to
provide for planting along the entire
eastern sideyard setback, even facing
the properties or adjacent to the
properties which front onto Elmir. When
it comes to property, significant robust
and privacy, significant robust uh
planting along the property lines is
typically a planner's um goto design
solution. Uh but I will note in addition
that there are no balconies being
proposed along the eastern and southern
uh facades of the building and further
that the uh the amenity space on the
seventh floor roof. um the outdoor
portion of that has been completely
segmented to the western portion of the
building and buffered from the neighbors
to the east via the um a sevenstory
amenity area. So the amenity area is
completely on the west. Sorry, I'll stop
talking.
>> Thank you. Um my last set of question or
last um area of concern is around uh the
impact on UTSC and has uh University of
Pronos Scarra campus
you know engaged with you in this
process. Has there been some feedback
from them? Have you incorporated
anything that they have provided? Can
you elaborate on any of those things?
>> Certainly. Yeah. I I do want to point
out um and someone from uft scar bro uh
did attend the community meeting. Uh I
have had a couple of meetings with them
as my clients. Uh it is important for
everybody here to know this is not a
University of Toronto Scarbor project.
They wanted just to make that very clear
and of course we want to as well. Um the
proposal is geared towards student
rental that is the target audience. So
it is going to be a rental 11story
rental project. Um you know there have
been initial discussions with uft scarbo
with respect to student populations,
their needs um you know their harmony
commons, how full that building is. Uh
but honestly um we will look for all
opportunities to partner with them into
the future um if those kind of make
sense for both parties.
>> Thank you Mr. Chair.
>> Okay. Thank you councelor Shan. Other
questions of the deputent? Seeing none.
>> Thank you sir.
>> Uh our next deputent is uh Daryl Brown.
I I do have a presentation. So, uh just
need to connect it.
The IT staff, audio staff are on their
way down.
There you go. You have five minutes.
Whenever you're ready.
>> I think we're good to go.
>> Uh, good morning, chair, members of the
committee council. Uh, my name is Daryl
Brown. I've lived in Toronto for over 40
years, 15 years near the Rouge Gil Go
station. Uh, six months ago, I was a
candidate in the bi-election that
councelor Shen was successful at.
I'll be speaking today on uh item 311,
the official plan and zoning bylaw
amendment for 3307 and 3313 Elmer Road
and uh in support potentially of a
broader motion uh dealing with some of
the issues brought up in the sun form uh
through you chair. Uh the question
before you today is not whether growth
should happen. Clearly it should uh the
question is whether the is being
approved in a way that is consistent
with adopted policy and available
infrastructure.
This proposal is not a minor
intensification. It is a full conversion
from lowdensity residential zoning to a
mixeduse designation with sight specific
exceptions that override standard limits
on density, height, and built form. that
makes this a precedent setting decision
not just for this site but for the Ellir
corridor and for Highland Creek more
broadly. Uh six months ago during the
course of the campaign I was involved
with I uh I ran a public survey of W 25
residents uh two findings are directly
relevant to what we're talking about
today. Over 68% of the respondents to
that survey said the city does not
engage with W 25 well and roughly 98%
express concern about infrastructure
strain from new development. Those are
not abstract concerns. They map directly
onto planning considerations,
transportation capacity, servicing and
community infrastructure which must be
evaluated under the planning act.
residents are not rejecting growth. They
are rejecting growth that opaces
infrastructure.
Uh this brings me to the uh Highland
Creek Community Secondary Plan. Uh it's
not aspirational. It was adopted by
council policy. It's a council policy
intended to guide development decisions.
If an application does not conform to
that policy, the appropriate response is
not an automatic approval. amendment. It
is to pause and assess whether the
proposal is consistent with the broader
planning framework and that leads to the
central issue. There is no visible
cumulative impact analysis here.
Today's agenda includes multiple
development approvals across scar bro.
But what is missing for this application
and others is a ward level understanding
of transit capacity, school capacity,
healthcare access, and parking demand.
Without that, decisions are being made
on a sightby-sight basis while impacts
are felt systemwide.
So, I'm asking community council to do
three things.
First, support the motion being brought
forward to reassess parking policy in
Scar Bro, including minimum requirements
on parking availability, on street
permit access, and transit parking so
that policy reflects the actual Scarboro
transportation conditions. Second,
before approving this application, ask
staff to clearly state on the record
what the cumulative infrastructure
analysis has been. uh conducted for this
corridor and for the surrounding
community. And third, at a minimum,
defer this application pending a
cumulative infrastructure and
transportation assessment. This is not a
rejection of growth. It's responsible
sequencing of growth.
Undoubtedly, Scar Bro is growing, but um
we don't dispute that the growth that is
not aligned with infrastructure, policy,
and local context risks under ing both
community stability and public trust.
Residents are not asking you to stop
growth. They're asking you to plan it
properly. And today that responsibility
sits with this table. Thank you.
>> Thank you, Mr. Brown.
>> Any questions of the deputy?
N see none. Thank you very much.
Appreciate your time this morning. Uh,
our next speaker is Nicole Curado.
Nicole here. Nicole's online. Nicole,
>> great. You have five minutes.
>> I grew up around that very area and that
particular area where they want to build
these student resident condos are going
to be and rental spaces. It's an
absolutely beautiful area. It it
disturbs me just how many trees are
slated to be cut to build this this
place. And it's just it's the proximity
to Highland Creek. It's all the trees
being cut. It's not necessary to cause
that much destruction in order to build
this place. That that spot should be a
park. It shouldn't be shouldn't be uh
paved over. It's just cutting all these
trees will will absolutely change the
community. It will create wildlife
conflict. It'll cause all kinds of
problems. We don't need those trees cut.
I want the area to be protected as a
park.
If you build this place, it'll spoil
what what that area is. And that's
little quiet, gentle area with a lot of
trees.
All right. Thank you, Miss Carto. Much
appreciated. Any questions of the deput
hearing? None. Our next deputent is Joy
Lohen.
Morning,
Miss Loen. You have five minutes
whenever you're ready.
>> Thank you. Good morning, uh, members of
council. My name is Joy Lohen. I am the
president of the Highland Creek
Community Association, and I'm here on
behalf of residents to express strong
opposition to this process, this
proposal, sorry. At its core, the
application asks you to do something
that has no precedent in our community.
To consolidate two residential detached
lots and reszone them to mixed use. That
matters because once you approve it, the
question is no longer whether this fits
the community. The question becomes on
what basis could you refuse the next
one. This is exactly the kind of lot
assembly and intensification that
council explicitly cautioned against
when approving multiplex policies,
stating clearly that those permissions
were not to be interpreted as
justification for assembling lots within
stable neighborhoods for
intensification. So I ask, why would
that principle not apply here? I also
want to address several points in the
staff report that are being used to just
to justify approval. First, the
suggestion that these properties are
underutilized. They are not. They are
functioning fully zoned residential
lots. If they are vacant, that is a
private ownership decision, not a
planning rationale. We cannot allow
vacancy, intentional or otherwise, to
become a backdoor argument for
intensification.
Second, the reliance on higher order
transit.
This area is not currently designated as
a major transit station area, nor is it
planned as one. And given timelines,
funding uncertainty and shifting
priorities, any meaningful transit
expansion is likely decades away.
Planning based on hypothetical
infrastructure is not good planning. It
is speculation.
Third, the claim that Ellir Road
functions as an avenue that is simply
not correct in this context. At the
February 5th, 2025 council meeting,
staff confirmed multiple times that
secondary plans prevail over avenues
policies. Highland Creek is governed by
a secondary plan. Staff also confirmed
that the urban structure map, map two,
does not account for areas covered by
secondary plans despite Ellir appearing
on that map. So again I ask on what
planning basis is Ellir being treated as
an avenue here when council was clearly
told it was not fourth the shadow
studies even in their current form and I
I I granted that they were amended they
show significant shadowing still of
neighboring properties particularly to
the east from mid to late afternoon
through sunset during the very months
when residents most value outdoor space.
And yet this impact is not meaningfully
acknowledged in the report. Residents
are being asked to accept a future where
their backyards, spaces they have
invested in and relied on, lose sunlight
during the most usable part of the day.
So I ask, who decides how much sunlight
a resident is entitled to?
Fifth, privacy. The level of overlook
into neighboring homes and backyards is
excessive and unavoidable given the
scale and proximity of this building.
This is not a minor adjustment to a
neighborhood fabric. It is a fundamental
and permanent intrusion. And finally,
the broader justification, the housing
crisis. We hear this often, but this
proposal is a purpose-built student
rental building. It is not family
housing. It is not ownership housing.
and there is no evidence presented that
it addresses a demonstrated shortage in
student accommodation, particularly when
the university itself has indicated no
significant enrollment growth and is not
partnering with this developer.
Meanwhile, council has already approved
approximately 180,000 residential units
that remain unbuilt
along avenues where growth is intended.
So, the issue is not zoning, the issue
is delivery. Continuing to approve
developments that are not contextually
appropriate simply under the banner of
housing does not solve that problem.
I also want to speak to the community
consultation at the meeting held and the
developers representative. There was a
near full house of residents and they
were not divided. They were not
uncertain. They were overwhelmingly
opposed and their concerns were clear
and consistent as councelor Shan has
stated. lack of adequate parking,
destruction of the existing tree canopy,
and significant shadowing impacts. These
are not abstract planning concepts. They
are real daily quality of life issues.
In closing, this proposal is not a
modest evolution of the neighborhood. It
is a fundamental departure from it. It
relies on misapplied policy, unsupported
assumptions, and impacts that are
understated or ignored. It disregards
clear community input and it sets a
precedent that will be very difficult to
contain. I urge you to reject this
application.
>> Thanks Joy. I'm pretty much right on
time.
Uh questions of the deputy
councelor Shan.
>> Thank you. Thank you Joy for um your
delegation deputation today. I just
wanted to ask you um the previous
speaker Daryl had a um great um
point around infrastructure availability
and development and so on. So this is
building to a lot of the future
possibilities. What is the strain as the
neighborhood association you see already
in the neighborhood around some of the
infrastructure pieces as these
developments go?
>> Um concern around infrastructure. Well,
it we have a secondary plan for a reason
and that is to keep the Highland Creek
community um not necessarily as is. We
don't mind the growth. We don't mind
those pieces, but we have issues with um
with roads, the infrastructure. Um,
we've got uh parking issues. We know
that there are no minimal parking. So,
what we have now is we've already got
vehicles that are on these these other
streets parking because there's nowhere
to park. Uh, this will make it much more
difficult. Um, we don't have uh the
roadway structure. We've got the large
units built at the bottom of Military
Trail. Uh, and we don't have any road
work infrastructure to facilitate all of
that. Um there is the underground water
that is a consistent concern. We've got
houses that have a sump pump that works
247. So what happens when you start
building more infrastructure? What
happens to the to the land that we are
living on? Um so there's the tree
canopy. Um there are an awful lot of
trees that are being um set up for
destruction to allow for severance of
properties to allow for multiplexes. All
of these pieces are outside the the
values of the community and and they
don't fit within how Highland Creek has
been set up as based on the uh secondary
plan.
>> Thank you. I have one more one more
question. Um you mentioned
>> Sorry folks, just as a point of order. I
know people have a lot this is a very an
emotional issue for the community. I
have the ward on the other side of the
street. Um but our procedural bylaw I'm
not you're not really supposed to clap.
So, if we could refrain from the
clapping, um, I'd appreciate it. During
the Rob Ford years, you used to, we got
around that. Everybody waved their
hands. So, hand waving is allowed, but
clapping is Thank you.
>> Sorry to interrupt, counselor.
>> That's all right. Um you mentioned uh
that
the the associations uh heard uh that in
the past uh staff confirm that the
secondary plan supersedes the revenue
policy. Can you elaborate on where that
happened and what what context that that
was shared with you?
>> It was uh it's online. It was February
council 2025. Jennifer McKelie um I
believe specifically asked three times
about avenues versus secondary plan and
was confirmed by city staff that the
secondary plan supersedes the avenues.
So that would mean that Elmere is not
considered an avenue in this context. So
that was confirmed multiple times. It is
online that you can view it.
>> Thank you very much.
>> Thank you councelor Shan.
>> Thank you councelor. Councelor Thompson.
>> Yes. Thank you through you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you very much for your
presentation, ma'am. What type of
development should be at this location?
>> Well, that's a really good question. Um,
our secondary plan really, um, allows
for the homing. Um, so there is, I
believe, four plexus would be allowed
through, um, through the city planning,
but that would be the maximum that would
be allowed. But again, that would have
to be taken into account um, the tree
canopy. There are some massive trees on
that property. So I I believe that the
Highland Creek community would have
issues with anything that is going to
take that down uh for anything bigger
than uh the single dwelling that is
what's in the secondary plan.
>> Fair enough. Thank you very much for
that. I I really wanted to elicit from
you um a response which you have given
me basically saying there are challenges
to this particular site and whether or
not it's a forplex sixlex sixlex I don't
think is
>> that is not allowed. No council is being
prototype and so on.
>> No sixplexes.
>> Yeah. So I really just wanted to have
your sort of opinion on
responding because some will say uh the
deputens in the community are focusing
on nimism and so on and want no
development. That's not actually what
you're saying.
>> Correct. saying that this is not in
keeping with respect to the community in
terms of its tradition the the built of
the community and this is certainly out
of place. I mean it's a monstrosity of a
building quite frankly. That's what I
see.
>> It is and it's it's not necessary. It is
a rental. It doesn't solve any of the
issues that we have in the city.
>> Right. And so I was going to get there.
No, that's fine. Um because we have a
obviously in in Scar Bro there are
22,000 people waiting for RG to income
for example. And in fact my office has
just done some math in terms of looking
at the housing needs. The way the amount
that we're building now to meet our
12,000 goal in Scar. We've done 250. You
could actually wait for 77 years
to get housing. So that means you could
be born and basically pass away without
actually getting housing. You are in
favor of supportive housing that's
actually constructed and built area
specific that actually is warranted. Of
course, growth within the the community
that fits within the community, we are
all for,
>> right?
>> But, you know, we we work against things
like the the tree canopy where there are
guidelines around that. We we so we work
with that as well, but we are not
against um growth that fits within the
secondary plan, fits within the context
of our community and doesn't destroy
other things in the process.
>> Right. And so, my final question for you
would be what would be your
concern um this matter went to the OT
for example which takes it out of our
hands take out of the community's hands
and then to a body um a quasi judicial
body that actually has no real
consideration at least as my words for
the community's interest we're simply
looking at obviously verbage on paper
that allows them to make the decision
how do we kind of rightize that piece of
it and and your leadership on behalf of
a community and the community as a
whole. How do we rightsize that with
respect to the application?
>> Yeah, that's a great question. Um our we
would prefer it not to go to OOLT. Um
there's no ability for us to provide our
case. Um there is no back and forth and
I believe the majority of everything
that goes to OOLT is passed. In fact,
committee of adjustments, we've had
people that want COA to decline because
they want to go to OOLT because it's
easier. So, I think there is a
disconnect there that needs to be
corrected where people prefer to go to
OOLT as to talk to this this area. Um,
that is all kinds of wrong to me. So,
our preference would not be to go to
OOLT. So
again, I I think that if we can keep it
within the secondary plan, this this
property isn't close to that, right? 11
stories is nowhere near like we're not
allowed that. So I I don't know how to
manage those two together uh and prevent
it from going to OOLT. I would prefer it
not to, but I don't have an answer for
how that's going to work when the
developer has made concessions, which is
great, but the concession is instead of
12 stories, it's 11. you know, instead
of one step back. Okay, we'll give you a
couple of extra meters. That's not what
we are looking for. That is still well
outside the guidelines.
>> Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
>> Thank you, Council.
>> Council Myers.
>> Uh, thank you through your chair. Um,
you said in your deputation that there
is no evidence that this housing is
needed. um what are you basing that on?
>> So I've been in meetings with UTSC. Uh
we asked them about student housing. We
asked them about the growth of the
students that are going to campus. In
the next 5 years there is no growth. Uh
even after that it is nominal. So
confirmed by UTSC there is no student
housing requirement. Um they are
building their own student housing. Um
I'm not sure they might have more on the
go for student housing. So they are
looking after that themselves. So they
didn't see any need to have outside
student housing.
>> And have you spoken to Centennial
College?
>> Uh no I have not.
>> Okay. Um and in your conversation with
uh University of Toronto Scar Bro, uh
did you ever have conversations with the
students union?
>> No.
>> No. Okay. Um and then I guess the other
the final question is is did University
of Toronto Scar Bro provide any sort of
written
um confirmation that this was not needed
or was it just a verbal conver? this
this so um the representative for the
developer did say that the UTSC was at
the community engagement that was Brent
Duga from the UTSC who verbally said not
and I don't want to put words in his
mouth did not necessarily it was not
needed he said that there was no um no
partnership nor was there any
foreseeable partnership and there was
also no increase in the students so I
would have to go back to Brent to see
exactly what he did say or meant to say
at that but that was the implication in
front of a full house at that
consultation.
>> Thank you. And just for my
clarification, was that no increase in
students due to the fact that the
federal government has limited the
number of foreign students or you don't
know?
>> No, actually I do know. So the foreign
students itself had has little to no
impact on UTSC.
>> Okay. Okay. Thank you. Okay. Thank you,
Council Meers. I believe that is all the
questioners and Joy is the last
deputent. Thank you very much, Joy.
>> And we're taking it into committee for
questions of staff. Questions of staff.
Councelor Shan.
>> Thank you. Um Mr. Chair, uh through you
to staff. Um I want to start with the
question around the secondary plan and
the avenue policy. Um can you clarify
how you see those two documents
intersecting?
So through the chair, the um avenue
identification does form part of map 2.
The secondary plan means that it is not
a corridor wide and blanket permission
underneath that designation from a land
use perspective on the land use maps in
chapter 4. Each consideration of an
application would be on a siteby-sight
basis as is before you today. Um but the
work phase two of the avenue work which
would individually look on a
corridorwide basis is underway and I
believe two wards have been completed. W
25 is in stage three of that process.
>> Thank you. when you say case by case um
you know when this proposal was being
discussed they often talked about the
building opposite to it and and how much
of existing buildings dictate what the
next case by case because if it's done
once uh the the the worry is that with
lack of infrastructure if elsewhere
starts to intensify the similar way it
would increase the strain tremendously
in the local community on number of
public amenities
So through the chair in reviewing a a
case by case application by application
basis, it's reviewed against both the
existing and planned context. As you
pointed out, across the street, um the
student residence building is uh similar
in scale. It's a meter or two shorter in
in height, but a similar mid-rise
building. And um the land use
designation immediately across the
street is institutional areas. We can't
really speak to how that those lands
will develop. Bill 185 removed
universities from uh council's purview
under the planning act. So any plans
that they have they'll show us but we
can't necessarily influence or or change
but um this sort of context of military
trail and and is contextualized by
larger mixeduse buildings. Um as you
move further east of course it is
primarily a residential low density
context.
>> Thank you. Um the the type of tenants
that will end up being in this building
is not a consideration that you've used
for this approval process. It's part of
a later discussion. You've just looked
at the physical part of the is that
right
>> through the chair. That's correct. The
tenency of the building while contextual
does is not secured in the zoning bylaw.
>> Okay. And it's not something that you'll
be able to use in your tool tools to
refuse or accept approve an application
>> through the chair. That's correct.
>> Um, have you had conversations with UTSC
and it's it's a commun this is actually
looks like when if it's built it will
look like it is part of their buildings.
It's just right located right in there.
Has there been any communication formal
or informal that's communicated to you
what their uh challenges or support if
there is um through the chair our our
staff meet bi-weekly with a a project
committee at UF which includes Mr. Duke
Good as the deputent put out. Um there's
no formal relationship between the
university and and and this building.
However, it's um I'll say reflective of
what we see around other post-secary
institutions. Um the downtown uft campus
have been a lot of uh rental buildings
constructed that are tenanted by
students because it's close to where
they study. Um and by extraction, they
would just be walking across the street
to class. they would need less vehicles
and um traffic generated. They would be
walking cycling to their classes.
>> Thank you. My next question is around
infrastructure analysis that was talked
about by Darl, one of the deputants. Uh
have we done a bit of a understanding of
what impact of this or possibly similar
intensification will have on uh we saw
that in we seeing that on Kingston right
now you know potentially elsewhere. Has
that been done and and looked at? The
reason I asked this, I'll contextualize
as we lead to the kind of the time limit
is that you know in waterfront LRT is
being built possibly for a population
that is going to be coming whereas
Scarra has population but we've had to
struggle so many years to get a subway
extension and now let alone this LRT
project that that is not really um seen
as a priority for other levels of
government. So are we building for
something without having the context of
how far and and and so that
infrastructure analysis is can you do
have we done that with the current
structure in addition to thinking about
what the possibilities of future is
>> through the chair and I'll try to be
brief and potentially my colleague Mr.
Khan may be able to layer on an answer.
So council has obviously last week made
made moves to um advance the STERT. Uh
there is an infrastructure review that's
undertaken with every application on a
case- by case basis that takes into
account background growth. We have a
decent handle around the infrastructure
necessary to grow the university to its
aspired 35,000 students and 2500
faculty. That's what the university
wants to grow to. and um this the zoning
bylaw in front of you. In principle, we
understand where the pipes will drain
and what the work is that needs to be
done uh to confirm and that is why the
application is subject to a hold. So, it
will not proceed until that work is
completed such that we are comfortable
that there is enough capacity to advance
the application.
>> Chair, I'll I'll ask for extension maybe
after the speakers have finished for
another round of questions if that's
possible.
>> Okay, let's see how our colleagues do
first. Councelor Myers.
>> Thank you. Uh through you, Chair. I
guess I'm maybe I'm not cap maybe I'm
not understanding something. So if
there's a similar building that's being
built by UFT of a similar scale and
size,
uh did it encounter a similar similar
level of community concern?
>> Uh through the chair, um
testing my memory, this would have been
in in the in 2020. Uh there were public
meetings there was um a level of uh uh
concern around uh scale but um
dare I say because it was a university
project a little bit more latitude was
given to it but there were deputants
related to the the size and scale of the
building I believe at community council
that day.
>> Okay. So this project then is sort of
not setting any precedent. the precedent
was already set by the initial project
that University of Toronto went ahead
>> through through the chair. It is uh a
different land use designation across
the street. So and the avenue and the
avenue the avenue overlay was not in
place at the time. So an institutional
areas designation across the street on
university lands. These are
neighborhoods designations that have
been requested to be redesated to mixed
use under a new avenue overlay. So it's
a a different policy context that exists
than in 2020. So there's a different
policy context, but the the scale of the
buildings are similar. If I was just to
walk past both buildings, I wouldn't
say, well, this is residential, this is
institutional.
>> Through the chair, the scale of the
building is is similar. Um, one is
obviously clearly marked as a student
residence.
>> Okay. And then regarding the um
provision for the hold, does the hold
also include so I see um the proposal
will intensify an underutilized site. uh
according to the Avenue policy. Does it
also include the hold also include the
Egllington East LRT or I guess now the
Scarbo East rapid transit and the Durham
Scarbo bus rapid transit lines
>> and through the chair the hold is for uh
below grade infrastructure only
>> sorry
>> below grade infrastructure only pipes
and sewers
>> pipes and stuff. So would it not make
sense then to have the hold extended to
also include the STERT? I don't know
what's happening with the Durham bus
rapid transit.
>> Hard for me to comment on the bus rapid
transit. However, the hold for mobility
um is uh is not recommended because from
a transportation perspective the review
concluded that the network can
accommodate the additional trips
generated by the development. the
existing transit network, the theist,
the existing uh vehicle trips generated
by the development as well as buses.
There's uh approximately
20 or so buses that pass the site on a
daily basis plus go and Durham service
at the UF Transit Plaza just around the
corner.
>> Thank you. And then have you staff have
conversations directly with uh
University of Toronto Scar Bro um
Centennial College and or the students
union at either school to sort of
understand the need for
um student housing in this area.
um through the second through the sorry
through the chair um not recently I
would say from a student perspective
through the secondary plan process the U
oft scarro is um currently developing a
secondary plan which is generally a
governance document at this point given
our lack of planning act authority but
um most post-secary education
institutions are large trip generators
as it relates to faculty and students
people come from distance to campus UTSC
has expressed a desire to be less of a
commuter campus So more walking and
cycling with their um advocacy on their
their cycling work, their their
pedestrian networks and of course their
advocacy for transit through the SCRT
process.
>> So would this proposal then be
consistent with the vision of where UTSC
sees itself going less of a commuter
campus, more of a campus where students
are living on the campus as well as
studying?
>> Yes, through the chair that's that's
generally correct. Again, they expressed
the desire to grow to about 35,000
students in the next 20 years or so. Uh
there's a a recently opened
instructional building on Military
Trail. The medical academy is under
construction. Their parking lots are
turning into buildings. So they need
people to be a little closer by to
attend those attend those classes.
>> And did when in your conversations with
UTSC, did they I think it was Joy, the
last deputy, said that they believe that
this was not needed. Is that consistent
with your conversation
>> through the chair? Um it's hard for me
to equate that. I know that the
international student limit has slowed
their growth projections. Um, but they
still do wish to grow uh largely because
the other campuses at UT are pretty
landlocked and have limited growth
potential and there's a lot of growth
potential north of Belme here. And final
question, have you had uh conversations,
I guess, with Centennial College because
I don't recall in this area any uh
student housing for Centennial students.
And have you do you know if the students
of the expected medical campus, would
they have adequate residence in this
area based on what uft UTSC is currently
building? um through the chair. I
believe the residence that was current
that is now built is an undergraduate
residence only. Um the medical school
will have a mix of graduate and um
undergraduate students. Uh Centennial
College, we haven't had a lot of
conversations around this particular
campus more around the um Mock Central
campus just to the east of us here.
There is a new building that is under
construction and and about to be
completed at Morningside in Elmmeir that
is geared towards students. I believe
they even branded it the residence um
which
20 something stories and 300 units. So,
there's clearly a need for housing in
the area plus pressure is put on the
neighborhood from a multiplex
multi-tenant housing which has been a
long-standing issue in the neighborhood
trying to meet that housing need.
>> Okay, thank you very much.
>> You're over. Thank you. Uh Council
Thompson, questions of staff.
>> Um thank you very much. Um Mr.
um set the table for me uh with respect
to this matter if it is refused by this
council in terms of the direction on the
OOLT um consideration
of this application.
What are some of the areas where we are
either negligent and or our policies
does not support the development of this
particular site which is in keeping with
respect to the application that's being
proposed.
>> Um
>> it's a big table by the way
>> through through the chair council
councelor I'll have to answer in general
terms and then maybe you can follow up
if that's okay.
>> Yeah. Um so should the application not
be successful um given that staff have
recommended approval, the city solicitor
would be um defending council's refusal
uh without the benefit of uh staff
evidence. Uh the city solicitor and my
my colleague Mr. Peele can elaborate
would need to retain outside planning
consultants to defend council's position
>> if we can get them
>> if if
if if they're available. Yeah. Or if if
somebody will take that position as as a
as a professional planner.
>> Did you want to add anything
>> through the chair? No. My colleagues
answered.
>> All right. So, I just want to make sure
I reset and right set this this matter
going to the OT. Their um
process is simply to look at planning
application and planning policies. Would
I be correct with respect to that
assessment
>> through the chair? So the Ontario land
tribunal functions as basic what they
call adhering denovo. What that means is
is the tribunal will assess all of the
evidence and apply the statuto tests
under the planning act application and
assess whether the application
constitutes.
So the community's position is largely
weakened by obviously the steps that Mr.
Ventresa has just stated which is a a
city staff are actually recommending
this application. Firstly, could you
answer that?
>> There was a question there and saying
the committee's position is simply
weakened largely because a uh the staff
is actually recommending this
application. B we have to ensure or find
outside planning consultants who would
be obviously
uh refuting the staff's uh position. So
they would be against so we'd be paying
as a city to have someone come to then
basically oppose the recommendations of
our staff. Would that be correct?
>> Through the chair. So what would happen
in circumstances of what you've
described?
>> Yeah.
>> I just want to be clear. City council
establishes the city's position on
matters of appeal.
>> Sorry, maybe you can speak up.
>> City council through its decisions
establishes the city's positions on an
appeal,
>> right?
>> Um the public record in circumstances
like this would certainly include a
positive recommendation from city staff,
>> right?
>> Um City solicitor, however, would
marshall the evidence that it felt would
be necessary to represent city council's
instructions to oppose if that's in fact
what the instructions were. So precedent
setting and given your expertise and our
legal expertise,
where does this particular application
stand in terms of a um a line of um if
you will uh approval similar to this
particular application that has been
taken to the where we've actually had or
enjoyed success. Have we had much
success? So through through the chair
perhaps I can answer generally the
question I think starts turning into the
uh direction of providing legal advice
for which our recommendation is always
that those discussions.
>> Yeah. So I'm not asking you to provide
legal.
>> Generally speaking however um the
Ontario Land Tribunal is subject to the
laws of Ontario with respect to
procedural fairness, natural justice and
the like. It is a full hearing um and
the city solicitor uh and the city
pardon me on matters of appeal um gets a
full hearing as does the applicant. I
don't have numbers at the ready as to
the um the outcomes how often one side
wins and one side loses.
>> Gotcha.
>> Um however, the city will does win
appeals uh before the Ontario land.
>> Yeah. Um would the residents
particularly the residents association
would have the ability to be part of the
application in terms of the appeal.
>> So through the chair um appeal rights
under the planning act have been uh
limited to a certain class of parties
over the last number of years through
legislative amendments.
People may still participate in the
tribunal process either as a party or as
a participant. That is a standing
different than appellent. It is a
reduced standing.
>> Right. So what I wanted to know though
would this community group or
organization would they qualify to
participate as part of the appeal should
there be an appeal?
subject through the chair subject to the
residence group satisfying the tests
under the act. There is an opportunity
>> and what are those tests for the
residents for the
>> Sorry, counselor if you can wrap up.
>> I know I just wanted to get that
information. Thank you.
>> So um under the planning act parties
must participate prior to a decision
being made either in writing or orally
is in a meeting such as this and the
tribunal must find reasonable grounds to
add them as a party. Fantastic. Thank
you, sir. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
>> Thank you, Councelor Thompson. Other
questions of staff on this item? Sorry,
councelor. Before we go to the second
round,
>> councelor Mantis, do you have any
questions? Councelor Candel.
>> No. Okay. Thank you. Uh, so I have some
questions. I'm just so I'm trying to
understand.
Um, so UTSC and Centennial College,
UTSC in particular has a strategic plan
for intensifying the area over the next
50 years. How does that mesh with um our
secondary plan and our vision for the
area
>> through to you? Um
they are currently the university uh
began a process with the city to update
uh their land use vision through the
creation of a secondary plan for their
lands only. They currently form part of
the Highland Creek secondary plan area.
um
that is was under review and was
charging right along until legislatively
our our council's
um land use authority powers over the
university was removed. Uh there are
still discussions about how to bring
that document forward as it relates to
governance. City streets will still
traverse the campus lands. Uh city
services will still be required to make
sure that water and and and waste water
can be handled and and the university
has been a great partner through the
years. Um but it is certainly an area of
growth even under the current secondary
plan policies um trans uh juxtaposed
against the Highland Creek secondary
plan which outside of the Highland Creek
village is not uh generally an area for
high growth.
>> And what authority do we have? So we
look at their strat plan and their
secondary plan um and their projections
for what they do on the campus. What
ability do we have to say to them, you
don't have enough student housing in
your plan?
>> Through the chair, uh, post bill 185, we
have, um, no
authority.
Um but through our conversations
there is a housing strategy that is um
being discussed about
how they can meet some of the housing
need. Um every post-secondary sorry
every post-secondary campus has that
pressure on its surrounding areas with
uh student housing that um is met in
various ways. Uh in some cases through
higher density forms that are
specifically marketed and geared to
students in other ways through um lower
density missing middle type permissions.
um lived experience as a UT student
downtown. Uh I lived in a multi-tenant
house. I lived in multiplex and a
placement apartment through my student
and a student residence through my
career at uh UT.
>> Okay. And then when it comes to
developers, so there's this developer
that's clearly decided to market this
building to student housing. Uh there's
another building that's going up right
now at Manson Kingston Road that was uh
it's on the north west corner. It was
initially
came in as condominium and now it's
they're clearly marketing to to student
housing. They've got the whole
development wrapped in student housing
banners and how close it is to the
valley. What what ability do we have to
say to a developer yay or nay on how
they market like switching from a
condominium to rental and then saying
hey this is a great opportunity for
student housing
>> um through the chair uh as a land use
planning authority and as a land use
planner there's no influence on
marketing to use that word or or who um
the end user may be cured towards the
same way that uh if it was a a building
geared towards older adults and seniors
as but still an apartment without
specific things that classified as a
different land use, we wouldn't be able
to appine or or transact on that matter.
Um part of the overall housing pressures
uh crisis has been thrown around quite a
bit is the fact that there is not enough
housing for a full spectrum of folks who
need housing in the city. That includes
um students, older adults, young
families um and and you know sort of
traditional households. Uh
multigenerational households is also a
pressure and and it's sort of uh Uh
there are other builders who are
building things and calling them student
residences which is a different category
of land use.
>> Okay. And then um up until a few years
ago, so former councelor McKelie and I,
we had a huge issue uh with the illegal
rooming houses. Students have there were
students a few years ago that
unfortunately died in a in a fire. We've
legalized uh rooming houses or
multi-tenant housing citywide. Um, is
there any data on the uptake on
converting houses in this area to
multi-tenant housing to accommodate
students?
Um, there is a through the chair to you.
There is a monitoring process. I'll be
I'll be very careful because the the the
folks in the room are also very good at
monitoring the ones that don't come
through um building permit. So, our
monitoring program is based on uh
building permit applications, and we
could get you data offline if need be.
Um, but even with the legalization and
the licensing program, um, there are
folks operating outside of those
parameters to still create housing that
would not meet the standards set out
through count by council through its uh,
multi-tenant housing program.
>> Okay. All right. Thank um, sorry,
councelor Shan, you wanted a second
round of questions?
>> Yes. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um I want to
go I asked a bit more general questions
last time. I want to go into the into
the actual proposal now. Um you you were
at the meeting where people had raised a
few concerns or not few a lot of
concerns but I want to kind of mark the
ones that are need that are more um uh
related to the decision we have at hand.
Um questions about parking shadow um
privacy water table and setbacks. Maybe
I I'll just put those things together
and ask. Do you see that uh that changes
have been made to the initial proposal
uh sufficiently enough uh to address all
of those concerns?
>> Uh yeah, through the chair. Uh so as
detailed in the staff report and uh
through the applicant who just spoke
earlier, a number of revisions were made
uh to lessen the impact and to result in
a building that is more appropriately
scaled uh in relation to the existing
context. Privacy was already touched
upon. um by Mr. Testiguso already with
regards to the lack of balconies. Uh the
ground floor I think the loading
activities has have been flagged
previously. Uh the loading activities
are contained within a caner lever level
um that is concealed from that property
to the east 13 just over 13 meters from
the eastern property line uh with a door
um and there are supporting columns. So
so a lot of those activities are
concealed um from neighboring property.
Um, in terms of shadow impact, again,
that was spoken to, but staff have
concluded that the shadow is adequately
mitigated on the properties, especially
within the hours of 9:18 to 2:18 p.m.
where the majority of the shadow
actually falls on the public realm on
Elmere Road. Um, and then it's just a
couple of hours in the later afternoon
where the shadows is cast on the eastern
properties within the neighborhood and
that is considered to still meet the
intent of the official plan polic.
related to shadow impact
>> just on the on the water table I know
they had submitted a report uh has uh
due diligence been made within our own
city staff engineering to make sure that
that that's sufficient
>> and I through the chair I can begin to
answer I can pass it to my colleague Mr.
to expand. Um so through the the
requirements of a complete application,
a hydrogeeological study is required to
be submitted by the applicant's
certified engineer. Um for the purposes
of the development, the development
should be certified as watertight um and
can be adequately serviced and that has
been certified through the submitted
studies. Um and as mentioned, one level
of underground um and Mr. Khan can speak
to this further um does not is not has
been certified not to disrupt the water
table. Um there will there is no
long-term watering dewatering that is
required um as per the reports.
Short-term watering will be dealt with
at the site plan stage should the
application be approved. Um did you want
to add anything?
>> Thanks Katherine through the chair. Uh
city policy requires that no ground
water need to be discharged in city and
that the applicant has proposed. They
will be building a bath of the where
there will be no discharge into citizens
and that is what we are going with. If
someone hydraologist or the engineer
demonstrate to us that they will not be
discharging and the building can be
designed water type uh our policy
accept.
>> Thank you. Um, one last question. Um, I
know this is this decision is not based
on who the tenants are, but we had a lot
of conversations about students and and
uh, you know, how they're going to get
their growth and so on. There is a
building that is coming on the other
side of uh, Morning Side 1650 Mily Trail
I think that's being built. Um, that is
actually um, marketed as towards
students as well. Um is that is that you
that's not the one I think council
angley was talking about this is on mon
court closer to mon court I think um was
that was that application here I wasn't
here at the time as also pitching as a
student uh housing
>> through the chair there was no mention
of of of tenency and um I believe in
both those cases the intention is to or
in that case particular the intention is
to condominiumize which means any
student um any student resident in that
building would either
>> okay
>> own the unit or or be renting that unit
from an owner.
>> Okay. Thank you. That's helpful to know
what's what else is being built in the
context as well. Thank you.
>> Okay. Thank you councelor Shen.
Councelor Myers.
>> Thank you chair. uh through you uh just
clarification in the current secondary
plan is this type of residence permitted
>> through the chair no
>> and when there is a conflict I guess
between the two what should prevail
>> between the avenues policy and the um
the secondary plan what prevails
>> through the chair the secondary plan
would prevail if there was no
application to amend the official plan.
So the request to amend the official
plan is a request to amend the secondary
plan and the official plan to permit the
proposed development.
>> So here the request is also to amend the
secondary plan
>> through the chair. That's correct. The
recommendation before you is to add a
site and area specific policy to provide
further development.
>> And the secondary plan was that done in
conjunction with the surrounding
community?
um through the chair predates um my time
uh in Scar Bro, but it was done
particularly the Highland Creek Village
component of the secondary plan which
does provide for more mixed use
intensification that was certainly done
with a very robust community uh process
uh was adopted by council with
amendments. Those amendments were
appealed to the OOLT and in some cases
or sorry the OMB at the time and in some
cases it was they were returned to the
original staff recommendations.
>> And when was that roughly? How long ago?
through the chair. I want to say 2012
2013 in that range.
>> Okay. So not so long but not that long.
>> Through the chair. The planning horizon
is usually about 20 years.
>> Okay. Thank you very much.
>> Yep. Other questions of staff on this
item?
>> Seeing none. Um can I just ask so the
Harmony Commons I think it's called at
University of Toronto on the north side
of Ellis Mayor um that was approved and
went through the same process we're
going through today. We're looking at
this application now. There's another
one at um I think soon coming or col
southeast corner southwest corner
Collins Road in Elsair. What what impact
does the approving of the Harmony
Commons application have on the
surrounding community?
Um for clarification through the chair,
the southeast corner of um Conland's and
Elmere was appealed and approved by the
OLT.
>> Southwest corner, sorry. Thank you.
Southwest corner. Uh that's the plaza
that has been reszoned for uh stacked
townhouse, four-story stacked townhouse
development about 15 stories.
>> Oh, okay. Sorry.
>> 15 meters. Sorry. 15 meters.
>> We have enough trouble with my own word
without
>> Thank you. Um so the as I was as I was
relating to I believe it was questions
from councelor meers um the built
context does form um and the emerging
planned context does form part of the
consideration we're reviewing an
application on a siteby-sight basis uh
the um developments further to the uh
east as you move along are
entirely low scale uh there's the the
plaza site which has been upzoned for
more intense use for stack town houses.
But the university this this node that's
emerging under uh Military Trail and
Ellir is a higher density context both
from a planning context with the
institutional areas designation and an
emerging built context. So uh Harmony
Commons uh Highland Hall which is the
instructional building at the corner of
Military Trail in Ellir are taller,
denser buildings than what currently
exists on the south side of Elmir in the
exact same location.
>> Okay. And this application that's before
us today would fall within that the
context of that secondary plan which
within the secondary plan would be
considered a suitable project on
elsewhere
>> through the chair. The secondary plan
would require amendments to facilitate
this project. Um but the physical
context surrounding the site we see as
appropriate for the scale of building.
>> Okay. And if this ended up at the OOLT,
they would look at the how wide an area
would they generally look at when
they're look because I only asked
because there's more nail court that has
very tall buildings. 3050. Elmare has a
it has a 16 story going up. There's a
condo at 3050
>> through the chair. The as my colleague
Mr. Peele noted, it's a denovo hearing.
So evidence would be be presented that
does look at the area context. So you
you've rightly identified the the
Mornell court, the cluster of apartments
that that that are there including a new
one under construction. When you look at
the university buildings, you see
buildings of you know 24 to 35 uh meters
tall. This building is 36 m tall. And
they would also examine the built form
um policies of the official plan related
to this type of use which is generally
no taller than the right ofway. And
Elmir is a planned 36 m rightway. This
is a 36 me tall building.
>> Okay. And then my last question I just
want to ask around so planning
transportation for the area like the the
goal of the city is to have an LRT built
through this area. Um Metroinks talks
about uh BRT from the Scarbor Town
Center along Ellisme um to the Ashawa
center. when we're looking at
applications, how do we
look at that component in terms of what
a developer is coming or bringing
forward?
>> So through the chair, um Ellir is uh
designated as a a transit corridor
expansion opportunity. So there are
policies that relate to how we would
treat development along those um
corridors. We protect for the
infrastructure. So the applicant
referenced the road widening that we
would be taking to ensure that the
Durham Scar bro uh bus rapid transit
which the environmental assessment is
complete and is under construction in
Durham region but not yet funded for
construction in Scar bro. Um make sure
that can be implemented. Um in uh one of
the deputants I believe mentioned the
transit station areas policy. Should
higher order transit form stops in the
future, that would change how the
policies would treat this particular
site, which could invite higher and
denser development than is what is
currently contemplated.
>> All right. Okay. Thank you. Those are my
questions. Uh we're on to speakers.
Speakers on this item. Councelor Shan,
your word. Go ahead.
>> Thank you, Mr. Chair. I have a motion to
move um
So this has been uh
it's been an important conversation. I
think uh we've struggled with making
sure students have safe housing and uh
you know part of the legalization of the
multi-tenant housing structure to make
sure that our students aren't living in
unsafe conditions and their properties
are managed and so on. So I think there
is definitely need for student housing
but I also hear um not a significant um
outcry about it from UTSC and I think
one of the key factors in this
conversation is uh is uh there's not
been a strong opposition from University
of Toronto camp but also there's not
been a strong uh support saying that
there is a need and I think there's a
lot more to be understood as to what
what is what is needed here but I think
I want to also thank the the the
developer to uh for taking some of the
concerns that were raised at the
community meeting and making sure some
of those things were addressed around
the uh the height uh of the the shadow
part of the uh build uh the setbacks and
and parking changes and so on. But I
think for me the the three three major
concerns are around in one is around
infrastructure pressures uh particularly
around transportation in that area. um
and and we we don't have rapid transit
connection yet to UTSC and already
students are struggling to get there and
if you go to that intersection and see
how hard it's for students to cross that
uh intersection um that itself is an
indication of how and so if this was
built and and further intensification
happened around residents in that area
um if it's if it's meant for student
housing and didn't didn't turn out to be
they'll be concerned as
Um, I do think that it's important for
us to also look at parking issues and
and continuously try to make sure that
our our methods of intensification is
aligned with transit modes and methods
that many of our communities rely on at
this time in the absence of uh a
dedicated rapid transit structure
including a structure um that is fully
funded. Right now we are talking about
structures that are not uh under like
scarab east LRT the provincial
government has said that's not their
priority at this time we need to make it
a priority but it is not a priority
right now so I think looking at those
and looking at all the concerns that the
community has expressed um I do
understand this will probably end up
being uh going to uh another layer of uh
of process but I do think at this point
I'm not able to support the application
moving forward so I'm moving
A motion to refuse.
>> Yeah. Yeah. Questions in the mover.
Councelor Mantis.
Councelor Shen.
I'm looking at this application like I I
heard all the arguments,
but it's 11 stories.
If we refuse it, this will probably go
to the
And then who knows how tall this
building will be that the developer will
uh will ask to build. So are we really
willing to take that chance and refuse
it now and get a building that will
probably be a lot taller than 11
stories?
I am very comfortable making a decision
based on what we have right now instead
of what that hypothetical piece could
be. You're very very right. We don't
have control once the process goes to
another layer. But I do think based on
the concerns we have had uh I am
comfortable not supporting it at this
time. But I do understand that that's a
concern that's not in our hand. Um if we
make a decision that we are accountable
to uh we will be able to answer. We
won't be able to make a decision
depending on what a bad decision another
level would make. Um so I'm I'm
comfortable with that right now but I'll
leave it to you. Okay.
Okay. Other questions of the mover?
Seeing none, I'm sorry, Council Sham. Um
I'm going to hold your motion down. Um
we do need um there is a risk with your
motion with your refusal. The developer
could proponent could take it to the
OOLT. We need to have some wording
within your motion if you could talk to
the clerk about direction to the OOLT.
>> Thank you. I will I will be happy to add
those.
Yeah, I can move the additional um I was
going to do this at the council by
holding the item to add the OOLT
instruction, but I can do it now.
>> Yep, there. Do it now. Yeah.
Okay. So, there's your motion on the
screen.
Any further questions of the mover?
Seeing none further speakers on this
item.
Councelor Myyers.
>> Uh, thank you through you, Chair. I I
I'm struggling with this one in that I'm
hearing the residents. I'm hearing the
staff. I'm hearing the questions from my
colleagues. Uh, I'm hearing the
applicant. And it I don't know. I don't
I don't know
what the right move here is because I
also share councelor Mantis' concerns
that if this goes to the OOLT, you will
be looking at potentially a much larger
development and from the conversation
that I've been hearing, uh I believe
that this applicant has been working
with the community to try to resolve
some of the issues. Uh I'm also
considering the fact that there was a
secondary plan that was developed in
consultation with the community. It had
significant community input uh and buyin
and to to approve a development outside
of that sort of planning framework would
alter the trust that the community has
in the process. And that if they
participate, if they make the
appropriate compromises and they get to
a place where everyone can uh live that
those sort of tradeoffs and um processes
are meaningless when someone just comes
in with the development to sort of um
say, you know, we want to do something
completely different. So, I I'm I'm
struggling with this one. I I hear my
colleague, uh, Councelor Shen, he
obviously knows the area. He's been
listening to the concerns, and I will
reluctantly be supporting his, uh,
proposal. Um, I I think though that this
potentially could end up leaving a
bigger impact in the community uh than
what is currently before us. And I would
just urge my colleague strongly uh to
consider all the ramifications for that.
I heard his point on, you know, we can't
make decisions based on um what another
order of government will do, but
unfortunately that's the reality that we
govern in um and we have to make those
types of decisions all the time. Uh and
with that, I will pass it on. Thank you.
>> Thank you, Council Meers. Councelor
Thompson.
>> Um thank you very much, Mr. Chair. for
you. Um I too uh struggle with this um
application and the decision. Um I
respect the uh members of the community
who have come out to speak um with
respect to your strong opposition. Um I
think it's pretty clear though that
going forward to the OOLT the community
will actually lose. I want to make that
clear based on everything that I know
based on the experience with the OOLT,
the community will lose and I think you
should be expected that decision which
certainly is not something that we want
for you. I just think it's really
important for me to be clear to you what
my thoughts are based on looking at all
the information based on the experience
and the expertise of our professional
planning team, our legal staff and so
on. That being said though, just because
it appears that you may lose doesn't
mean that you don't fight for what is in
the best interest of the community based
on your views. I don't live there. I
don't have the experience that the local
counselor does. And so I'm going to be
supporting his motion, but I support it
reluctantly based on everything else
when you factor all of it and you weigh
the scale as Mr. Brown has made a
presentation using the scale and Mr.
Brown that was quite effective. So,
thank you for that. Um, I I think it's
an unfortunate situation and has been
stated. We have all of these different
layers of decision making. More times
than not, people think that the body of
council is a final arbit of decision
making. It's not unfortunately. Um, the
OOLT is not a government body, but it is
a body that is a quasi judicial body
that makes decisions that has impact.
It's unfortunate, but also when you
assess all of the surrounding areas and
the matters as it relates to University
of Toronto has a similar building across
the street, you know, I I think it's be
hardressed for me to envision a decision
from the OLT that would be supportive of
the community. Not that I don't want it
for you, but quite frankly, based on
everything else, I think it's really
important for me to clear my conscience
to tell you that in as much as you're
fighting for this because you justly
believe that this is the wrong decision,
wrong building at this particular
location at this time. The evidence
doesn't really support that. And so, the
local counselor is making a move. I'm
going to support him because he believes
that this is the best interest for the
community. And so, We will leave it at
that, Mr. Chair. Thank you.
>> Thank you, Councelor Thompson. Other
speakers on this item. Councelor Candel.
>> Thank you, Chair. Um, I'll be brief. Um,
a similar sentiment. Um, I'll be
supporting councelor Shan's motion. He
does know the community. And I think the
argument uh presented by councelor Shan
and members of the audience um of the
community who spoke that there's this
uncomfortable tension between an
existing secondary plan and now what is
before us is an official plan amendment
um bears weight. um in my ward uh many
maybe this point last year we refused an
application a 12story on Kingston Road
um and we were successful at OOLD and of
course as my colleagues have alluded to
that is not always the case but it is as
councelor Thommpson mentioned the
opportunity for the councelor this
council and our representatives to fight
uh this this uh presentation
Um, and I I think the arguments put
forth by councelor Shen reflect the
community that he knows well. So I'll be
supporting his motion.
>> Okay. Thank you, councelor Shen. Any
other speakers?
Councelor Manus.
>> Thank you Mr. Chair through you.
Unfortunately, I'm not going to support
Shan's motion only because of the that I
said before that
the uh the chance of going to the OLT
and having this application be a lot
larger in density than what it is now I
don't think is the right move. Uh I
understand the argument of of uh of
saying of denying the application but
the risk I believe that going to the OT
is a lot larger than the 11 stories that
we have here right now.
Thank you.
Thank you, Councilman Mancis.
I believe that's that's everybody. So,
um I'm going to be supporting the the
refusal of that application. Um pretty
much with the same sentiments of all my
colleagues, um with years of experience,
um and I want to thank our staff for all
of the work that they've done on this
application trying to make sure it's the
appropriate path forward. Um, as a city
councelor with the ward on the west side
of Morningside Avenue, um, I've watched
and grown up in this community. I've
watched UTS prosper and grow. Um, they
have a a strategic plan, a secondary
plan for growing their campus over the
next 50 years. I can remember Centennial
College where it is now at the
Morningside campus was a parking lot.
Um, there's a lot of growth in this
community. We're looking at running an
LRT through that's a priority of city
council that was reaffirmed last week.
Uh we just put more money into it. Uh I
know Metroinks is determined to put a
BRT across Ellare. We try and make sure
the community um has the right mix of
housing. U but I do hear the community,
you have your concerns about it. Um one
of my concerns in the community is
student housing and not having enough
student housing. Um, I think we need to
change some rules and regulations at the
city. Um, because I clearly think that
University of Toronto and Centennial
College, they get off the hook in a lot
of ways around planning housing and
having housing in the community. Um on
my side of Morningside Avenue into the
Seven Oaks community, I know there's a
lot of illegal basement apartments, a
lot of illegal multi-tenant housing.
Just because we legalize multi-tenant
housing under former Marritori because
you have an illegal uh rooming house or
multi-tenant housing, you're under no
obligation to go and get a license for
it. I know that that continues. I have
buildings in my ward. Um on the other
side of Morningside at Mornell Court, um
there's a condominium being built. I
know that's being targeted for student
housing now. I have a condominium beside
it. When I first got elected, it was
full of um it was a condominium straight
up. Like when I knock on doors now, when
I knocked on doors in the last election,
I'd have a student that was either at
Centennial College or uft answering the
door. When you look past them into the
condom into the apartment or what should
be a condominium, you don't see your
standard condominium anymore. A large
part of the units in that building, when
you look over the shoulder of the person
answering the door, you see mattresses
on the floor because they've turned it
into student housing. There's four or
five kids living in what should be a two
or a one-bedroom condominium. So, you
know, I I I definitely think that the
university and the college have gotten
off the hook around providing adequate
housing. Um, but I will also echo the
comments of my colleagues from years of
experience that there is a danger that
the developer is going to take this to
the Ontario Land Tribunal. They're going
to ask for to increase the height of the
building. So, it's always a risk. The
other concern we always have now is that
a few years ago, the provincial
government took away um section what is
called section 37 and section 42. Now,
if you have a condominium or a building
like this for community benefits, the
money goes into a pot of money.
Eventually, it's supposed to flow
through the province back to city hall.
Uh instead of going directly to the
Highland Creek community, councelor Shan
will have to fight for that money for
community benefits. That's no longer
tied. So the other risk of going to the
Ontario Land Tribunal is that you get a
taller building with more people in the
neighborhood with less community
benefits for the neighborhood. So I am
going to support your counselor and
support this, but there are a lot of
risks going forward with this
application if it goes through the
Ontario Land Tribunal. Thank you.
Okay, so we have councelor Shan's
motion.
All in favor?
Opposed?
That motion carries. That's it. All
right. Thank you very much,
>> Mr. Chair.
>> Sorry, Councelor Thompson.
>> Mr. Chair, thank you. Um, Mr. Chair, I
wonder if we could just vary the agenda.
We have a presentation, the new business
item uh regarding the hub. Um, the
students have to leave. I don't know
whether or not they have to get back to
class or what they have to do but they
do have to leave within an appointed
time. The next item we have numerous
speakers which seems to suggest that
they will take a fair amount of time
that would actually create a challenge
for the students. So I'm just wondering
if the students could we could bear the
agenda to have them give their
presentation. We can have our questions
and basically just deal with that. It
shouldn't take long.
>> Okay. So we've approved the agenda. So,
I need a vote to vary the agenda.
All in favor of varying the agenda here
to the student presentation.
Any opposed?
Nope. And that carries. So, folks, we're
just uh we've just varied the agenda to
hear the last item. It's a presentation
by a group of students. So, we're going
to hear that and then we'll go back to
item number two on the agenda.
>> Thank you. M Mr. Chair, can I tee it up?
You want to introduce them?
>> Yeah.
>> Yep. Go right ahead,
>> Mr. Chair. Um, thank you. Um, we have
been working on establishing a
technology hub for Scar Bro and um we
have been working with a number of
different organization. the DMZ which is
um out of TMU along with community the
city uh economic development um along
with um Centennial College. In that
process we were able to um connect with
North Pine um which is a philroic
organization foundation
um led by um led by and and and Kathy
Phillips and they have indicated an
interest in working with us on this. And
so we have asked um through
communication with Neil Joshy who is a
program lead for the students at the
University of Toronto
um to help us and they have actually
done some work. I wanted them to present
to the community council to um set the
table and and and sort of give the
formation as to the process that we're
going to go through in order to
establish the uh AI tech hub which will
be located here in this building. We're
looking at allocating about 3,000 square
feet of space uh for this particular hub
here in Scar Bro and it will be an
opportunity for um young in Scar Bro to
be able to have greater access to not
only training uh with respect to
technology and so on, but being able to
develop and learn through an AI
entrepreneurial work program that will
spirit the interest of Scarbor youth and
of course will involve all of us working
in collaboration in establishing this
particular process. So, um we'll just
get the students uh started and um while
they're setting up, I would just simply
say that we were very fortunate in terms
of uh the developing of this hub process
where the North Pine Group came in uh to
simply talk to us and um have expressed
an interest in helping us with respect
to funding. The city has allocated
recently $300,000
to be uh directed towards uh this
development and uh we have been sitting
on about $1.3 million of section 37
funds which I've collected over the
years for this particular initiative,
Mr. Chair. And so as we move forward, it
will be in the best interest of all um
residents in Scar Bro, particularly
youth between the ages of 18 to uh to
will actually have the opportunity to
learn new skills and to create great
opportunities for them to be able to
develop uh their um their business and
entrepreneurial occ acumen in in order
to um create more opportunities here in
Scar Bro. So, while they're setting up,
I keep filling the air, Mr. Chair,
trying to ensure that they're able to um
to get set up and be structured and so
on um in order to to provide us with an
overview as to what uh they have
presented and so on. Madam clerk, I
thought we had the presentation already
sent to you. I'm not sure what's
happening with uh with the staff, but
they're actually working on it.
Mr. Chair, maybe we'll just take a five
minute break, I guess. Is that possible?
They're almost
and while they're doing that, Mr. Chair,
I'm just thinking that our Scarbor youth
uh will have great understanding in
terms of how to improve the technology
connection that we need always um to
make sure that we're uh moving head.
Are we having a compatibility tech
issue?
>> Yes, we do.
Maybe we can just use a projector and
use your slides and just show it from
your slides, folks.
Maggie, are you ready?
Mr. Chair, see there's augmented
technology utilization. That's right.
That's exactly what we're asking for.
So, this is perfect.
>> Good. We can see it. You guys ready?
Good morning everyone. I'm Sunny. I'm
here with my team Aiden Vincent and
Dami. So, thank you councelor Thompson
to have us here. To get started, Scabbo
is one of the fastest growing parts of
the city. But young residents are
actually trying to enter the workforce
and navigating a system that isn't built
for them. Not because programs doesn't
exist, but because nothing connects.
Today, we're proposing a solution that
changes that cost the city far less than
building a new program and is ready to
move forward. Physically, the hub will
be located at the Scarbo Civic Center, a
trusted, accessible, and community-based
location.
Okay, now the key question is why is the
hub and why is it needed? To answer
that, we grounded our approach in direct
engagements in Scar Bro. We conducted a
survey, spoke with 13 youth at Scarro
Scabro Town Center and had a focus group
discussion with about 25 participants.
Most of them came from low-income
communities in Scar Bro and faced
significant barriers and was we
interviewed a government official.
Across all the engagements, the finding
were highly consistent. During the
interview, one of the 19 year old job
seeker told us just like most the other
most of the other interviews that we
encountered. It feels confusing. I just
don't know what is legit. Another youth
told us that they were searching for
part-time jobs but they didn't know
where to look at beyond social medias
like LinkedIn or on Google. So people
are trying they just don't know where to
go next.
In our focus group, most of the
participant told us they wanted careers
in social services and leadership but
lack of clear directions, networks, and
most importantly clear pathways to get
there. One of them said, "It's hard when
you don't have a mentor." We also heard
from youth whose education pathways were
disrupted during the co years ago. Once
young professional told us that co
totally derailed their career for like
two years nothing exists anymore and
which feels like starting over from
scratch. She told us that the hardest
part was that uncertainty of not knowing
when stability would return.
So the issue is not that scar lacks of
programs
when there's no coordin um when they
need what they need is not inspiration
anymore but more of a practical and
media support structure that they can
trust on. So when there's no
coordination between education training
and employing opportunities people fall
in uh through the cracks. Besides, we
have also interviewed a Ontario public
sector hiring professional and she told
us that many of the current
opportunities are concentrated in
downtown Toronto which can feel
geographically and socially distant from
Scar Bro communities and especially
youth. So we need a stronger pathway
directly in Scar Bro and here that we
proposing in the SCOR Pacific Center.
At its core we are specifically
targeting underserved youth in Scar Bro
who are actively trying to enter the
workforce but are facing barriers along
the path. These are not disengaged
individuals. In fact, many are making
efforts applying for jobs and exploring
programs, but the system is not
supporting them in moving forward.
Through the hub, we want to provide
structure, clarity, and continuity so
that people are not left navigating the
fragment services on their own. As an
example, I'll walk you through the four
stages of a participant's experience and
firsterson perspective. Stage one, entry
and assessment zero to three month. I
joined the hub with an interest in
healthcare. My background, interest, and
readiness are assessed. I'm guided into
a suitable pathway while being connected
with the right training partners. Stage
two, training and support through two to
six month. I'm enroll in the training
program and the hub supports me in
staying on track and helps me overcome
the barriers. Stage three progression
and transition six to 12 month. progress
in its monitor and I receive support
with applications. I'm guiding towards
internship placements and more advanced
training opportunities. Stage four
employment's outcome 12 to 24 month I'm
transition into a healthcare job. My
outcome are tracked including cost per
successful placements. Periodically I
receive checking calls from the hub.
So here is our hub model. First, the hub
offer centralized intake system. This is
a preliminary step to differentiate
participants based on their background,
interest, bias, and level of readiness.
Based on the assessment results,
participants are assigned into different
pathways.
Second, the progression management and
tracking. The hub actually manages
participants flow across stages. This
includes application support,
navigation, advising, followup, and
re-engagement. The goal is very simple.
No one falls off the path without being
noticed.
Third, the hub connects participants
with inquires and training programs. On
the program side, it defines shar
progression criteria and aligns
expectations between stages. For
example, if a pre-inccubator like DMZ
requires a validated business idea,
upstream programs are adjusted to
include idea development and validation
support. On the employer side, the hub
works directly with employers to
understand hiring demand, your
requirements, and entry-level
accessibility. Then the hub translate
this requirements to the participants.
Finally, the hub can use data from
different programs across the system to
identify bottlenecks. Figure out the
root causes of drop off and adjust our
program design accordingly. This creates
a feedback loop from data to insights to
interventions and finally to improved
outcome.
We are recommending where the city helps
launch the hub but does not directly run
it. The system's role is to provide
initial funding with no ongoing
operational obligation, space support,
and help bring planners to the table.
Day-to-day operations would be led by an
independent executive director and an
operations team. We also recommend a
community advisory board that includes
representatives of scarboard residents,
youth, nonprofits, employers, and
educational institutions so that
decisions can stay grounded in what the
community actually needs. The model
relies on delivery partners as well.
They can provide specialized expertise
support. For example, DMZ can support
later stage entrepreneurship pathways.
Protexa can provide AI training.
Centennial College can offer industry
aligned training programs in areas such
as business, technology, and applied
trace. This also helps prevent
duplication. Right now there are many
people who already applied multiple
programs at the same time without
without knowing which one is the right
fit. The hub can act as a centralized
intake and navigation system to help
ensure resources are distributed
efficiently.
>> At the end of the day the delivery of
the hub model itself is not sufficient
for our definition of success. Rather
our goal is to observe actual life
improvements for people in Scar Bro. At
the individual level, we want to see
people move into real opportunities and
progress through the system. We'll track
these outcomes using pipeline and
progression indicators such as
participation rates, transition rates,
and drop off rates. As a baseline, for
example, we want to target transition
metrics of around 60 to 70% in short
term. Intermediately, readiness is a key
indicator for us. Progression learn is
not enough if people are moving forward
without being prepared. As such, stage
entry requirements, improvements in
technical skills, business readiness,
and confidence over time are all
important trackers to level up people's
business acumen
at a macro level for wider economic
impact. This helps build a stronger
local workforce across the board. From
healthcare to retail, this help connects
local talents to opportunities that
already exist in Scarbo. The impact goes
way beyond just jobs. where young people
have clear pathways to stable income,
families can become more financially
able, communities can become safer, and
Scarbo can become stronger over time.
At a high level, we propose an initial
604D allocation. Approximately 60%
supports the hub as the coordination
infrastructure including onetime setup
costs. The remaining 40% is deployed
through partners to deliver pathway
specific support. We also structure the
investment across four stages. First
establish the hub, finalize intakes and
pathway designs and align core partners.
Then we onboard the first cohort of 100
150 participants.
Next we track progressions and identify
drop off points across stages. Founding
at this point becomes more
performanceoriented.
Last but not least, funding is tied
directly to outcomes including
employments, training progressions, and
entrepreneurship entry. We also
recommend tracking cost per successful
outcome.
In closing, Scarbo does not lack talent.
It lacks clear pathways. The proposal
helps ensure that as Scarbo grows, its
residents grow with it. Thank you.
Welcome your questions.
>> Thank you very much. Really appreciate
the presentation. Councelor Thompson,
did you have questions?
>> Um, yes. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I wonder
if you could all introduce yourselves. I
know we had some technology issues at
the start, but you didn't take a moment
to introduce yourself. I wonder if you
could do that for me, please.
>> So, hi everyone. My name is Ming. You
can call me Sani. I'm the team lead for
this group project. I'm graduating, like
just graduating from University of
Toronto. I'm really honored to be here.
>> Hi everyone, my name is Aiden. I'm also
a fourth year and I was in charge of the
research and analysis portion of the
project.
>> Hi everyone, I'm Dami and I'm mostly
responsible for the fieldworks and the
inerson um interviews.
>> Hi everyone.
So you packed a lot in here and we have
a limited amount of time and so on but
um from what I'm g gathering from your
analysis and your work there is a need
for this type of initiative here in scar
is that correct?
>> Yeah. Yes.
>> And you have actually gone out and
actually you have done some research
consultation with young people. Yes.
>> In the heart of Scarough at the Scarboro
Town Center.
>> Yes.
>> Speak into the mic please.
Sorry. Basically, all the results, all
the interviews that we conducted, uh the
results were pretty consistent. Like
everyone was saying that um they've
never heard of a similar programs or
even they heard of it, but they just
never had a chance to go into programs
like this. So which I think like in
general we have a programs that is lead
by the city and then also that has other
stakeholders uh interact with it will be
pretty helpful for those used especially
those that they wanted to have a chance
to do it but never had uh never had the
ability to do it.
>> Thank you for that. And so we're
partnering with DMZ which has set up
hubs around the world which is part of
TMU. Uh we're also going to have
Centennial College which is part of our
ecosystem here. Protexa which is a
company that's focusing on AI and cyber
training that's going to take place.
Additionally, the city of Toronto's
economic development department will
also be part of the structure. So my
question to you based on that and others
could play a role of course we heard
University of Toronto but the foundation
and the principles that are actually
established this is earark toward
success based on the work that you've
done. Would you agree?
Yes or no will be fine.
Sorry, can you repeat the question?
>> So, basically what I was saying is that
you have all of these partners who have
defined uh credibility and they work
around the globe. They're coming to
participate and help us to establish
this foundation here in Scarbo and will
work with our young people here. I'm
asking whether or not you think that is
a formula for success as opposed to
blindly going and establish something
without the structure.
>> Uh yes, I would definitely think that as
a uh yes because like we uh had in the
presentation uh all the programs like
let's say DMZ or other uh like Protexa
when we were conducting our research we
had uh see on their website that Protexa
they already had like similar programs
that designed for young uh for youth
population but it was just never being
implemented into a specific group or
they just they wanted people to get
involved but they never had a like any
efforts that specifically go into the
community or into the population.
Gotcha. So like right now we have the
chance to actually implement it to um
their programs into a coordinated uh
structure that the community can
actually participate
>> and the model is structured to be able
to have the intake a process that these
young people will go through because at
the end of the day it's about the
outcome and the opportunity for these
young people. Would that be correct?
>> Yes.
>> Okay. Thank you. Those are all my
questions Mr. Chair.
>> Thank you councelor Thompson. Other
questions on this?
Seeing none, councelor Thompson, do you
want to speak briefly?
>> Yeah, just briefly, Mr. Chair, I
actually have a motion that we will
receive the presentation. I want to
thank the students and I also thank Neil
Josie from Northbine Foundation for
bringing the students in. It was just an
accidental situation in which we made
the connection because we were already
down the road in terms of wanting to do
this work. This is years and years and
years of work that have come to this
particular and also saving significant
amount of funds to be able to establish
this. You go around the globe, you see
many other countries and cities having
initiatives of this nature to help their
young people. It was always a goal of
mine to be able to establish this right
here in Scar Bro and my colleagues. I
wanted to bring this forward because
we're almost at that point where we will
actually launch in September. I wanted
to have the ability to bring this
information here today so that my
colleagues because we're all involved in
this in terms of um advancing this
opportunity for Scarbor and all SCAR
residents um we want to build a model of
success. We want to establish and ensure
the full processes are in place um not
only simply to bring the young people in
but to ensure we don't amputate their
desire their growth. We have lots of
talented young people here Scar bro and
we really need to create the vehicle the
on ramp to opportunities for them. This
is really what this is all about. We're
going to use our city facilities. We're
going to be able to collaborate with
respect to external partnership
hopefully with respect to North Pine but
also Neil Josie and his expertise. He's
an outstanding
uh person from Scar Bro who has
developed a reputation of being able to
be successful. So what we've actually
done, we've aligned ourselves with
outside partners who have successfully
developed programs and initiative around
the globe for us right here in Scar Bro.
And this strategy is to ensure the
success of all of our young people and
to have something that will be
sustainable uh beyond our term here in
office so that these young people will
actually have the opportunity to be able
to develop apps to be able to develop uh
veing programs to be able to respond to
technological
technological needs and to be able to
work in areas like health sciences,
transportation, government and all of
these particular areas of focus. but
focusing on what we see in Silicon
Valley and other places where we provide
opportunity. They provide opportunities.
We see that as well. One of the other
piece that I want to build into this is
that we're going to work with large and
small scar bro businesses so we create
opportunities when these young people
have developed technology have developed
expertise that they have an opportunity
to be able to uh get a job and or to
develop but also to be able to be
continue to be trained and so I'm really
excited about this for all of us for all
of the young people. It's been a long
time coming. And I also want to thank um
Northbound Foundation for their interest
in wanting to support us. They were
adamant that if they supported us, it's
about outcome. It's about simply
ensuring that if people go through this
process, they're going to have
opportunities. We see too many programs
that are established where the program
provides some training, but there's no
other option for these people that are
involved in these particular programs.
This is not that. This is an opportunity
to be able to help and expand the
education, expand the knowledge and the
awareness through the relationship with
DMZ, Protexa, Centennial College, um,
economic development and the board, the
advisory board that we will establish
will be key individuals with certain
expertise to help to not only ensure the
sustainability of the hub, but also to
create opportunities for all of our
young people so that we will ritually
rewarded by them when we see them doing
great things. We don't see them going to
jail. We don't see them getting
arrested. We don't see them in nefarious
activities and so on so forth where we
don't want them to be. We will see the
success. The model that we're building
here is Scar Bromade with respect to a
global connection to ensure the richness
to ensure that our young people have
access to opportunity to be able to grow
both their personal growth, social
growth and their uh professional growth
and so on. So, Mr. Chair, I'm really
excited about this. We will be back at
some point to just finalize how we're
rolling this out. Much work is actually
being done. I want to thank everybody
for the collaboration that's actually
taking place and I look forward to
working to ensure the success of our
young people and this will be a global
reach for them. It's not just what they
will do here in Scar Bro, but it is what
they will do globally. Mr. Chair, thank
you.
>> Thank you, Councelor Thompson. Other
speakers on this item seeing none. So,
we have a motion to receive it.
>> Chairy just
>> Sorry, Councelor Canel.
>> Uh, yeah. Yeah. No, I would just like to
say a few comments.
>> Okay. Go ahead.
>> Uh thank you um Mr. here and uh kudos to
councelor Thompson and the students here
for presenting this uh opportunity that
has uh tremendous value and I think you
know when we talk about scarbor all of
us have tremendous pride in a lot of the
you know we recently had the walk of
fame and variety of success stories
across um different areas but one untold
or undertold story is the uh scar bro to
Silicon Valley pipeline we have an
amazing number of graduates from Scarbor
high schools that go on to tech
programs. I uh study at the University
of Wateroo and many of my Scarbor
friends from across different high
schools have gone into the US sadly and
that's a bigger different story but uh
the amount of tech talent coming out of
Scar Bro is remarkable. Um two of my
former students are at LinkedIn and Meta
doing really well. So this is something
uh in addition to our success in film,
TV uh and sports of course is also the
uh amazing talent we produce in in tech
and I want to commend everyone to this
and and North Pine has been incredibly
supportive of Scar Bro from healthc care
to scholarships as we saw at the Scarbor
Walk of Fame. Uh so very excited about
this and looking forward to moving
forward. Thank you chair.
>> Thank you councelor Kennel. So, we have
a motion before us to receive the item.
All in favor? Sorry, can we have a
recorded vote? Just recorded. We have a
recorded vote. Madam,
>> all those in favor to adopt the
recommendation in councelor Thompson's
letter to receive the item. Councelor
Thompson, Councelor Shan, Councelor
Myers, Councelor Mantis, Councelor
Aninsley, Councelor Candal. That motion
carries unanimously.
>> Okay. Thank you very much. That was
carried unanimously by Scarbo Community
Council and thank you for your
presentation this morning and looking
forward to learning more about the hub.
Thank you so much.
Okay. Uh we're going to go back to our
agenda. Um I'm just we have a couple of
quick items with single deputants that
I'm I think we can take care of before
so we don't have the staff for those
items here when they don't need to be.
So um I'm going to take care SC 31.4
3000 3004 3008
302 and 3020 Kennedy Road draft plan a
subdivision application. This is a
decision report for final approval. We
have one registered speaker, Chris
Pereira from uh MBHR Planning and Design
Limited.
>> Sorry, chair. Just a quick point of
order. I just want to release um
quick release
>> number 12.
>> Yeah. So, the staff aren't here.
>> Okay.
Councelor Myers is releasing SC 31.12,
Metro Links, Subway, Scar Bro subway
extension, temporary traffic
modifications on public highway
dedications, Kennedy station connection,
emergency exit building 3, and Scar bro
center station in words 20, 21, 23, and
24.
All in favor? And that carries.
Mr. Pere, you have five minutes whenever
you're ready.
Good afternoon, Mr. Chair. Members of
council, uh my name is Chris Pereira. I
am the principal of Embahar Planning
Design Limited. We are the planning and
urban design consultants for uh the
owner. The application before you today
is for a draft plan of subdivision
approval. Uh we have worked closely with
staff to resolve several technical
details pertaining to the new east west
public road um and a number of other
technical item items which this
application covers. So, just a bit of
background flavor. On June 27th of 2024,
city council approved bylaw 711-2024,
which approved a maximum of 171 units.
These were organized around nine stack
townhouse blocks of three stories um of
and three stories of height for the
site. So, in order to implement that
approval, the plan of subdivision
application before council today seeks
to do three things. And the plan of
subdivision itself can be uh very
clearly viewed on attachment three of
the staff report. I think it shows it
very clearly exactly what this
application is seeking to do to do here
today. So the first part of what the
application is seeking to do, the main
part really is to delineate an east west
public road that would be a 20 m
rightway through the site in an east
west fashion. This would be an extension
of Fort Dearborn Drive which will
eventually connect out to Kennedy Road.
The second component of the application
uh is also to delineate two future
development blocks on the north and
south sides of the public road. Those
can be seen uh clearly on attachment
three. Um these areas will be subject to
further uh application through plan of
condo uh to delineate um shared
driveways, parking areas, landscape
areas and of course the condo blocks
themselves. Um should the application be
approved then we would move
>> Pereira. Sorry, with my deepest
apologies.
Um, I'm missing some colleagues and I
can't continue the meeting until I have
there's one right.
All right,
Mr. Pereira, you can continue. Sorry
about that. No problem at all, Mr.
Chair. I'm almost done. Um, as I was
saying, the second component is really
delineate the two future development
blocks on the north and south sides of
of each road which will should the
application be approved will be subject
to further applications through kind of
condo to delineate driveways, parking
areas, landscape areas and then one
further application which would be the
final step would be uh the site plan
approval. So we believe that the
proposal is consistent with the
provincial planning statement. It also
conforms uh to the official plan as well
as section 5124 of the planning act um
and that sets out criteria when
considering draft plan of subdivision.
We have reviewed the staff report and
the recommendations contained therein
and we have no concerns. We have also
reviewed the draft conditions themselves
and as they are standard we have no
concerns. I am available to answer any
questions committee uh of council or
staff excuse me or residents may have.
Thank you very much.
>> All right. Thank you Mr. Pera.
Appreciate your time. Uh questions of
the deput.
Thank you very much, sir. Appreciate
your time this morning. Question of the
staff on this item. Councelor Manis,
Mr. Vroska, does it meet does uh does
the sorry does the application meet all
the requirements uh under your review?
Um to the chair, the applications before
you advise that um under delegated
acting under delegated authority uh the
executive director of development review
or their designated in this case myself
um will be proceeding towards approving
the draft plan. Uh there are some
technical changes that uh will be
necessary to facilitate final conditions
but otherwise we're in good shape on
this.
>> Thank you. Thank you very much. Other
questions of staff on this item? Seeing
none speakers on this item? Councelor
Mantis,
>> I would just like to thank staff for all
the work that they've done and uh to the
applicant that has come here today. Um
just going to be moving staff
recommendations.
>> Okay. Councelor Mantis is moving staff
recommendations on SC 31.4. All in
favor?
And that carries. Thank you very much.
Uh the next item we're going to deal
with is uh SC 31.5 3130 Danforth Avenue
zoning bylaw amendment application
decision report for final approval. Uh
we have two registered speakers. The
first one is Mr. Eric Stark.
Mr. Stark, you're online.
Can you hear us?
>> Yes, I can hear you.
>> You have uh five minutes whenever you're
ready to address community council.
Yeah, unfortunately I don't think five
minutes is enough. Um,
I wasn't really
uh informed of the application
uh that was uh submitted by the director
um until last Friday. And uh so
there's so many issues here that I can't
possibly go through everything. Um
uh so the first thing that uh struck me
was that uh the application was
originally for
um two addresses um 3130 and 3150
Danforth Avenue.
Uh which created a lot of confusion for
the people going to St. Dunston Church
because St. Dunston Church was uh also
had that address as uh 3150 Danforth
Avenue.
Um
so what so when I informed uh
um
the powers uh that be that uh that this
was uh a conflict. uh the
the application was heardly um changed
to say that
oh 3150 is not included. So the the
bottom line is why why was it originally
included? Um why did the proponent
um suggest that 3150
belong to them and that this this
application applies to that. So that
needs to be cleared up. Um
and uh
so I happen to live um right behind the
this uh proposal where currently the
beer store sits.
Um
I want to suggest that uh the beer store
is a viable operation. It's important to
the community. It's important for uh uh
recycling especially.
Um I see tons of people um bringing the
recycling to this this facility all the
time. Um
and um it would certainly be a loss if
we we we lost that beer store. And um
where would people take their their
empties? The the the grocery stores
don't want them. uh because of fear of
contamination
uh for their food products. And uh the
the other only other
uh beer store that's nearby is uh also
slated for redevelopment at the Golden
Mile. Um
so um
that's uh one issue. Um
the environmental site assessments. Um
um
I see that um the report says that
um as noted above this preliminary phase
2 ESA was not completed in full
accordance with O. Regulation
1534.
um and that um
um
that uh
they want they suggest that it needs to
be completed. I see no evidence that uh
the assessment was completed. It should
be before the proposal proposed
amendment is is uh passed.
uh shadow impacts. Uh we lived directly
behind the beer store and the proposed
tower would be devastating for us. Um
access to the sun would be blocked for
many hours in the day. Um our fruit
trees, our pear trees, cherry trees,
raspberry bushes would no longer likely
no longer bear fruit and uh it would be
hard for our veget our vegetables to
grow in the garden and our flowers. Um
there's also a modular housing
uh nearby that would be directly
impacted at 11 Macy Avenue that um
houses previously homeless persons, many
with addictions and mental health issues
that would be suffering uh significant
shadowing. Um,
and also there's um a park,
Metalline Park, right across the street
um where the where there's a playground
that would be adversely affected by
shadowing um especially at uh in the
afternoons where um
school kids uh would come out of school
and uh
many parents would want to take their
their kids to enh enjoy enjoy the the
playground in in in the sunshine. Um,
that would be severely impacted.
Um, okay. I have to check how much time
I got left.
>> Sorry, Mr. Shark, I need you to wrap up,
please.
>> Oh my goodness. I There's tree tree pre
preservation issues and so on so forth.
There's so many things I can't get done
here. Um, so I'm I'm very I very
strongly urge the counselors to defer
this motion until um it can be dealt
with uh properly. Thank you.
>> Okay. Thank you, Mr. Stark. Any
questions of the deputent?
Seeing none. Thank you very much, Mr.
Stark. Appreciate your input this
morning. Uh the second de registered
deputent is Greg Euans of battery
planning and management. Morning.
>> Morning, Mr. Unans. You have five
minutes. Whenever you're ready.
>> Good morning, Mr. Chair. I have a
presentation. I'm just Oh,
>> while it's getting plugged in here,
perhaps I'll address the Oh,
>> no problem.
>> I'll address the address uh concern that
was raised by the previous speaker. The
>> Is your microphone on?
>> I believe I believe it is. Can you hear
me, sir?
>> Yep.
>> Okay.
There we go. Okay,
thank you for the patience. I will let's
go from here. Okay. Uh so before I get
into the presentation here, I'd like to
address one of the the comments that was
made previous uh speaker about the
address. Due to either a database issue
or uh a clerical error well before we
started the pre-application process with
the city, the address 3150 appeared on
several pieces of correspondence from
us, from the city on previous um
materials in the application. Uh it
wasn't raised as an issue until very
recently and we've taken all the steps
we can to address that. We've gone out
to the site and removed any reference to
3150 on all the zoning signs on the
site. Uh I note the staff have um
removed the address from any of the
materials. I also note that what we
submitted in terms of a zoning bylaw
amendment draft includes only the beer
store site at 3130 Danforth. And I
understand that conversations with city
legal were had as well to make sure
there's no notice or statutory issues
resulting from this. Um anyway, um my
name is Greg Euans. um here from Ptori
and Management representing the owners
of this property and we're proposing a a
33s story uh rental apartment building
mixeduse building on the site which is
currently the home of the beer store. Uh
you can see the area is very well served
by community facilities, by parks, by uh
retail and other commercial spaces uh as
well as the Victoria Park subway station
which is a short walk to the north. It's
in a protected major transit station
area. This is an area intended by the
city for growth. The site is a mixeduse
area's designation. It's on an avenue.
Uh it's an area where growth is intended
and right now I I would submit that it's
fairly underutilized as the existing
beer store one-story commercial building
and a large surface parking lot that you
can see in the image above. What we're
proposing is a 33story building with 445
new apartment units in a range of sizes.
806 square meters of commercial space,
about 150 vehicle parking spaces, eight
of which are located at surface level,
and just under 2,000 square meters of
amenity space. Here's the ground floor.
We've gone to great lengths to try and
uh increase the commercial space on site
to create opportunities for um retailers
of various sizes including even the beer
store if they wanted to come back uh to
come back to the site. So this was in
direct response to comments from council
the the local community uh and planning
staff.
Couple of renderings of the project uh
provides great opportunity significant
setbacks along all street frontages to
animate uh Danforth Macy St. Dunston
space for new street trees to maintain
existing trees, new green space, new
pedestrian areas, new public um uh
pedestrian space. Here is the rear of
the site. Uh there's a proposed uh
private vehicle access or lane along the
back where vehicle access would be
provided. Loading is provided, so we
don't need loading or pickup off the
streets. It's all contained within the
site. As I said, there's also some
short-term parking on the site as well.
Here's another view of the streetscape
and you can see the church just to the
east there in its frame as well and uh
and the proposal well set back of the
street providing lots of space for
street tree planting, commercial
activity, pedestrian activity. The
application is the result of a
considerable amount of uh collaboration
between city staff, between council and
your staff. uh and it we've made a
number of changes that are reflected in
the proposal before uh community council
today for which staff have drafted a
supportive report. We've reduced the
building heights from 36 down to 33
stories. We've also adjusted u the
mechanical space on top of the building
to reduce that even from u the original
application to try and diminish shadow
on the park meal park as great as
possible. We've increased the number of
surface parking spaces and parking
spaces overall. And we've also increased
the ground floor commercial space again
to respond to comments from the
community and the counselor's office
about creating vibrant retail space and
an opportunity for lots of commercial on
the site. Additionally, uh and this was
highlighted by parks and the councelor's
office quite early in the process and
we're grateful for that. Um
opportunities for off-site parkland
acquisition. Uh we continue to work with
city staff and the councelor's office to
identify lands which might be provided
for off-site acquisition um as part of
this and there's a recommendation in the
staff report that reflects our efforts
in that regard uh as they're intended to
continue. But in summary, what we uh
were proposing here we believe addresses
a number of city and provincial
objectives. This is an area where growth
is intended transit supportive growth.
We're proposing a building which has
been scaled, masked, and cited on the
site to diminish impacts to the greatest
degree possible. While balancing the
objectives to support this growth, we're
trying to provide uh expanded community
or commercial space, uh expanded space
on all street frontages, street
improvements, improved landscaping. The
building design references colors and
materials from the local community, uh
local buildings, and finally, um we're
continuing to work with the city on
opportunities for off-site acquisition.
Um again, thank you to staff and thank
you to Councelor Cannibal and your staff
for working with us collaboratively on
this. and thank you for your time today.
>> Okay. Thank you, Mr. Yuans. Uh questions
to the deputent.
Councelor Myyers.
>> Thank you, Chair. Uh through you. Uh
just a couple quick questions regarding
the uh units. There's 445 rental unit uh
dwelling units. How many of those are
affordable?
Uh the right now I'm not sure what the
the status of inclusionary zoning will
be by the time the um the project moves
forward but as of right now the uh CBC
benefit which would enable the
affordable units hasn't been determined
yet. So in the current proposal there
aren't any specified affordable units
but we do have a CBC requirement uh that
is so far not spoken for in terms of the
community benefit it will deliver. It
could be affordable units.
>> Thank you. Uh, and then I guess my
second question is I'm just looking at
there's 445 units. Um, and then there's
137 parking spots. So roughly a third.
Uh, is the expectation that most people
in the building will be using transit?
>> Yes. The uh this aligns well actually
this this greatly exceeds the city's
requirements for parking uh in these
areas. Also the the planning act does
not require any parking in buildings in
major transit station areas as you may
be aware. Uh but we've undertaken a
market exercise to determine what we
feel is an appropriate amount of parking
for the site considering the walkability
of the area and the nearby transit
options. There's surface and uh and
subway transit options within close
walking distance. So that's based on a
analysis of what we feel the market
requires here. that is 150 149 spaces
some of which are visitors uh but the
majority are for residents.
>> Thank you. And then a final question. I
note that there is 348 bicycle parking
spaces proposed. Do you know if the city
plans on putting in bike infrastructure
in this area so that people can safely
ride bikes?
>> I I believe there's a plan along
Danforth regarding expanded bike
infrastructure. Uh I'm not sure of the
status of that plan and I I am not aware
of any uh improvements beyond the
Danforth corridor. There may be uh
things that have been proposed recently
that we're not aware of yet.
>> Okay. Thank you very much.
>> Thank you. Thank you councelor Myers.
Other questions of staff on this item?
Sorry of the deputy. My apologies.
>> Councelor Kandel.
>> Yeah. Thank you, Chair Ensley. Um just
wanted to just reconfirm with u the the
deputent Greg. Thank you for working
with us and on the affordable housing
question. Um you you shared the recent
provincial changes that that took away
that mandate. Uh but for for the clarity
of of our group here um there isn't
anything stopping the applicant from
from proactively offering affordable
housing as this mix. Correct. No, there
is nothing uh in legislation that would
prevent the applicant from uh providing
affordable housing and and as I
mentioned the CBC contribution provides
an opportunity to uh provide
affordability in some of the units on
site.
>> Uh thank you and uh thank you for
clarifying the the the address mistake.
It clearly isn't substantial in in the
proceedings today. I was going to uh
show that later on. Um on the shadowing,
we've heard from many community members
uh just the shadows cast on the park
which is in a low income area that is
used by many in the community. For
clarity with my colleagues, the
shadowing impacts
on the park between heavy use times 3 to
6 p.m. occur uh during the equinoxes.
Correct.
>> Yes. And the shadows are cast northeast
from the building which falls on a
portion of Meline Park uh later in the
afternoon during the equinoxes
diminishing towards this middle of the
summer of course. But yes,
Uh those are the the two questions. Uh
thank you.
>> The if if I could add just a point on
shadows. Um councelor the one of the
things we looked at in the past couple
of uh months as we've been putting
together the revised proposal is the
impact of an as of right building on
shadows. I I'll just make two quick
comments. Um, under the city's MTSA
policies, this site, uh, which allows
six or greater FSI, would likely
facilitate a building in the low 20-ish
stories, uh, the mid 20ish stories, and
there's no, uh, prescribed area where
that tower could be. This is a fairly
large site. We're proposing one tower on
it, and we've deliberately moved that
tower as far south and west as we
possibly can in order to further limit
shadows toward the northeast. As I said,
we've brought the height down and we've
brought the um the mechanical penthouse
scale down as well. And when compared to
a building that would be at an as of
right height located in other areas of
the site, the resulting shadow impacts
are are not all that different from what
might be expected from an as of right
situation based on the city's major
transit station area policies.
>> Thank you, Greg. And finally, what is
the FSI on your application?
>> Oh, I have to look at the plans for
that. Um, if you can give me a sec. I
don't have that up top. Oh,
9.4, sir.
>> Thank you.
>> Thank you, Greg.
>> Sorry. Are there questions of the deput?
Seeing none. Okay. Thank you. Thank you,
sir. Speakers on this item.
Councelor Cannibal.
Uh,
thank you, Chair Ensley, and I'd like to
thank uh Greg and his team for working
with us. Um, to u
reiterate, I know it was a reason for
some communication, but the address
mistake is is negligible, not really
affecting or impacting proceedings here.
Um, as the applicant spoke, there are
merits to this in terms of design. I
appreciate the commercial retail um, uh,
provision, uh, the setbacks, the new
trees and and to some extent the
streetscape looks promising. There is,
however, concerns about clarity around
the parkland dedication, what that means
um, for the community. It is a dense
neighborhood already with multiple
towers in the Teasdale neighborhood,
Denton, Macy. Um there is a question,
it's pointed out that nothing is
preventing the applicant from providing
affordable housing, something both staff
and I have requested in this
application. Um and also and finally is
the impact this would have on a very
newcomer Canadian um racialized lower
family neighborhood which has this
limited park. um that will see impacts
from the shadowing. Uh that gives pause
for me and uh as part of seeing this
move forward, I'll be moving this
without recommendations uh to help
address these questions for clarity as
well as improvement on parkland and
shadowing.
Okay.
Questions of councelor Kennel
seeing none other speakers.
So we have the motion by councelor
Kennel.
I thought he had a motion.
I thought he moved to defer.
No, without moving into council without.
>> Okay. Any questions of the mover?
>> Seeing none, all in favor of the motion
that carries.
Good.
Yep. So, I am going to move uh motion to
extend the meeting uh to finish the next
item SC 31.14 Scarbor Village Street
Plans, which is item number 14. And then
uh colleagues
breaking for lunch
with 19
>> chair. Um chair, can I ask if the
scarbor crescent tree item please
because I won't be able to join um once
lunch starts or once we're back from
lunch. So if we can if we can kindly
have that item, the Scarbor Crescent
tree exemption moved up as well.
There's four speakers.
>> Mr. Chair, a point of order.
>> Yep. Councelor Thompson, point of order.
>> The chief of police is actually here in
my ward. There's some activity that's
taking place with the chief.
>> I'm having trouble.
>> Sir, can you hear me? Okay. The chief of
police is actually here in my ward.
There's some activities taking place
with other members of the community and
so on. And I do have to attend. I will
actually go and uh hopefully come back.
But you have qu I know that councelor
Campbell is not here to be here but I I
have to leave to go to that.
>> Okay. So we'll have qu
I'll I'll come back after I'm done but
um unfortunately I've got to go there.
>> Sorry. And councelor cannibal you have
to leave at one.
>> Yes.
There's four speakers here.
Ya,
there's four speakers.
Okay.
>> I think one person's repeated twice. I
think Nicole Karan is repeated twice on
the 31.8 scarbor crescent tree exemption
item.
>> Okay. So,
we'll do number eight, we'll do number
14, and then we'll break for lunch. Is
that fine with everybody? Staff need a
break.
Okay. All in favor?
And that carries.
So we have so we're on SC 31.8 226 Scar
Bro Avenue application to remove a
private tree. This is deferred from our
last April meeting. Our first speaker
Nicole Curado. Nicole, are you online?
>> Yes, I am here.
>> Okay, go ahead. You have five minutes.
>> Okay.
All right.
I I
>> sorry Nicole, we can't hear you.
>> Okay. Yes. Yes. Well, I was going to say
that about this this tree, this black
walnut tree is completely healthy and
it's it's not uh branches can be
trimmed. you don't have to cut the tree
and that this tree is producing food and
shelter for animals especially during
nesting season
tree is healthy and maintainable and and
there's absolutely no
protect this black walnut tree animals
need the the shelter and need the food
for walnuts and
this tree really needs to be protected
dead fruiting it will will reduce the
likelihood of future loom failure. So
all this tree needs a haircut
tree is perfectly healthy. You see
pictures of this tree. Beautiful tree.
Lots of lots of green leaves. Perfect
tree healthy tree. Just needs a little
bit of a haircut. Trees trees absolutely
that's there's no need to cut down the
tree. We do trim a few branches but the
tree itself as well.
>> Okay. Thank you, Nicole.
>> Trees are native and
>> Okay. Thank you very much. Any questions
of the deputy then?
>> Nope. Seeing none, our next registered
speaker is Joan Wright.
Sorry, Miss Right. Are you speaking for
yourself and Lawrence, right? Or
>> um No, I'm speaking first and then
Lawrence is speaking after me.
>> Okay, go ahead. You have five minutes.
>> Yes. Thank you for hearing our appeal. I
know you're very busy today.
>> Do you need your laptop hooked up?
>> No, I'm fine. Thank you.
Lawrence, Lawrence and I are both 79
years old and have lived in our home now
for 35 years. And the tree we wish to
remove is a black walnut tree. And it's
a large tree, but we wanted to remove
for two reasons. It's first because it's
we're very fearful of injury and damage
to ourselves. It's it's become a
nightmare to live with this tree. And
second, as we age, we're finding it more
difficult to deal with with all the work
involved and all the issues and actually
we're not as healthy as we used to be.
We want the tree removed so much we're
prepared to pay substantial amount of
money to do that and are willing to pay
for trees to be planted on our property
and wherever the city would like some
more trees planted.
It's not about the health of the tree.
This is really about quality of life for
us living with this tree.
Um we've had a number of huge branches
falling down and some damage has
happened to our um table which was a
grass table at the time and um
we still fear there's more big branches
coming down even though it's healthy.
The tree has
mountains and mountains of nuts that
fall down at least
every every year around two months of
the year, September, October, we're
constantly out picking up naps before
they cause a real problem and squash
down everywhere in the patio. Um, our
main entrance is actually right onto the
patio and we use that all the time and
we have to be very careful when we're
moving in and out of the house.
It's hard. I'm not going through all my
scripture, but it's hard to describe the
horror really. I mean, we we get woken
up at night with the with the nuts
falling down. Um, and takes a while to
understand what's happening because it
comes down with such force. The tree now
is about 80 feet high. So, we did have
an opportunity when we first moved into
this house to cut down this tree. We
realized after a couple of years it was
a problem. Um, we didn't cut it down at
the time because we couldn't afford to.
It's still at this point it's going to
cost us about $9,000 to to cut down the
tree along with planting new trees.
I, as I say, it's very difficult to
describe what we go through.
The other thing that has happened is the
previous speaker mentioned the animals.
We have
many animals in our yard and we also
have other trees growing. We have some
very large maple trees as well. So we
love our trees really except our
nightmare tree which we can't deal with
anymore. Um, the squirrels have actually
collected the nuts off this tree as
well, and they managed to get into our
attic, and we were having a problem
listening to them roaming around until
Lawrence found where they were coming in
and was able to fix that problem, but
who knows when it's going to happen
again. There was a huge amount of nuts
that they stored there on and in Arctic
above where we live.
Anyway, I um
We're now approaching 80 years of age
and we both have arthritis and our knees
and our shoulders and everything are
going. So, we just can't deal with this
tree anymore. So, we ask that we be
allowed to cut it down so that we can
live our lives in this house that we
bought as a retirement bungalow.
And thank you for listening to me. My
husband is actually going to follow up
with some other problems.
>> Thank you, Miss Wright. Uh, questions
for the deput.
>> You're waiting for Mr. Wright
>> so you can get the full story. All
right, we're waiting for Mr. Right. So
we can get the whole
Okay, Mr. Rice has arrived. Um,
can I hook my computer up? Yep. I just
got some pictures. Pictures are worth a
thousand words, right?
There we go.
Um,
go ahead, sir. You have five minutes
whenever you're ready. Okay. Yeah. Thank
you for listening to me. Um, yes, I'm
ready.
Okay, so Joan and I want to remove this
tree because it's growing too close to
our house and to our neighbor's house.
It if it was at the bottom of our of our
back garden, it wouldn't be a threat.
But but the canopy overhangs both houses
and both patios.
I'd like to do with five points that I
think are relevant to application to
remove this tree. Um first point, this
tree is dangerous. Limbs are falling and
pruning won't guarantee that they stop.
Over the last few years, three large
limbs have fallen.
The most recent shattered Oops. One
more.
Okay. The most recent shattered eyeglass
picnic table.
But this despite the fact that we've had
this tree pruned several times.
But these leaves could kill someone.
In the report to the council, urban
forestry says good opera cultural
practices and the performance of routine
tree maintenance will reduce the
likelihood of limb failure.
But we don't want to reduce the
likelihood of liymph failure. We want to
stop it and the only way to stop this
likelihood is to remove the tree.
In his submission to council, uh, urban
forestry also says
that a city's tree bylaws do not support
the removal of this tree as is healthy
and maintainable.
But this is simply not true. As I've
discussed in my written submission, I
don't know if you've read it, but the
bylaw does support the removal of
healthy trees. In in subsection 18.1,
it's it says simply the general manager
may issue permits to injure or destroy
healthy trees.
So, we're not up we're not asking for a
variance to the bylaw. We're asking that
a decision made is made in accordance
with subsection 18.1 of the bylaw.
The third point, Toronto has another set
of bylaws, chapter 632,
which says that we should remove
dangerous trees.
Half of our tree canopy overhangs the
property next door. If a limb were to
fall into their garden or onto their
house, according to chapter 632, Jon and
I would be held responsible for any any
resulting damage, injury or death.
Chapter 623
um 632
deals with vacant or houseless
properties. The subsection five says,
"But the owner or person in charge of a
property upon which a tree is located
shall remove any decayed, damaged or
dangerous tree or branch that poses a
danger at a person's or property." And
that's exactly what we want to do. We
are the owners of the property upon
which this tree is located. And we see
and we sincerely believe that this tree
is dangerous.
It's our responsibility to remove it.
Fourth point, the falling nuts can be
dangerous, too. It's not just the
falling limbs that worry us, but for for
two months every year, as Joan has said,
our lives are dominated by thousands of
nuts that fall on our h on our house and
patio. Joan has talked about the stress
they cause and the problems of cleanup.
If the nuts aren't removed as soon as
they fall,
the husks are chewed up and spat out by
the squirrels. These spat out husks are
messy, and we all know what can happen
when
with broken bones and hospitalization.
The fifth point, we believe that this
tree will make it impossible for us to
age in place.
Joan and I have seen our parents age and
so we know what's waiting for us.
We know that as we age, our ability to
cope with the for nuts and the constant
cleanup will diminish to the point where
we simply won't be able to deal with it
anymore.
While it might
while it might sound melodramatic, we
don't want to be driven out of our house
because we've been forced to live with a
tree that we can't cope with.
This refusal to allow us to remove the
tree appears to us to be in direct
conflict with the city's aging in place
initiative.
And finally, let's put this in
perspective. In 2024, the city estimated
that there were 11 and a half million
trees in Toronto.
Joan and I are asking for one tree out
of 11 and a half million, but to be
replaced, not destroyed, simply
replaced.
We will be planting new trees.
In summary,
the tree is situated too close to our
house and our neighbor's house.
Pruning can't guarantee
but that more limbs won't fall.
Neither will pruning stop nuts falling
on our roof and patio.
But removing the tree does not
contravene the tree bylaw. Moreover,
removing the tree is in accordance with
the vacant and houses property by law.
And perhaps most importantly, for two
months each year, our lives are
dominated by this train. As we enter our
we want to minimize any dangers and to
make life easy for Joan and Lawrence as
they get old.
Thank you.
>> Thank you, Mr. Wright. Questions of the
deputy
>> chair.
>> Councelor Kendel.
>> Uh, thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you
through you. Uh, thank you to Mr. and
Mrs. Wright for your presentation and
this is a a very unique scenario and a
couple of things that I wanted to help
clarify for my colleagues and audience.
Um, Mr. and Mr. Right. This uh exemption
you're seeking is not to uh further
develop your house or expand the imprint
of your of your home, is it?
>> No, absolutely not. We just want to get
rid of the tree. Uh we have no profit or
otter motive involved in it at all.
Uh and you've clearly outlined that this
is a a very unique the black wall as I
learned through my site visit uh a very
uh dense nut that has clearly
demonstrated impact to your house and
your safety and security. Correct.
>> Yes. Uh we get thousands of nuts every
year. Um
there was one year I couldn't get rid of
all the nuts that fell and I had to um
and I
and I filled the back of my pickup
truck. I I've got an 18 foot bed on my
pickup truck and I estimated I put 3,000
nuts which I couldn't which I just
couldn't dispose of by normal means.
There's a lot of nuts and they create
danger. They
and there have been children playing in
our playing in our backyard who've got
quite nuts. Um,
>> um, and, uh, beyond just the the safety
of your home, uh, this is this a
question of accessibility for you and
your wife in regard to your ability to
continue to stay in your your current
home, which you you've been in for quite
some time.
>> Yeah. Uh, yes, we've been in the house
for 35 years. Um, we um Oh, here's my
wife. Um,
oh, sorry. The Yes. um our main entrance
to our to where we live
gives out onto the patio. So every time
we leave the house or come in, we have
to run the gauntlet of all these fallen
nuts for two months of the year. And if
we don't pick them up, the the problem
is we can't hire somebody to come in and
clean up the nuts because it's a
constant it's a con it's a constant
process of picking up the nuts as soon
as they thought because otherwise the
squirrels get in and they start chewing
at them and husks go all over the um all
over the patio and the husks are
slippering.
>> Actually, we didn't mention our next
door neighbors too because um
Dave next door had a stroke two years
ago now and is in a wheelchair and it's
pretty impossible to wheel a wheelchair
to rather than us that fall on their
side of the fence and they probably get
about the same number as we do on our
side. So I don't know how they manage
with difficulty. I I don't know if
that's the case. The nuts again it's
difficult if you don't live there to
describe what happens. It's like
sometimes it's like showers of golf
balls coming down and when you start
walking out the door you have to kind of
duck back in and you know it's getting
as I said it's getting harder to move as
fast as we used to to avoid these nuts
falling. They have hit us in the past
but now the tree is bigger. They're just
coming down faster, stronger. They smash
open. This past year was was a bonanza,
I think, because this this past year the
nuts at the end of the uh season were
bigger than golf balls and they were
coming down so fast they were splashing,
squashing on the uh patio right away.
And the other thing is they bounce off
the table or off the roof and they mess
all our patio and our house actually is
a stucco. this um cream colored stuff.
Oh, and every year we have to repaint
the whole side around the back garden
area. Um it's it you can't imagine what
it's like to live with it for two
months. We we just are on the news shot.
We need to have it down. Sorry.
>> Thank you, Mr. and Mr. Mrs. Right.
Appreciate it.
>> Okay. Thank you, councelor Cannibal.
Other questions of the deputants? Seeing
none. Thank you very much. Uh we're
moving on to questions of staff.
Questions of staff.
Councelor Cannibal, do you have
questions of staff?
>> Uh no.
>> No questions of staff.
>> No.
>> Okay. Councelor Cannibal doesn't have
any questions of staff. Councelor Manis
or Councelor Myers?
No. Okay. Can I just ask So where's my
forestry staff? Can I ask in the report?
So the arborist that they hired
noted the trees poor condition,
unbalanced crown, weight distribution
over extended branches including bark
and cavities,
the presence of deadwood. I'm not sure
what that is. I'm not an arborist. Um,
city staff inspected the tree at the
time of inspection determined it's
healthy and maintainable. The tree has
good structural form and vitality. The
deputent showed pictures. Sorry, my line
long-winded question. The deputent
showed pictures of the tree that came
down on their patio table. And I I have
I know what black walnuts can do when
they get infected with moths. What's the
discrepancy, do you think, between the
arburist that they hired and the city
staff that went and looked at the tree
>> uh through the chair? I can actually
confirm that I was have also been out on
site and inspected the tree um and would
also deem it as being healthy and
maintainable. In terms of the
discrepancy between the arborist uh and
what I saw on the ground, I would have
to um converse with the arburist in that
situation and get a better understanding
of what they were seeing which I did not
see. Um as uh noted by the applicant as
well as uh by my staff and myself is
that the tree as far as I can see is
healthy and maintainable. The limbs that
have fallen a result of a number of
different things. Um, unfortunately I
wasn't there when they did fall. Uh, so
it could be that the tree branches were
just overextended and they should have
been pruned sooner. Could be that the
tree branches were dead. Uh, you
mentioned about not knowing what
deadwood is. So on a tree branch, um,
occasionally there's just dieback from
as trees get older, certain limbs will
drop or fall, potentially get infected,
those kind of things. My apologies. Uh,
that would lead to a deadwood limb. So
we call deadwood to be the size of a
finger all the way up to the size of
your arm. Right? So an arburish report
indicating that there's presence of
deadwood. Many trees across Toronto, in
fact, I would say significantly most of
the trees in Toronto will have some sort
of deadwood in them. Um unless you're
pring them consistently every couple of
years kind of thing.
>> Okay. And then
um in terms So it's 73 cm in diameter.
We just revised our tree protection
bylaw. So this tree would be almost four
times the size of what you're mandated
to protect minimum. And then in terms So
it's a 70.
What is the life expectancy of a tree
like this in an urban environment like
Toronto?
>> Black walnut uh through the chair. Black
walnuts have a large long life
expectancy. They're a very robust tree
that can live hundreds of years uh no
problem. Um and in terms of um yeah the
size of the tree I believe staff and
myself measured it as being about u 73
centimeters in DBH. Uh so yeah that's
almost three four times what we're
proposing for the tree by bylaw
amendments moving forward.
>> Okay. Thank you very much. Thank you uh
speakers on this item. Sorry. Councelor
Canal, did you wish to speak?
>> I'll go after councelor Mantis.
>> Well, it's your award.
Yeah, I'll go last. I'll go last
>> if that's fine with you, chair.
>> Yep, that's fine. Councelor Manis,
>> thank you, Mr. Chair. Um, I'll tell you
a little story. So, when I was a younger
person, we had a neighbor that had a
black walnut tree. And the walnut tree
was
was just as big as the one that we see
in this application.
leaves would fall, branches would fall.
The the walnuts were anywhere between
the size of a pingpong ball to to almost
a baseball. Especially when they're
green, they're very hard and they're
even harder than when they're dry
and it was just a total mess.
So, in this application, it's not about
the the health or the uh the prosperity
of the tree. It's about the the living
conditions and the prosperity of the
homeowners because at the end of the
day, they're the ones that are have to
clean the tree, prune the tree, maintain
the tree, and live at and live at their
homes. And knowing that their neighbor
is also in a wheelchair, I find it very
difficult to accept the fact that we're
we would deny the application on the
facts of the health of the tree. Plus,
the bylaw that we've voted upon isn't
until January 1st. So, right now it's
only twice the size of the tree, not
four times the size of the tree. Just to
mention that. So, I'm actually in
support of the uh removal of the tree
because it has to do with the general
well-being of all the residents around
the home and not only because of the
tree itself. Thank you.
>> Thank you, counselor. Other speakers,
councelor Canavville.
>> Thank you. to chair want to thank Quinn
um and staff for supporting our site
visit. Um and we saw very clearly and
it's been a bit of a a crash course for
me on the impact of black walnuts a tree
all trees are not alike. Um, and
councelor Rantis' personal story
highlights uh the learnings that my
staff and I um underwent through the
visit and seeing the impact firsthand of
uh the the the trees certainly drove
home the messages from Mr. and Mrs.
Wright on the impact on their safety,
security, and most importantly
accessibility for them to age in place.
as I shared with them they they look
great great for their age but they're 80
years old and for them to continue this
um work is is very challenging I can
imagine and and hence why I haven't
typically uh in my two and a half years
as a counselor supported tree exemptions
but this one I am uh it's clearly and
obviously and clearly stated by the
applicants they are not doing this for a
expansion of their home or property Um,
but this is for their security, safety,
and accessibility. And I and I urge and
ask my colleagues to support this rare
exemption given the impact it's having
on on their personal lives and the
safety and security of it as they age in
place uh a home that they've been um
living at for for I think 35 years. So I
asking for this exemption. I know it may
not be uh something folks but it's clear
that the context in I think our bylaws
or procedure allow for that discretion
and here's a rare occurrence uh place
that I ask for uh to support given the
personal impact upon this uh this couple
uh as they um age gracefully as seniors
in their homes. So hoping to have my
colleagues support in granting this rare
exception. Thank you, Chair.
>> Okay. Thank you, Councelor Cannibal.
Other speakers on this item? Seeing
none. So, we have uh an amendment before
us by Councelor Cannibal. All in favor?
None opposed. And that passes item.
Nope. Okay. Thank you.
And then our next item is SC 31.14
Scarbor Village Street Plan.
W 20 Scar Bro Southwest and W 24 Scarbo
Gildwood. We have one registered
speaker, David Signnaki.
>> Good afternoon, Mr. Signnacki. I believe
you understand how the rules work.
You've been on this side of the table
before. You have five minutes whenever
you're ready.
Sorry, you have to turn the microphone
on. Sir,
>> did you mute me already, counselor? Uh,
so I hope to uh continue with my
tradition of never using my five
minutes. Members of council, I'm here to
ask uh with respect to the streets plan
for one amendment, please, and that is
deletion of of recommendation 1A,
uh, which is a set of speed bumps on
Markham Road, uh, itself. Um, I'm okay
with absolutely the rest of it. Um it's
no longer for me to say what people want
on their streets or not or to be
contrary to the streets plan. Um the
reason for uh my request is that the
area that I'm requesting that one
stretch of street is the major ingress
uh for all of the emergency services
into the entire uh community. And I
believe that it would be um just slower
emergency services, slower ambulance,
slower police, slower um uh all services
including wheel trans if that would be
removed. Before coming here, I took a
look at the um uh Toronto Open portal to
take a look at what accidents there were
on that set of uh road. The records are
just great. They go back to 2006 and in
the last 20 years there have been no
accidents on that stretch at all. Uh
there's actually only one accident at
Markham and Kingston itself. Uh and that
was due to a driver taking the wrong
turn. Um with respect to the warrant
before you, it's at 54 kilometers an
hour. Um really that's not that high on
a on a downhill uh on a downhill ramp.
there's a plaza at the corner. So, I
don't think we'll be impacting a lot of
of residents. And so, I believe for the
uh purposes of the community at large,
it would make sense just on that one
portion to remove the speed bumps. I
will say personally that I walk that um
every day, uh every workday rather.
That's part of my uh morning walk during
the morning rush period. And uh it's not
an unsafe street per speaking
personally, I've been in the area since
um that area for the last 26 years. So
please uh members of uh community
council ask for your uh amendment. Other
than that uh I would certainly support
the rest of the recommendations before
you. Thank you. Look at that. Two
minutes and 10 seconds.
>> Well done, sir.
Any questions of the deputy? Seeing
none. Thank you, sir. Much appreciate
your
>> chair. Chair chairsley. Sorry. Don't
know if you saw my hand go up.
>> Councelor Cannibal. questions of the
deputent.
>> Uh thank you chair and um
welcome back to Scarbor Community
Council, former counselor Saknaki. Good
to see you. Uh thank you for uh for
coming out and and joining us. Always
always good to see you. And just wanted
to um I just clarify, did you
communicate to to either councelor
Angler or I about this request? Did you
send anything? Yeah, I I put a call into
your office uh earlier this week. I
spoke with your assistant. Your
assistant was quite helpful who actually
asked the reasons for my uh coming down
and uh recommendations. So, I spent some
time with him on the phone um as well. I
spoke with uh councelor Aninsley uh who
was good enough to start off the
conversation by saying, you know, this
isn't councelor Candel's off room award
uh so you better not lobby me. So, he's
he did a good job as well.
Uh, fair enough. It's a little um I'm
unsure about whether the Markham Road is
my side or his side, but it's
>> Yeah, Shar certainly is a border. Um and
finally, um uh is the concern that from
your I know you've been there for quite
some time that the the speeding or the
traffic doesn't um uh provide for the
the need for the speed hubs. Is is that
the the
>> Yeah, there there's two things there uh
you're you're you're mentioning,
counselor. Uh number one, the issue is
of safety. So that's why I took a look
at the um uh the data because uh I
certainly don't observe that it's
unsafe. Uh whenever uh certainly I'm
pedest I'm a pedestrian and a walker
there and as are others. The cars do
respect it and uh do give everybody a
wide birth. The warrants also say that
this the road is relatively slow. So um
it's a safe road. So that's that's one
issue. But I think the critical thing
for this section is that that is a major
uh entrance point for all of the
emergency services um and city services
uh coming into our community. So that's
why I propose this this one section uh
uh be be amended but with the rest of
that the report's fine
>> in my opinion.
>> Thank you. Thank you for your deputation
and former counselor. Appreciate it.
Thank you, councelor Cannibal. Uh,
questions of staff on this item.
Councelor Myyers.
>> Thank you through you, Chair. Uh,
regarding 1A, the 10 speed humps on
Markham Road between Kingston Road and
Hill Crescent. Uh, are there is there
transit in that area? Are there TTC
buses that are running over their speed
humps?
>> Through you, chair, to the council,
there is no TTC service on this segment
of Markham Road south of Kingston.
>> Okay. I think and on Markham Road mean
>> sorry the segment of Markhamm Road south
of Kingston Road.
>> Okay.
>> Thank you. Got it.
>> Thank you counselor. Other questions of
staff on this item? Seeing none uh
speakers on this item?
>> Councelor Canaval.
>> Uh thank you chair. Just give me one
second. I'd like to u appreciate the
tremendous work done by staff. Uh the
open houses were outstanding, very
helpful in uh getting together uh all
the relevant stakeholders within um the
city to present and hear from residents
the uh the the the concerns about safety
and and in Cliffrest, Scarboro Village.
And certainly many aspects of this plan
speak to uh the need for um community
investment, city investment in making a
safer um community for all. Uh so I want
to appreciate the the work done by folks
and um uh the engagement from the
community was clear in the two open
houses and the communications with our
office and with staff directly. uh
appreciate former counselor Saknaki's
um advice and experience in relation to
1A and I'll be moving a motion to delete
the request uh to delete part 1A uh this
recommendation for speed hubs south of
Kingston Road on Markham Road to Hill
Crescent.
Sorry, counselor. Did you submit that?
>> Uh, I believe council um Nancy and my
staff are
perhaps working on that. So if there's
any other speakers, we can come back
>> or if if if
clerks can quickly draft the deletion
motion.
>> Yeah, we'll deal with that.
>> Council, may I provide some information
in relation to that uh deletion?
>> All right, sir.
>> Thank you.
We're both doing the same thing.
Councelor, I already have a motion
deleted or drafted for the same thing.
>> Okay.
All is well.
>> Okay.
Yep.
So, I don't need to I don't need to
speak very long. I have the same motion.
Councelor Cannibal and I can both move
it since we we feuded over Markham Road.
So it basically reads that
recommendation number 1A be deleted
uh and that two be re be recommendation
number two be removed in conjunction
with the installation of seed pumps. So
it now reads Scarbo Community Council
designate a 30 kilometer speed limit on
Markham Road between Kingston Road and
Hill Crescent and removing in
conjunction with the installation of
speed humps. So what this motion does is
uh remove the proposed speed humps on
Markham Road. Uh maintains a designation
of the 30 kilometer speed limit. Uh I've
been the counselor in the area for a
number of years. Um, I've walked up and
down the street, ridden a bike up and
down it, drove up and down it. Um, I've
not ever I've never seen a motor vehicle
accident on it. Um, actually don't get
any complaints about the speeding on
this. I get complaints about speeding on
Hill Crescent and the adjacent roads.
I've never had one for this stretch of
Markham Road, which is below Kingston
Road, south of Kingston Road. So, that's
why I'm moving this amendment.
All in favor of the amendment that
carries. Oh, and thank you very much to
staff for all of their work on this
project and taking into account uh
community feedback throughout this area.
And the item is amended. All in favor?
That carries.
Now
I believe we're breaking for lunch.
Sorry.
Okay.
>> Till two.
Okay. Thank you, sir. Appreciate it.
But I don't
So, I'm trying to manage the agenda and
multiple people in this room as well as
giving our staff an opportunity more so
to have a break than I think the
counselors all used to working through
our lunch, but this is more so for the
our staff. So, we are taking a break.
>> Thank you.
Yep. Yep. Thank you.
This meeting will resume at 2 p.m.
Yeah.
Yeah.
is very
small.
I don't know.
I mean,
thank you.
Excuse
me.
Oh yeah.
Okay, good afternoon everybody. I'm
calling the meeting back to order.
All right. Good afternoon. I'm calling
the meeting back to order. Uh just
before we get to item number two, uh
item number 19, which was added to the
agenda this morning, um I believe
everybody's had a chance to read it. I'm
going to move the recommendations. All
in favor? And that carries unanimously.
Thank you. We are on to item number two.
We're on to item number two, SC 31.2,
3718 and 3730 Kingston Road. This is a
zoning bylaw amendment. This is a
decision report for final approval. Uh
the first registered speaker, sorry, the
first I'm going to say the first three,
Teresa Hoe, Philip Ho, and Tony Sedara.
Peter
Okay, thank you.
Sorry, who's online?
>> Teresa's online. Teresa, can you hear
me?
>> Hi there. Yes, I could hear you.
>> Hi. You have five minutes to address
community council whenever you're ready.
>> Okay. Philip and I will be speaking
together. So, go ahead.
>> Okay. Do you have five or 10 minutes?
>> Uh, five is okay.
>> Yeah, I think we could do it in five.
Thank you very much. Um,
>> thank you. Go ahead.
>> Excellent. Thank you very much. Uh, I am
a resident of Jeremiah Lane. Um,
actually my my property is um is backing
onto uh and facing the uh the proposed
uh uh development, the condominium
development, 24tory development. Um, I
want to express my my strong opposition
uh to the proposal. Uh, and uh, I have a
couple of um, issues that I did bring up
to the community meeting that happened
not too long ago. Um, I wanted to um,
reiterate them here um, for the uh, for
for counselors and uh, other attendees
here as well. Um, first is the the the
shadow impact uh, and the loss of
amenity. Um, as you can imagine, a
24-hour uh 20 24 story tower is going to
cast a a a massive yearround shadow over
over the town homes impacted, especially
adjacent to the the the property. Um, I
think we we've heard a lot from from
from people uh today speaking about the
the loss of natural light um the uh the
diminished enjoyment of property um and
our private outdoor spaces that we that
we paid for. Um and uh from the the
shadow assessment that uh that we were
informed about during our previous
meeting, um it it looks like the the
properties that that um that are very
close to the the development will lose
approximately
6 hours, 5 to 6 hours of that light and
light will actually come back into the
property at after 2:00. So, as you can
imagine, if you were to live here, um
being told that you're not going to have
sunlight until way, uh till into the
afternoon hours, um doesn't wouldn't
sound acceptable, um to to property
owners like myself, um and to the
community as well. Um, another concern I
have is the traffic congestion. Um if
you live in the area, actually if you
live very close to the area, you would
know um Scarbo Golf Club Road is a very
critical path for commuters, not just
within the the area, but coming from the
east and the west as as Scarbo Golf Club
is a is a is a very important connection
point to Kingston Road um and to
Lawrence um and even as far as Ellir. Uh
this particular um um street is known to
have very congested um traffic uh in
volume of cars um especially during the
um the highest peak of uh of volume in
the in the morning um and the uh and the
afternoon. Um and it makes for a very
difficult commute out of our
communities. Um it doesn't matter which
direction you're coming from or going
to. It's very difficult. Now, adding a
24story
um um uh uh property is going to
increase that traffic. Um and not only
that, if you're also in the area, you'll
notice that it is actually a it it's a
quite a dangerous uh uh place for
pedestrians to um to to walk across. And
there's a lot of blind turns for cars as
well. The street is not exactly a 90°ree
um um perpendicular uh arrangement. it's
a little bit uh angled in either way.
So, it makes for some blind turns as
well. So, I I have concerns that we're
creating a a a situation where it's
dangerous for our our community members
um as well as uh uh commuters in the
area. Um my next concern is with parking
and overflow as well. Um there seems to
be 200 and some odd um um parking spots
with this new development. I'm seeing
that it has evolved from um from being a
a lower story tower to the 24 that we
have here today. Um and uh given that
there's a lot of cars that are going to
be going to be coming into the the area,
I do have that concern. My last concern
is around schooling. Um I'm I'm very
disappointed in the fact that uh the the
development uh company that that is is
working to develop here had no
connection with the district school
boards and the schools to ensure that
overflow um overflow student um numbers
were incorporated.
Um, I see them themselves as a as a very
proactive organization um um coming into
a community and helping the community
and being proactive, but seeing as they
haven't even consulted the schools or
are leaving it to the schools to address
an overflow, you know, that to me is
unacceptable. We do have uh we do have
an obligation um to our community to
take care of our kids, our children, and
our futures. Um and therefore it not
allowing our kids to have um access to
local schools and have to figure it out
themselves is is a very difficult
situation for us to be in. But anyways,
I've hit my fivem minute mark. Uh so um
handing the mic back over.
>> Okay, thank you very much. Uh questions
of the deputies.
Seeing none, thank you very much. Uh
Tony Sedara is next on the list.
Okay.
>> And don't sit down, Peter. You're next.
>> Yeah, I'm not picky.
Sorry. So, next I have Elden Theodore.
>> I don't think Elden lives in the
neighborhood. Peter
Afternoon,
Mr. Theodore. You have five minutes.
Whenever you're ready.
>> Uh, good afternoon. Yes. And I did um
upload a communication, a presentation.
I'm not sure if that's available. If
not, I can connect it from my laptop.
>> I missed that.
>> Um, I have a presentation that I
uploaded as communication. Not sure if
that can be shared. If not, I can
connect it from my
>> Okay. One of my IT staff will be down.
There we go.
And thank you
and thank you for that. Um my name again
Elden Theodore. I am a partner with MHBC
here on behalf of the owner and just
wanted to indicate that um my clients
are also here. If there are any
questions that I can answer, happy to
answer that as well. Um just want to
speak generally. Um, our team has been
working through this process, engaged in
consultation, community engagement since
the beginning of the application. That
includes both city-led efforts of
consultation as well as owner le. And
that includes items such as background
research, neighborhood introductions,
and door knockocking, community
organization interviews, as well as a
public information booth at the
community fall festival. And we worked
very closely with city staff throughout
this process to come to the point where
we are today.
And again, um, we've also spoken to a
number of area community organizations
in addition to local residents in order
to get a balanced perspective on the
proposal that we're bringing forward.
As you know, this property is located at
the northwest corner of Kingston Road
and Scar Bro Golf Club Road. This is a
growth corridor in the city. We're
adding family-friendly units to
community and walking distance of shops,
services, and transit. Um we are
proposing a design that we believe
protects for light and access and
privacy as well as limiting overlook
shadow shadows and impacts and um show
that in the next slides. And this
proposal will ensure that there's full
commercial frontage along the street.
Um and in terms of the growth corridor,
um we know that the Scar Bro East LRT is
a top city transit priority for high
order transit. This proposal reinforces
growth intensification in this location.
Um so as we evolve the application
through the process, we had previously
been looking at a 20story high-rise
um and we moved towards the current
proposal which is a 24 story and that
increase in height and units assisted in
the project in supporting the increase
in commercial floor area that we were
able to achieve at grade 672 square
meters of commercial floor area.
And the project has several improvements
since the initial submission when we
started this application, including
increasing commercial for as I mentioned
by 65%
slightly reducing the units from 435 to
419, increasing the percentage of
familyfriendly units within the
building, increasing outdoor indoor and
outdoor amenity, and increased parking
and loading. And these changes allowed
us to this project to focus on quality
living spaces which is a big um thing
for my client and their projects as they
they get approved throughout the city.
And here we're just showing the
evolution of commercial going from these
smaller to what we are now proposing
which is full commercial along the
public streets to provide for that
commercial amenity within the
neighborhood. And similarly we've
increased um parking. We have two levels
of under underground parking as well as
parking within the base that will be
visitor parking that will be accessible
to commercial as well as residents. Um
in terms of shadows, I know shadows had
been mentioned and I know at our uh
community meeting we had talked about
the shadows as well. We undertook a
shadow study demonstrating the shadows
move quickly throughout the landscape
reflecting acceptable levels of shadows
within a growth area and demonstrating
there is no adverse impact. Similarly,
we took an additional step and we
undertook a solar access study. And what
this does, it looks at how much sunlight
people get throughout a property. And
what we demonstrated both in the case on
the left um with the tower and the case
on the right without the tower, that we
still preserve and protect for more than
five hours of solar access, which is the
um what is the objective of shadow
studies within the area. So we've
demonstrated that we are protecting that
whether we have the a tower or whether
we don't.
And we've also provide for appropriate
transition adjacent to the rear property
line having a 7.5 meter setback with no
laneway. So we have opportunity for
landscaping and buffering within that
space. And we will be undertaking
transportation improvements in terms of
uh cycle track uh pavement marking and
signalization improvements. All part of
the recommendations of our
transportation study.
Um, so that's it. I just want to thank
staff for the recommendation report and
working with staff and the community on
this and happy to answer any questions
the community may have.
>> Okay. Thank you, sir. Uh, questions of
the deputy?
Seeing none, I have a couple. Starting
off in your presentation, the the shadow
effect.
So the last couple of diagrams you had a
rent with the shadowing.
So the first one at 9:18 a.m.
>> Correct.
>> Yep. So that seems So you have like very
little shadowing over the town houses to
the north.
>> Correct.
>> But then one of your first slides
it has a large shadow over the town
houses.
>> Sorry. one of the first slides.
>> Are you talking about uh
>> Sorry, if you go back to that one.
>> Yep. So, you have
in that one there's a large shadow over
most of the town houses.
Are you saying that's not from your
building?
>> Uh, I'm saying yes. If you can take a
look and if I can move my mouse, you can
see the tower form here and you can see
the shadow moving across that way.
>> Okay.
>> So, that's not that may be a shadowing
issue in the rendering, but it's not a
result of the of the tower.
>> Okay. I'm just just asking because you
do have
you have shadowing over most of the town
houses in that diagram.
>> I appreciate that. I would trust a
shadow study as opposed to a rendering.
Okay. And then can you explain So we've
had three community meetings. The last
one I arranged. Could So um I'm sure
you've heard the issues and concerns
you've had from heard from what would be
the adjacent neighbors or are the
adjacent neighbors to this property.
Could you explain a bit about how
they've been addressed? So um at that
community meeting I know a number of
concerns were raised in relation to
transportation in relation to shadowing
concerns about parking concerns about
what we're doing in terms of the tower.
What we tried to do at that both at that
meeting and as well as part of this
presentation is demonstrate how we
believe that the concerns that had been
raised had already been considered as
part of our application and have been
duly addressed. Uh that's why we
undertook the additional work of
undertaking the solar access study as it
relates to shadows. And that's why we
had our transportation engineer at that
community held meeting explaining um
that both uh city staff have evaluated
transportation and the works that we're
doing to ensure this development doesn't
result in adverse impacts to the broader
neighborhood. Um so we believe and I'm
happy um as uh residents come up with or
any specific questions of this council
in terms of those concern uh to speak to
those specific issues and respond to
them directly.
>> Okay. And then can you explain I'm
trying to understand your rationale. So
we had two mandatory or legally
obligated community meetings which your
building was at 14 stories
>> and now the propos after those meetings
you revised the application for 24. So
I'm trying to understand the rationale
for that and why because from the f
first time it was brought to me it was
always 14 stories.
It went through all the community
meetings. There's never any discussion
around the fact you might be revising
the application and only after the
meetings the two meetings you revised it
to 24.
Uh happy to uh to explain the evolution
of that change. So we did start at a uh
14story building. The difficulty they
were having and at that time the new
mid-rise design guidelines had come into
place and um our team was trying to work
those guidelines and take advantage and
see how that helps to benefit the design
and changing the proposal. The
difficulty that we were having was um
even with those changes and the length
of time that had changed and how that
impacted uh changes in the market, the
units that we were trying to achieve um
the quality spaces, spaces that have
ample light um and as well as the
construction efficiency of the proposal
um was uh not um not working out in that
mid-rise form. We found that in moving
to a tall building, having a lower
podium and having a slender tower, we're
able to achieve, and you can actually
see it on the floor plans, um, larger
units that have greater light as opposed
to situations where in a mid-rise
building, you find a lot of, uh, bowling
alley tunnel type units that are not as
conducive to the larger familyfriendly
units, and it's not conducive to the
ethos of my client. And the type of
projects and development that they try
to construct which is um quality spaces
for their tenants and quality spaces for
the residents within the building.
>> Okay. So I guess I'm going to say with
your industry expertise, don't you find
it unusual for a developer to go through
a long period of planning for one size
building, in this case 14 stories, and
after the meetings are done
with no discussion at all with the
community that you revise your
application and almost double the height
of the building, double the size of the
building.
I think um as it relates to the um the
change in the bill forum, I think that
was simply an oversight through the
process. We've been working really hard
with city staff from, you know, from
2021
um till about 2023, we were looking at a
mid-rise building. 2023 till now, we've
been focusing on that change and and
what happens in terms of that bill form
and what makes sense. So, a lot of the
back and forth had been working with
city staff and trying to get the details
right and try to trying to make sure
that we address issues and concerns that
we had heard previously. Um, we're happy
that um, councelor Angie, you were able
to to hold that public meeting to be
able to have the opportunity for the
community to to to see that change and I
think honestly it was just um, in moving
forward this process um, it was just an
oversight.
>> Okay. Thank you. Thank you very much. Uh
the next deput
>> Oh, and just for clarity, sorry, the
second committee meeting that it was a
20s story building. So,
>> okay, thank you. Sorry, the next deput
is uh Ron Parkinson,
Von Parkinson, Nicole. So Nicole Kado
should be online and Jillian Swendell.
>> I'm hijacking. I'm Janet May. I'm
further down but I'm really I just have
a question.
>> Sorry. Mr. Parkinson has a deputation.
>> Sorry. Thank you.
>> Okay. Uh sorry I had to make a quick
change on the uh on the start of this.
So instead of good morning, it's good
afternoon. Uh and thank you council
council staff and scarbo residents. My
name is Ron Parkinson. I live in the
lived my life in various scarbor wards
for over 35 years in my family in Trevor
Park. I'm a co-founder and spokesperson
for Sun Scarbor United Neighborhoods
which began three years ago and consists
of Scarbor volunteer residents who are
passionate for the respective scarbor
neighborhoods. We're nonpartisan and
committed to sharing information with
Scarbor resident community group leaders
and residents.
There's strong opposition to the opposed
419 units that the developer has changed
their plans from a 12-story proposal
during the pre-application consultation
in 2021 to a 24-story high-rise
development at 3718-3730
Kingston Road. This is questionable by
the existing neighborhood and it
completely changes the character of the
Scarbor Golf Club neighborhood and will
remain and will have a severe impact on
the current home value. The proposed
development claims to be part of the
MTSA, which is false and raises concerns
of the developer's motive to build,
build, build, and then leave with the
money. The Edgington East Scarbo LRT has
been discussed for many years. Yet, it
remains unfunded and speculative and
would not be completed for at least
another 15 or 20 years. Many of our
schools are already at capacity and
cannot guarantee space for new families.
The proposal offers only 193 residents
parking spots for 413
419 units. Current residents are already
faced with insufficient parking and this
massive development would inevitably
forced hundreds of vehicles onto the
local streets and will present a
permanent parking and safety crisis.
This is the perfect time to raise these
general questions from our Sun Council
forum on March 2nd where Cliffside South
uh Cliffside Scarbor Village Southwest
Resident Association their 4-minute
presentation was focused on following an
achievable win for Scarbo. Achievable if
and only if all of our Scarbo counselors
work together. Today, on behalf of
Scarbo residents, I am following up on
their request to our Scarbor counselors.
Number one, pause the elimination for
minimum parking requirements for new
development in Scar Bro until better
transit is introduced. Two, create a
bylaw that prevents new developments
from permitting for from petitioning for
street parking permits for new condo,
town homes, and multiplex developments.
Conclusion: Scarbor residents are
depending on your support to value their
existing community as much as potential
for future residents. We don't need to
set a precedence that prioritize
developer profits over affordability,
safety, and equity. A resident that was
here this morning was going to ask the
counselors, but I thought it would be
better if I asked for him in in in place
that he's not here. Is that for everyone
in this room, uh, how would you react if
this building was to the south of your
house?
On behalf of Scarbo Golf Club residents
and all of Scarbo residents facing
similar type of densification in their
neighborhoods, I request that this
proposal be rejected and returned to at
least midsize mid-rise scale that fits
the physical and social reality of
Scarbor Village. Thank you.
>> Thank you, Mr. Parkinson. Uh questions
of the deput
seeing none. Thank you very much, sir.
Uh, next the next deputent is Nicole
Curado. Nicole, are you online?
Nicole, can you hear me?
Nicole,
>> hello.
>> Hey, Nicole, you have five minutes.
>> So, this is which is which item is this
again? Remind me. Uh it's the uh it's
item number two, 3718 and 3730 Kingston
Road.
>> Please please uh pro preserve the trees
and that current church that's there
because everybody can benefit from a
church and not everybody can benefit
from
not everybody will be able to benefit
from uh you know condo buildings. It it
seems like such a shame to destroy a a
church that's been closed and to cut
down a bunch of trees and to build
condos when instead this could be turned
into a community center and
a park and and actually benefit
everybody.
Just saying what what a colossal waste
of resources this is. you know, for
something that could actually benefit
the whole community. It seems selfish to
turn it into a condo
and, you know, to be destroying the
trees and destroying a church, which
probably the church probably means a lot
to people
in the past because, you know, there
probably a lot of people have fond
memories of that place. So, it's it
seems sad to destroy it and turn into
into uh condos. Instead, there's so many
beneficial uses for the church.
and and for the, you know, you'd have a
lovely park and a lovely a lovely uh a
lovely community center or library or
something. You could do something really
nice with this this place.
Thank you, Nicole. Any questions of the
deput?
Seeing none. Thanks for your time,
Nicole. Uh, our next delegate, sorry,
deputent is Jillian Swindell.
>> Uh, can you hear me? Okay.
>> Uh, a little lower. way lower. Yeah,
there is that.
>> There we go. Perfect.
>> There we go. Okay. Good afternoon,
folks. I'm very happy to be here. Um
I I just sorry want to make a comment. I
have to say I was absolutely gobsmacked
when uh councelor Aninsley, you said um
clapping wasn't allowed. And not only
that, there was a bylaw. Geez, we got to
do something about changing that.
Anyway, that's neither here nor there.
Um, the thing that concerns me about uh
this building going up, there's a number
of things. Um, it's just not uh
conducive to the integrity of the of the
whole area. They're all like two and
threetory uh buildings. There are some
taller ones further down Kingston Road,
but and then you're going to have this
24 or whatever. Next time we hear about
it, it'll be a 56 story. That's the
other point I want to make. I heard it
was eight stories originally, 12
stories, 24. What's it going to be next
week? Like, make up your minds, folks.
Um, it sounds like a really slippery
slope that's going on here with the the
height. I'm appreciative that it's going
to be rental units for families. I'm
very appreciative of that. As you know,
we've got to find uh places for families
to live and I hope they're not those 400
square foot boxes that are downtown
Toronto that 40% remain empty. So
um so that's one of my concerns. The
building's uh far too large and I think
a three to sixtory building would be
much more conducive but there are other
concerns. Right. Um, one other thing I
just want to question because I don't
know, is this always one developer? Is
there four different developers? Do they
keep putting in plans going away? Like,
like what's going on there? It's very,
very, very, uh, confusing. Um,
okay.
So,
my concern is not the really the
aesthetics of the area. I'm I'm more
concerned
um
about a few things. One thing is we
don't have the infrastructure. And I
know I heard the uh representative for
the developer was here talking about
infrastructure.
We do not have the infrastructure. We do
not have the schools. I was my house, my
backyard backs onto the townhouse
complex. When those homes went up, the
big billboards went up, no schools were
available. And so the poor parents
moving into here had to scramble looking
for schools. And then of course uh the
kids had to be busted out of district,
so not in their local community. And
then of course there was a busing
problem. We do not have the
infrastructure for a family building
with children. Um
the um the other thing I want to mention
because I was a victim of the buildings
of those town houses. There is all, as
you probably know, you're all scarbo
folks, we have a lot of underground uh
water systems, right? And underneath
those town houses, there was a a water
system. And when they were building, two
years in a row, my backyard flooded, not
a little bit, like one to two feet of
water. I had to get the counselor at the
time to come and see it. So, that's a
consideration. You know, I'm thinking
about the situation. I know. I I can't
compare to Florida. You know, the
Florida big highrises are sinking and
I'm wondering like what's the specs on
the water systems? Is this what are they
going to do to address that? Okay. So,
it's that's a safety issue. Um,
okay.
And uh
I guess one of my I'm almost running out
of time. God, I'm longwinded. Um
my major concern my major concern and
please hear this is the access to this
building is going to be off Scar Bro
Golf Club Road. Right. And I thought I
went there last night and I just turned
onto Scar Bro Golf Club from Kingston
Road. I'm telling you right now, there's
going to be accident after accident
after accident because the minute you
make a turn onto Scar Bro Golf Club from
Kingston Road, you're going to be
banging right into people turning. And
if you're looking at a 24
story building, there's going to be a
lot of cars. It is it's not safe. Um
it's it's just not safe and it's going
to be very very dangerous. And sorry, I
know I'm uh going over my time. My
apologies for that. And just one I've
got way more. One more quick thing is I
know on the diagrams it looked like
there was a big green space for the
kids. There's no green space there for
the kids. Where are these children going
to play? Where are they going to play?
If you want to have family buildings,
you've got to accommodate that and have
the community resources. Thank you very
much.
>> Okay. Thank you very much. Questions of
the deputy.
Seeing none, thank you very much. Uh,
I'm just going to go back to Tony
Sedaro, who I believe is online. Tony,
can you hear me?
Tony Sedaro,
you need to unmute.
>> Hi. Hello.
>> Hey, Tony. You have five minutes
whenever you're ready.
>> Oh, terrific. Thank you. Okay. So, uh,
first of all, I want to thank you all
for allowing me to speak. I truly
appreciate it. I know your time is
valuable and it's late in the afternoon,
so I'm going to try and make this as
quick as possible. So, um, sifting
through the massive documentation for
this proposal. I can certainly
appreciate all the complexities and the
number of issues that are taken into
consideration for the application. And
so I just want to show my appreciation
to all of the the planners uh because
this is extremely complex and with all
the bylaws everything needs to be taken
in consideration. But on the note of the
issues, the former 2021 application
identified a number of the issues that
needed to be grounded out. Uh they were
clearly identified and they were made
public prior to a community meeting
which was held. Uh summary of the issues
were appropri
at that time it was 4.5 the
appropriiness of the height at that time
it was 14 stories transition to
neighboring lands traffic congestion on
golf club road like privacy and shadow
consideration and then lastly the school
and community services. That proposal
was for 14 stories. I spoke at length at
the time with planner Jeffrey Sinclair
about those issues and I have to say it
was very polite. We had very
constructive conversations and I later
found out that the applications was just
dropped. So I never really followed up
on it. Here we are, fast forward five
years, and now we're facing ourselves
with a proposal for 24tory
approaching skyscraper height with an
alarming increase in FSI from four and a
half to five and a quarter.
Now, there's a public information
strategy document that was filed with
this application and it makes reference
to many of the same items outlined in
from the um from the 2021 proposal. But
the only item I saw that undergo any
study was related to the sun shadow. The
others appeared to be outstanding nor
adequately addressed with any detailed
plants. So I decided to to um to email
the the planner beta Mahubi and I hope I
pronounced that right of how the other
issues would be addressed. And I was
given a link to the same website that I
was searching to get the information I
was looking for in the first place.
So I decided to research uh with AI
assistance what are reasonable FSIs and
building heights for a condominium in
Scar Bro as per the bylaws and distance
to major transit hubs and it gave me the
following. Okay. So for 35 ft uh uh
width road which is golf club an FSI of
1.5 to three with a height of 4 to six
stories for road width of 65 ft which is
Kinson road an FSI of 2 to three heights
of 6 to 12 stories and I'm going to say
that I don't think you can use Kinson
Road because there's no egress to it. So
I don't think you can really use
Kingston Road but we'll we'll take it in
consideration. Now, it also said you can
get higher FSIs, four to six and heights
of 15 plus stories for developments
within 2 to 500 meters of a major
transit station area referred to as an
MTSA. And it and it and it gave an
example, Scarbo Town Center.
This location
is under two kilometers, just under two
kilometers to the nearest MTSA and that
is Guildwood Go. So I propose there is
no reasonable ground reasonable ground
to use MTSA as a justification in this
application with these extremely dense
with these extreme density and heights.
The numbers I previously me previously
mentioned are quite s uh consistent with
recent condominiums built in the area.
I'll give you a couple of examples. Cal
Tire right beside Cal Tire 10 stories
north side of Kinston Road between
Morningside and Lawrence eight stories.
3655 Kingston Road on the south side at
Egleton, seven stories. I live on
Gilchrist Drive to south Kingston Road
and this proposal guarantees congestion
and gridlock for drivers going
northbound on Golf Club Road crossing
Kingston Road and will be likely blocked
by people trying to turn left into the
complex. Previously mentioned, there
going to be accidents and that's because
Golf Club is not a four-lane road. You
add school buses and cyclists on the
proposed dedicated lanes and the
equation become uh the the problem
exacerbates.
When I moved into this u area 36 years
ago, city planners at the time held
community meetings to gather feedback in
order to craft a strategy for the
Kingston Road corridor. It was a novel
idea. It was a great idea and we had
many meetings. But I don't think a
strategy for this quarter exists today.
Without a strategic plan, approval of
this proposal will set a dangerous
precedent with developers itching to
build higher structures with with denser
FSIs on the many empty lots. Before
long, the corridor will be congested
with gridlock and lack of suitable
infrastructure.
any real sense of a community in
adjacent neighborh neighborhoods will
erode.
>> Sorry, Mr. Deputy Mayor. Wrap up,
please.
>> I will. And I'm at my last point. Thank
you. Deputy Mayor Paul Aninsley. In
January of this year, you voiced and
formally submitted your fierce
opposition to the Department of
Infrastructure on the application at
4241 Kingston Road. that is beside
Gildwood re uh goal station for many of
the same reasons this community has been
raising and with that application being
right at a major transit station area
thereby thereby allowing higher density
and building heights we still opposed
it. Your main reasons were integration
impacts of the high density skyscrapers
on the Gildwood community and the stress
on existing infrastructure. Your
constituents in this community are
hoping and counting on you to similarly
oppose this application and ask for your
equal support given on the 4241 Kinson
Road proposal. Thank you very much.
>> Thank you, Mr. Sedaro. Questions of the
deputent.
Seeing none, thank you very much, sir.
Our next deputent is Jean Patton.
Sorry, I can't.
>> Yep. Okay. Uh, next then I have Janet
May.
>> Now you have five minutes, Janet.
>> Thank you so much.
>> Okay. Um I only have one question really
and it relates to the um there's a a
sentence in the report the planning
approval report and it says that this
area is well served by both surface
transit and emerging higher order
transit networks through the Egllington
East light rail.
So I'm wondering
is the emerging higher order transit a
real plan or the concept of a plan?
Will this be another poorly executed
project by Metro Links?
Unlike the planners who've approved this
application or who are recommending
approval,
I don't think residents of this
neighborhood
would agree with that statement that
it's well served by transit.
I think it is poor planning to approve
an application based on something that
doesn't seem to exist in reality.
Um, I I think that that higher density
application approvals should be ba
should not be based on pie in the sky
infrastructure, which is what that
statement is. As a resident of Toronto,
I'm really tired of city council
capitulating to developers
and and to a province that is rapidly
moving away from democratic process.
That's all I have to say. Thank you.
Okay, thank you very much. Uh, sorry,
need my reading glasses. Um,
thank you. Uh, Dant
Good afternoon everyone. My name is Dame
Kan and I'm a resident of this
neighborhood for 30 years now.
Uh I've been sitting here listening all
morning to different residents coming
and asking for some reprieve and I think
you guys aren't paid enough to hear all
of us come here and plead our cases. And
just just around this particular case,
uh you heard different residents bring
about different issues about whether
it's shadows or water tables or the
school or the infrastructure or the
parking. So all of that is probably
universal to every development
opportunity. What I'm really here to say
is this is a bunch of people who
definitely feel connected to their
neighborhood. This is why I took a day
off and I'm here. And most people have
waited all morning to talk. And behind
all of that is a commitment
to preserve what we believe is the best
part of Scar Bro, which is that we live
in the middle of something unique and
quaint. And I'm moved actually.
and it is open to the new immigration
and the new people that come in our
community. It's such a unusual
situation. You got homes that are 80
years old next to
um these lowincome
apartments where all the immigrants come
and we live in peace. This is actually
a case for an example for how the world
could look like. And in all of that,
it's just a tiny little pocket.
And what's being proposed is like an
eyes saw.
It doesn't make sense. Right across this
building is a stone cottage that's been
there for years, decades, and it's it
looks like the original building. Right
across is an Anglican church. You have
little homes that are unique and have
been around for 80 to longer than that.
And people have residents who are 53 for
lived there for 53 years. And right in
the middle of it, we're proposing
something that actually blows everyone's
mind even looking at the rendering
because it just doesn't fit. It fits
maybe about a half a kilometer to the
east or to the west, but it doesn't fit
at that spot. So the request here is not
don't do this just do it with some care
please
because people this is this is people's
homes
and not only homes that are temporary.
We're not here for two years.
We have actually this is where my
children went to school. This is where
I've seen my neighbors grandkids play
for decades now.
and you bring and make that more
complicated and you bring more crowd
crowd you make it more crowded and
there's no parking this becomes a
completely different conversation for us
so that's the request uh and I know
others are going to speak to um all the
technical points what needs to be done
but really the
I I think
that is a request and not just from
neighborhood but from across all of
Scarabro neighborhoods is when we build
and I totally understand the need for
looking to optimize. So when Elden spoke
and I got the world from business, how
do you optimize and get your return on
investment? And it makes sense to take
it to 24 stories or even 54 stories, but
really what honors this people, what
honors the land, what honors scarab and
its qualities because it's got lots.
It's not just building homes or
newcomers or uh just providing cheap
housing for people. No, we are more than
that. We have history and we have homes
that have history and we want all we
want to honor all of that. Um, I think
that's all I wanted to say. But before I
uh leave, Jean actually is a resident um
and a neighbor and she couldn't be here.
So, she was really disappointed and she
recorded something. So, I just want to
play that to you.
Wow. On the corner of Gates Avenue
and I have seen all the changes and we
don't object to
places for people to live. But 24
stories in that place is ridiculous
and it's not safe.
And I guess for so many reasons and
Peter will tell you.
>> So
>> I just you want to have a moment. I got
it. Thank you. So you can
>> thank you. That's it.
>> Thank you. Any questions of the deputy?
Seeing none. Uh next on the list and
last on the list, Peter Thatchuk. Peter,
you're up.
Good afternoon.
Get this on. Good afternoon, counselors
and staff.
I don't know if any of you had a chance
to read my submission. I led with the 45
degree plan uh plane and I am aware that
planners have placed less reliance on it
in the past 18 months. My only point
including that is that as a tool it is
more respectful of existing community
than its replacement minimum setbacks.
The point tower may be the preferred
typology
but it doesn't make it appropriate
everywhere. The shadows cast from this
24tory
bohemoth, call it a point tower, call it
whatever, are still unacceptable. Uh uh
have unacceptable impact on the abiding
three stories to the north. So in
essence, what I'm saying is that point
towers may address form, but they don't
in they don't address infrastructure
strain. In order to justify this
proposal, you have to cherrypick
tall data points while ignoring the
low-rise reality between this site and
Markham Road and totally ignore that the
two closest buildings that you can see
on Eg
16 and 10 stories, respectively.
And neither of those two properties on
Egllington are ab budding low-rise
neighbors.
The 24story height is a massive 17 ste
17s story jump from the sevenstory
podium.
It creates a cliff effect over the
southacing backyards of the abuing
townhouses. This isn't a transition. And
it's an intrusion that permanently
strips existing residents of sunlight,
privacy, and of course value. And it
violates the city's prior promise to
protect established low rise
neighborhoods from aggressive
intensification.
Despite there being no minimum parking
requirements, providing only 193 parking
spaces for 419 units will result in a
deficiency that will force spillover
parking onto Scarbo Golf Club Road where
there's already a pre-existing issue.
Additionally, this is a perfect ingress
egress storm brewing because of the
insistence to close off Kingston Road,
which is an entrance they have now, and
restricting all traffic to enter and
exit from an already congested Scarbor
Golf Club road. Additionally, the
proposed birectional bike lanes
that are part of the reimagining Scarbor
Golf Club on Scarbor Golf Golf Club will
necessitate all those entering and
exiting the site to cross these same
bike lanes to enter traffic, including
northbound vehicles, and you heard
somebody speak to it before that
frequently block crossings. Even with
the underutilized plaza there now, they
frequently block block block crossings,
endanger pedestrians, and paralyze
transit. In other words, the bus. I
found it somewhat concerning that when
we brought up an issue in the community
consultation, the traffic planners
rather cavalier response to our concerns
was a simple, well, we didn't create the
problem. He is correct. Of course, he
didn't. They didn't. But that shouldn't
be a green light to add to it as well.
Apparently,
just a couple of more points here, but
apparently there have been numerous uh
receiverhips in the industry in the past
year. Why am I mentioning this? Because
you would not want to see something half
finished. Not suggesting that that's the
case here. Just saying be cautious.
The developer justifies the high-rise
density based on the Eg LRT. And yes, I
do know what an MTSA is. Yet this is
currently an unfunded project with no
guaranteed completion date. It is in my
opinion irresponsible planning to
approve transit oriented density before
the transit actually exists. We are
being asked to accept permanent
highdensity traffic today based on a
ghost train that may never arrive. So in
closing, I would like to ask councilors,
I'm urging you to reject this proposal.
It fails the neighborhood in massing, in
safety, and in infrastructure reality.
Ask the developer to return. We're not
against development. We just want to see
proper transitioning. So, ask them to
return with a mid-rise plan that
respects the original missing middle
avenue limits and the actual capacity of
our streets. Thank you for your time.
I'm here for any questions.
>> Thank you, Peter. Questions of the deput
seeing none. Thank you. appreciate your
time. We'll now take it into committee
for questions of staff. Questions of
staff.
Council Meyers.
Thank you through your chair. Uh we've
heard a lot of deputations today on
development applications.
Could you I think it's important just to
level set. Could you please explain the
the province's role in limiting the
city's ability to shape a lot of these
developments that come before us in
terms of some of the legislation that
has recently passed?
um through the chair and in the interest
of time because there have been num
numerous um recent legislations have
recent legislative initiatives have uh
both limited the city's ability to shape
applications and encouraged additional
densities um as well as council
decisions too I might add. So one of the
deputants mentioned the uh shift from an
angular plane as the transition
mechanism to uh use of setbacks and
separation distances. That was the
decision of council. Um the province has
limited the uh city's ability to control
applications through site plan control
through recent legislative amendments
which are being amended further through
legislation that's currently being
consulted on as well as um encouraging
minimum densities and min uh removing
minimum lot size requirements in other
parts of uh in other parts of
development spectrums.
>> Thank you. And the MTSA policy that's
provincial policy correct? Um it was uh
council adopted uh policy to be uh in
conformity with the provincial planning
statements which council did. The
modifications that have been referred to
resulting in as of right densities to be
assigned to sites was a modification of
the minister. I should note just to
correct the record though that this is
not an identified protected major
transit station area um as it has not
been adopted by council nor approved by
the minister because there's no um high
high order transit present. Thank you.
And the Ontario Land Tribunal, all of
the appointees are appointed by the
province. Correct.
>> Chair Wes, I think I can answer that.
Um, so is it fair to say that while I
understand the residents concerns and
their frustrations with the process, um,
and the inability for their concerns to
be adequately addressed, a lot of the
issues actually res are being created by
the province and the city councilors and
the council's hands are tied to approve
a lot of these development applications
because, as we heard in one of the
earlier um,
uh, issues that we were dealing with,
There's always a very real risk that if
it goes to the OOLT, you might get a
even worse development application.
>> Through the chair, if I can answer it
this way, land use planning in Ontario
is constitutionally the realm of the
province. A lot of those powers have
been delegated to the municipality to
make decisions on certain matters, to
hold official plans, have zoning bylaws,
etc. In recent years, the province has
undelegated some of those powers by uh
broadening the scope of tribunal
hearings, uh removing the city's uh
ability to govern development shape,
form, and appearance. Um and also, uh
I'll use the word imposed, but through
zoning orders and modifications to
official plan amendments passed by
council imposing provincial policy upon
city initiatives.
>> Thank you. So, would it fair to say that
if residents want to see the type of
community building, the type of
infrastructure, the type of
collaborative approach that they would
like to see how their communities
develop and grow. They don't seem like
they're all opposed to uh development.
They should really be speaking to their
MPPPs because that's where a lot of
these changes are coming from
>> to the chair. I'm not sure how I could
answer that in terms of advice to
council.
>> That's where the changes would come
from.
>> Generally, the the changes that we are
dealing with municipally are are as a
result of provincial actions. Yes.
>> Thank you very much.
Thank you, Councelor Myyers. Other
questions of staff?
Okay, I have a couple. Um, so based on
the three community meetings that we've
had on this proposal and the concerns
from
uh my area residents about congestion in
particular around the Scarbo Golf Club
Kingston Road intersection, are there
any plans to mitigate traffic issues
that have been outlined?
>> Um, through the chair, I'll I'll I'll
begin. The um I believe it's the
reimagining Scoville Golf Club road
project does assist in some respects
with a reconstruction that um simplifies
some of the traffic movements, creates
cycling lanes to avoid mixed traffic.
There was an item previously for south
of Kingston Road, I believe, for um
speed humps that was considered by
community council earlier this morning.
Um different mitigation measures through
the application um can be explored
through the site plan phase in terms of
if there's opportunities for uh specific
lane configurations or turning
restrictions that would prevent um
prevent congestion and and my colleagues
may be able to elaborate on that
>> through the chair. Uh so when we review
the development application uh the
applicant is required to submit a study
called the transportation impact studies
um through their professional uh
consultant. Uh we reviewed that uh study
thorly and uh there are a couple of
changes recommended through the TAS
which will not be secured through the
resoning process. We usually secure
those through the site plan process. One
of them is looking at the how the
intersection currently operating and if
there is any room for for any signal
optimization. So you're intend to look
into this during the site plan process.
Um another um option we're looking at an
additional uh left turn access to the
site. So this will be the north of
Kingston Road uh on Escarvo Golf Club.
So this will provide an exclusive left
turning access to the site and elevate
some of the left turning congestion
currently happening at the intersection.
Um we are also looking at how to improve
the pedestrian connection uh fronting
both Kingston and the Scarboro Golf Club
road and also uh we are all uh closing
up the existing access on the Kingston
road to improve the pedestrian safety
and accessibility as well.
>> Okay, thank you. Um my next question I
wanted to ask about so the developers
talked about sunlight a lot and that the
adjacent properties
uh will receive five hours of sunlight a
day.
Um is that a
industry standard or what's an
acceptable is there an acceptable level
of sunlight that a property can receive
in a day?
>> Uh so
>> standard we have a green standard. Do we
have a sunlight standard?
>> Standards every uh so to the chair. So
there's no numerical standards within
the official plan. Uh we do look to seek
at least a minimum of five hours of
sunlight on the public realm. Um, and
for the properties to the north with the
previous 14s story midrise proposal, the
shadowing on those northern properties
would have been from 9:00 a.m. till 4
p.m. And in the case of the revised, the
latest proposal before you um in the
recommendation report between the hours
of 10:18 and 1:18 p.m. There is shadow
on those properties to the north and
then it moves beyond 118 to the public
ground to scarro golf club road and
beyond to Kingston Road and staff have
considered that as a minimal shadow
impact.
>> Okay. All right. And then the um can I
get planning's perspective on the change
from the we've heard the developers
perspective on the 14 to 24. Can I get
um planning's p perspective on the
change?
for clarification as a process mechanism
or as a is the building performing
differently.
>> I I guess I just find it unusual to go
through two community meetings and have
a developer come in and then add 10
stories onto a development. I'm used to
developments going the other way. The
developer listens to community input,
takes a bunch of factors into
consideration,
changes amenities in the community or on
the proposal, makes offers to the city
for more cash and loo, but reduces the
number. So, this one went the other way.
>> Uh, that's true. It's uh not infrequent,
but I would also argue not a regular.
Um, we recently had uh a report come
before this community council 2799
Brimley I believe which was a mid-rise
proposal in council Thompson's ward
revised to a tower. Again, that report
was brought or that revision was brought
to the community for community
engagement brought to community council
for approval. Um similarly to improve
performance of a structure down the
street near Guildwood Go which was a a
tall mid-rise building a an 18story kind
of slab construction which was
reconfigured as a point tower through
OOLT mediation um and performed better
from a sunlight and shadow uh
perspective. So it was seen as a better
form um for building performance. My
colleague already spoke about the
improved shadow performance of the tower
building despite the increased height.
Um it should also be noted that between
the 14story mid-rise building and the
current proposal before council um the
unit count has decreased indic
indicative of larger uh units within the
proposal than what was currently or was
previously before us as a 14story
midrise proposal.
>> Okay. And then my last question quickly.
Um so as a municipality we spent a lot
of time looking at a proposal
for intensification of density and
trying to figure out if our
infrastructure is adequate that we make
sure we have the proper uh community
services for for a project like this.
that the schools always seem to be an
afterthought
and there, you know, I know that in this
report that we reach out to the schools,
but you know, I'm seeing more and more
proposals now coming through the the
pipeline and the reaction of the schools
is either we're almost at capacity,
we're over capacity, we need signs to be
put up on the project saying that rack
capacity and if you buy a unit in this
building you have to send you might have
to we might have to bust your kids to
another school. I'm trying to understand
why we don't have more interaction
between the school boards to say, you
know, this is our secondary plan for the
area or you know, we have an avenue
study in the works. You need to look at
capacity in schools.
>> Um I'll try to answer through the chair
on two levels. The first uh the
interaction level there's there's
standing meetings between teams in city
planning and the school boards to do
exactly what you mentioned in terms of
here are some growth related studies
pulling in expertise. Um there are a
number of and my colleague is here today
a number of conversations on the scar
bro center plan with the uh school
boards and to make sure that school
sites could be secured or at least um
protected for in a secondary plan area.
In this particular case the the wording
of the memos was fairly clear. the
elementary school capacity um is
available. The numbers show that the
growth um at Cedar Drive is is is
approaching full utilization but not not
there. And it was the secondary school
where um it was it was approaching 100%
utilization but that also is because it
includes the IB program where a lot of
out of area students come as a central
special interest. So um you don't need
to live in the neighborhood to attend IB
at Laurier. Um and you know locally the
the the location of the school is
actually perfect for um kids walking
from this particular development. just
in behind a quick jaunt around the
corner without crossing any major
streets and uh their utilization in 2025
was only 92% of capacity uh which was
grow grow grew from 77% but uh Sculp
village school in the area is also a
large out of area um school which could
be re rejigged as an independent school
to accommodate more students from the
area.
>> Okay, thank you very much. Uh I believe
that's the end of questions of staff
speakers.
All right, I am going to speak. So I
have a motion uh that I would like to
move
uh that city council refuse the
application to amend zoning bylaw
5692013
to permit the propos proposed
development at 3718 and 3730 Kingston
Road. Uh, number two, in the event of an
appeal to the Ontario Land Tribunal,
City Council direct the city solicitor
to attend the hearing of the appeal in
respect of city council's refusal of the
application to amend zoning bylaw
5692013
to permit the proposed development at
3718 and 3730 Kingston Road to oppose
the appeal. In part three, in the event
an of an appeal to the Ontario Land
Tribunal, city council authorizes city
solicitor to retain external
consultants, to provide expert opinion,
evidence in support of city council's
refusal of the application to amend the
zoning bylaw 569-2013,
and to permit the pro proposed
development at 3718 and 3730
uh Kingston Road. Um, so to my
colleagues, uh, I'm putting this
forward. Um, I have a lot of concerns
about the development. Uh, you can see
from the slide deck and the report. I
want to thank staff for all of the work
that they've done. They've had two
legislated community meetings. Um, kind
of forced them to have a third one. uh
because my community and myself were
very surprised that after two community
meetings, very no outreach from the
developer about this proposal, there was
no inclination that this development was
moving from 14 stories to to 24 stories.
Uh you know, the original development of
14 stories, I can remember not even
really adding an eyelash at it. There's
a lot of buildings adjacent to this uh
neighborhood on Angington Avenue that
are just as tall as 14 stories or
taller. I have a number along Kingston
Road that have been there um for quite a
while. Having a developer do the
opposite of what I'm used to doing after
having legislated meeting and getting
input from the community to increase the
height of a building by 10 stories.
after the first two community meetings
having a number of um concerns outlined
around shadowing
uh traffic in the impact on neighboring
communities. We were already told by
both school boards, for example, they
didn't have capacity at any of the
schools and that already with a 14story
that a sign would probably have to be
put up saying there wasn't enough
capacity. And then to turn around and
have an even larger building, um this
doesn't fit in with the character of my
neighborhood. Uh, you know, when we talk
about compatible infill development, a
24story building to myself, that's a
large-scale development. It's not
compatible um with the neighborhood. And
you've heard from my residents, nobody's
happy with it. And so I'd ask you to
support this motion I'm putting forward.
Thank you.
Questions of me,
councelor Myers?
Just clarification. Uh, so that you and
the community were on board when it was
14.
>> I can't speak for all of the community,
but I was certainly fine when it was 14
stories. Okay. Thank you very much.
Okay. Uh, so the motion before us I just
moved. All in favor?
That carries unanimously.
Item. Nope. Okay. So, this application
has been refused by Scarbo Community
Council.
Uh our next item is SC 33 31.3 1710 and
1712 Ellare Road official plan amendment
zoning bylaw amendment and draft plan of
subdivision application. This is a
decision report for final approval.
I have we have three registered
speakers. The first one is Gavin Bailey
from Tridell,
followed by Gary Prudin, and then Mary
O'Harn from Community Living Toronto.
>> Afternoon, Mr. Bailey. You have five
minutes whenever you're ready.
Uh, am I on? Can you hear me?
>> Yep.
>> Excellent. Thank you. And, uh, good
afternoon. Uh, my name is Gavin Bailey.
I'm the uh director of um planning and
development for Tridel. Uh I'm here uh
I'm pleased to speak to you today on
behalf of our partner Community Living
Toronto. Um the development applications
were deemed to be complete in 2023.
For approximately three years, we have
been working with city staff through a
rigorous planning process in order to
bring this positive recommendation
report before council today.
If I was to provide you with a
development proposal that checked off
the boxes which represents the merits of
good land use planning, uh complete
communities and positive city building
initiatives. This development proposal
would check all of those boxes. Our goal
with this development
proposal is to bring a inclusive
mixeduse community to Scar Bro Center
which exceeds accessibility standards
throughout the development as a whole.
The development proposal before council
today reflects the growth vision for
Scar Bro Center and it fits within the
prop the proposed
u the proposed context of the new Scar
Bro Center secondary plan. This
development delivers most importantly a
new facility for community living
Toronto, 281 rental units of which 30%
will be offered at an affordable rental
rate.
A total of five towers uh that
transition uh throughout the site in
height and scale appropriately market
condominium units approximately 2,000. A
new public road which will extend over
the abudding TTC lands which is a key
network for road infrastructure
throughout Scarbo Center.
A new public park a full parkland
dedication of over 1,600 square meters.
It's actually an over park dedication.
Enhanced landscape pups and midblock
connection areas as well. We have worked
diligently and collaboratively with city
planning staff throughout the entire
process. And I'm confident this positive
collaboration and working relationship
will continue as we traverse through the
subdivision engineering and future site
plan control application processes. I
would like to thank city staff,
especially Miss Cali Dyn and Sasha Terry
who are also here today for their
guidance and leadership in advancing our
applications through the planning
process. We may not always agree on
certain things as we go through that
process, but we always found common
ground and we always found a way to work
together. So, I really do appreciate
that and I think it needs to be noted.
So, on behalf of Community Living
Toronto uh and Tridal, I support the
recommendations outlined in this report.
We've read it. We are happy with it and
I'd be pleased to answer any questions
that you may have. Thank you. Okay.
Thank you, Mr. Bailey. Uh questions of
the deputy
none. Thank you very much. Thank you. Uh
next is Gary Prudin.
Thank you very much for the opportunity
to speak with you today. My name is Gary
Prudin and uh I'd like to uh express my
appreciation to the staff and counselors
who have stuck with this process all day
long. I can now uh hard and arduous the
process is. I'm here today as a
volunteer with Community Living Toronto
uh to provide some background on 1710
1712 Elsmere the Lawson residence site.
I should note that I've worked as a
staff for community living Toronto for
33 years which included being the first
regional director uh for Scarbor region.
I also as a youth worked at the Lawson
residence. So I know a fair amount about
this site and the community that it
supports. The origins of both the
association now community living Toronto
and the original loss and development
project uh trace back to the late 1940s
when families banded together and began
lobbying for services and supports
within their communities. so that their
children could remain close by and not
in large faraway institutions.
The initial response, which I think
still is the largest response uh within
Community Living Toronto, was to
establish a $1 million building fund. uh
and it raised funds through fundraising
and the Boston school residence site was
built and opened by the left tenant
government or left tenant governor sorry
in 1963.
So there was a fair amount of fanfare
about this event. The school was
operated by the association until 1968.
Why? because education wasn't provided
by the ministry of education until 1968.
Uh so uh in n in that year education of
the children with intellectual
disabilities was assumed by the local
school board and at that point we ceased
to operate the school. The vision of the
association was always the effective
inclusion for persons
in all aspects of their community. So
the fact that children were now included
in their local schools
supported by the school boards was a
significant milestone and encouraged the
association to find homelike settings
throughout the community uh for the
children. Lawson residents eventually
became respit only as the
community-based
uh services both at home and in small
group homes strengthened.
Over time, the paradigm has shifted
dramatically away from any congregated
services, and we see the development of
the Lawson pro property now before us as
an opportunity to build a worldclass
inclusive community designed with
accessibility and belonging in mind. It
seems every day uh and certainly in
election cycles that we hear about the
need to increase housing stock
especially affordable and rental units.
This need is even more acute for people
with intellectual disabilities and we
are confident that our plan addresses
these priority needs
for our community both people with
intellectual disabilities and and the
community more broadly.
I would like to highlight the features
of our tower plan
uh the one that will be operated by
community living Toronto. Uh it is a
rental only building with 281 units.
56% of those units will be onebedroom,
34% will be two-bedroom, and 10%
3bedroom.
At a minimum,
30% will be assessed to be affordable
units
and 15% will be accessible units.
Non-residential space on the main floor
will be used. to support a range of
community services like community
participation supports where people
participate in recreation and work
activities throughout our community,
early childhood services again
throughout the community, adult
protective service work for individuals
and family support for individuals still
living at home as well as a regional as
well as regional admin services and
meeting program space. Community Living
Toronto will have the option also of
buying a limited number of condo units
in the other towers for residential
support purposes and this will also
strengthen the inclusive nature of the
overall community
and that concludes my remarks. Thank
you.
>> Thank you very much sir. Uh questions of
the deput Thompson.
>> Yes. Thank you. Thank you. Uh Mr. Chair,
um you talked a little bit about sort of
the last point you just made with
respect to having units for residential
support. Can you unpack that for me? So
you have the facility. Can you hear me?
Or
>> now
I've been here all day.
Sure,
that's fine.
>> All right, that's fine. I hope to be
brief. Can you hear me from there?
>> Can you hear me now?
>> Great. I just wanted to understand with
respect to the relationship you talk
about having special units, right?
That's over and beyond what is actually
available for the um for the clients,
right?
So this is where those individuals who
are providing services to the clients
would live reside in the building.
>> Maybe you want to go back to the
microphone. That's really my question. I
just want to understand a little bit.
>> I apologize that you're hearing
>> about 5% of the uh accessible units in
our building will be operated by
Community Living Toronto to provide
direct supports to people uh who need
those supports. But uh there will be
lots of opportunity through the rest of
the units, especially the affordable
units where families and individuals
can rent their own units and receive uh
support to live independently,
>> integrated,
>> integrated, inclusive. Fantastic.
>> Yes.
>> Thank you, Mr. Chair.
>> Thank you for the question.
>> Other questions of the deputy
Thank you, sir.
>> Thank you.
>> Uh, next is Mario Hearn from Community
Living Toronto.
>> She's online, Mary O'Harn, can you hear
me?
Mary O'Harn.
Mary O'Harn, can you hear me?
Can you hear me?
>> Yes. Go right ahead. You have five
minutes whenever you're ready.
>> Okay. I'm trying to unmute.
>> We can hear you loud and clear.
>> Can you hear me?
>> We can hear you, Mary.
>> Okay, perfect.
Okay. Hello, my name is Mary and I live
in Scarbo. I am a person supported by
Community Living Toronto. I am part of
the CLTO influencer and a member of the
board of directors and involved with the
Scarbo Community Council. I am also a
mother to a son with autism and I run a
knitting group out at Community
Junction. I'm here today to speak in the
support of this development because
housing and community changed my life
almost 13 years ago. My life changed in
a way I never expected. I had an injury
and that moment everything changed.
Before that, I had my independent. I had
my own home. My son lived with me. After
my injury, I ended up in a long-term
care home. My son was no longer living
with me. That was not the life I
imagined. At the time, it didn't feel
like an opportunity. It felt like a lot.
It felt like everything was being taken
away from me. But what I didn't know
then was that this moment would lead me
to something. I have always believed in
which community is living. Through
community living, Toronto was connected
to to the APSW program. I had someone to
support me with my finance, help me
navigate system, and most importantly,
help me move out of the long-term career
back into the community. That was the
first step. From there, I was introduced
to the clubhouse. I started going once
or twice a week. Then I started a
knitting group and today I I'm paid for
that work. I joined a women's group.
Then I became part of the influence.
From that point on, my world opened. I
went from being someone who could have
been isolated
to someone who is connected,
contributing, and making changes. That's
the power of belonging. But not everyone
gets that chance. Right now, there's
over 50,000 plus people with
intellectual disabilities
waiting for support and housing. Some
are at risk of homeless.
When my son was 17, he was in a respit
home. The moment he turned 18, we were
told that four or five months he might
have to go to a shelter. That is not
right.
How are people with intellectual
disability supposed to survive in
shelter? People deserve their own space,
their own home, a place where they feel
safe and supportive.
I also think about long-term care homes.
I was there at 54 years old. That is too
young. I met a younger man there with a
down syndrome. Long-term care is not
designated designed for people like like
us. The supports are not right. The
environment is not right. People don't
belong there. They belong in the
community. Today I live independently. I
can tell you it is one of the greatest
feeling in the world to have your home
played to call somewhere home to feel
like you belong. Projects like this
matter. We already seen it through
places like Birch Mount Green where
people with intellectual disabilities
are living in the community with the
right support and thriving. This
development is not just about building.
It's about people. It's about giving
people the opportunity to live with
dignity, to be part of their
neighborhood, and to build a life. We
are we all belong somewhere. And right
now, too many people are still waiting.
So I'm asking you to support this
application because when you approve
housing like this, you are creating
opportunity. You are creating belonging
and you are helping people like me, like
my son to have a place to call home.
Thank you very much.
>> Thank you very much, Mary. And thank you
for sharing your story about yourself
and your son. Does anybody have any
questions for Mary? Councelor Myyers?
>> Uh, just a quick comment. I just want to
echo what you said. I thought your
presentation was very powerful uh and
moving and it was just very inspiring to
hear your story. So, thank you for
sharing it with us today.
>> Thank you, Mary. Have a great day.
>> You're welcome.
>> Uh, our last deputent on this item is
Hannah Erle.
Nope.
Hi all, sorry I I am actually not
speaking. I was just uh here to support
Mary. So I
>> Okay, thank you.
>> You can speak if you want. You're on the
list.
Okay. Uh we're bringing this into
committee uh for questions of staff.
Questions of staff?
Seeing none speakers?
Councelor Thompson.
>> Um
I just wanted to speak in support of
this application, Mr. Chair. Um
I think it was I'm thinking it's like
seems like four years ago or so that
this was brought to my attention
obviously award and um how pleased I was
to hear about the relationship with
and um obviously with respect to the
community living and in fact I went to a
number of the events some events that
they've had and to meet some of the
people who they're working with it was
just absolutely amazing
it warms your heart um I will speak
specifically to my area my community um
the Birch greens that's been mentioned
is a building that has been built in my
area and Um there had been a number of
years of different groups coming through
wanting to develop that site and so on
and it just didn't work out and then
finally group that came in to build this
with respect to the philosophy of
integration and collaboration and so on
and this is like adjacent to the brain
building which is on and at the
intersection uh there are people living
in that building some of them have brain
injuries and and so on and they are
given amazing care by their caregivers
and then there are other individuals
living in the building. It is integrated
and it is absolutely fascinating in
terms of how that actually works. The um
the sort of quality of life that is
realized by individuals who are needing
assistance and so on and the care that's
given I think it's really important for
us to understand this relationship. We
have an organization, a company that has
a store history like Tridel working with
community living to address uh the
development opportunity and need to
build newer and more functioning
facilities for uh people to live in
dignity to live with pride. And we heard
the speaker in terms of saying you know
something happened to me unfortunately
wasn't prepared for it.
and the sequences that she's gone
through and explaining about her son and
what transpired and so on. There are so
many people that are affected by so many
different conditions, Mr. J. And it's
really really super important that we as
a society society that we care about
the plight of people and the impact that
um that they uh that their lives have if
left unattended. And so I think it's
really super import for us to care about
people and to balance the interest and I
think we have a corporate interest who's
looking to enhance certainly their um
objectivity of growth and development
with respect to their business purposes
but also being uh able to connect that
to the community needs and the needs of
individuals to develop and and to have a
good quality of and I would see no
reason why we would not want to step up
and endorse and support this type of
application. I think that we see so many
people who are challenged with respect
to the lack of opportunities and so on
and the fact that we um have a unique
situation here and I think this is a
really great great example and again as
I say we have in my ward a variety of
different areas um the modular home that
we have at 39 Dundock where there are 57
units and there are people there living
uh otherwise would be on the street and
I know that when we as a community
talked about facilitating this
development and talk about welcoming uh
these um people into our area because
they came from other areas but we needed
to build the building to facilitate the
needs that exist and we've had to adjust
we've had to do certain things to
accommodate the needs of the individuals
on home first what operates that
particular facility but people are
living in dignity people living with
pride and for no fault of their own.
Often they get into a situation which is
uh you know a situation that can happen
to any of us quite frankly where we
could have a special requirement. I
think we have to lay the foundation and
endorse and support a structure where
this isn't sort of a oneoff, but it is
part of a process, part of a system that
we actually built in to ensure the
quality of life and the integrity of
just living well. Thank you.
>> Thank you, Councelor Thompson. Other
speakers on this item? Councelor Meyers.
>> Thank you for your chair. Just very
briefly, uh, as chair of the Toronto
Accessibility Advisory Committee, uh, I
just want to say a big thank you to
Tridell and Community Living Toronto. I
think this is a fantastic development. I
think this will make such a huge
difference in the lives of so many
people as we just heard from Mary. And
what's even more exciting is that this
development will take place right here
in Scar Bro and provide uh housing which
is desperately needed for people with
accessibility issues, particularly
people with intellectual abilities uh
issues as Mary described her son having.
Uh so thank you for bringing this
application forward and uh for investing
in our community.
>> Thank you, Council Meers. Other
speakers.
Okay. Um I just want to thank uh Gavin
first and foremost for uh bringing this
this project forward in Tridell. Um
you've been here for the day. Uh I have
to say that you know Tridell has been a
pleasure to work with. Um councelor
Thompson knows us very well. We've been
working for a number of years on a scar
bro center secondary plan which I always
am very happy to thank our our staff
about. Uh but Tridal has worked very
hard from day one uh to make sure this
project incorporates well into the
neighborhood uh incorporates well into
the scar bro secondary plan. Um I I can
think of Tridel employees who I'm not
going to name Gavin but reached out to
me almost right away when this project
was first proposed about where can we
have a community meeting? How can we
reach out to your community? what can we
do to make sure this project fits into
the community right from the get-go. So,
I can't thank Tridel enough for being uh
a partner for my not only a proponent
for this project, but a partner and
we've all heard from uh Gary about uh
Community Living Toronto and the amazing
work that they do very evident in the
deputation that we got from Mary and how
uh Community Living Toronto has been
able to support her and her son. And
that's just one small example of all of
the amazing work that community
community living Toronto does across
this great city. And I always appreciate
having them. Uh when people say to me,
you know, what's your goal as a city
counselor? I always say that I need a
strong, viable community where everybody
can work, live, and play and feel
welcome and uh and supported. And I
think this project is an excellent
example of everything that I try to
achieve in building that community in my
ward and and Scar Bro as well. Uh so I'm
wholeheartedly supportive of this and
I'd ask for the support from all of my
colleagues. Thank you.
>> I'm going to move this item and if I can
have a recorded vote.
Councelor Aninsley moving the um item to
adopt the motion to adopt the item
before you. Councelor Thompson,
Councelor Shan, Councelor Myers,
Councelor Aninsley. That item carries
unanimously.
>> Thank you very much. Thank you,
gentlemen.
All right. Our next item,
our next item is SC 31.9 to Fairfax
Crescent application to remove a private
tree in war 20 Scarboro Southwest. We
have reg three registered deputants. The
first one is Nushra Jan.
Nushra Jan, are you online?
Good afternoon.
>> Good afternoon. You have uh five minutes
to address community council whenever
you're ready.
>> Thank you.
>> So, good afternoon chairs and of
my name is Lush Jan. I'm here today as
an agent on behalf of the owner at two
perfect press.
Um I want to begin by ing my sincere
appreciation for the work urban forestry
does. Like you, I value our city's
canopy. It's one of the reasons we love
living in star. I'm here today not to
oppose the city's tree protection, but
to ask for a collaborative case specific
review of my application.
I believe we can find a path forward
that supports the city's housing goals
while actually improving long-term
health of our local environment.
While urban or forestries initial
inspection noted that tit is healthy, a
deeper look at the profession by the
profession arborist from uh our side has
raised some practical concerns that we
feel are important for council to
consider.
Um am I echoing
Yep, we can still hear you.
>> Okay, thank you.
Um, first, the canopy is currently
holding a high volume of dead oak while
multiple branches reaching diameters of
up to 15 cm. These are not small twigs.
These are heavy limbs that pose a direct
risk to the property and the proposed
garden suite below. More significantly
at the 8 m mark, the trunk splits into
two stems with included bark at the top
of union. From our professional arborist
perspective,
included bark acts as a natural weak
point where the key doesn't have a
strong wood to wood connection. It means
the two stems are not actually fused
with solid wood but are essentially
pushing against each other with a layer
of bark in between. As these stems grow
heavier, this V-shaped union becomes the
primary point of failure. We are not
suggesting the tree is in an immediate
danger, but rather it has a structural
complexity that will require significant
ongoing professional intervention for a
homeowner. This rep this this this
present a long-term maintenance
challenge that we believe is important
to weigh against the benefits of
proposed housing.
The reason we are seeking this removal,
this tree removal is to build a garden
suite at the rear yard. We see this as
our small contribution to the city's
Ehan initiative which is expanding
housing options in neighborhoods helping
to address housing shortage by adding
gentle density to our neighborhood. In
today's economic climate this suit is
more than just a building. It's a way
for our family to stay resilient,
provide a home for a loved one or a
neighbor. We truly want to participate
in city's vision for missing middle
housing. However, because of the
specific and the structural nature of
the tree, we find ourselves difficult
position where we cannot move forward
with the suit as planned.
We tried redesigning the proposal of
garden space but due to space
restriction and rear yard spatial
constraints we couldn't find any more
viable solutions.
The e-hon initiative
is a wonderful opportunity for
homeowners across Toronto. We only ask
for the same opportunity to contribute
to community's growth. Applying the
three bylaws is vital, but a rigid
application in our case might lead to an
unintended outcome where a single
structurally complex tree prevents a
permanent housing solution. We believe
in a balanced approach, one that looks
at the unique constraints of this lot is
the fairest way to move forward. We want
part of coalition for trees to canopy.
If this permit is granted, we aren't
just looking to meet the minimum
requirements.
While Albert for forestry has
recommended five replacement trees, we
are fully open to planting even more or
contributing further to Swedy's tree
planting funds. Our goal is to ensure
that Sorry, could I ask you to wrap up?
You're over your time.
>> Yes. In closing, I believe it's the
balance among supporting housing,
recognizing economic reality, ensuring
fairness, and still contributing to
city's environmental goals. Thank you
very much. I respectfully ask for your
support in approving this permit. Thank
you.
>> Thank you. Questions of the deput.
>> Sorry, can I just ask the garden suite
that you proposed? Have you submitted an
application for that.
>> Yes sir. We have went to the zoning
review and OBC review the structural
review and both are approved but the
issuance of the permit is pending
because we are here to approve for the
tree removal.
So I'm just looking at the diagram you
have is is the you think the tree has to
come down because the construction of
the garden suite will damage it.
>> Uh we are not allowed construct unless
the tree is removed. Uh but if we if
there is another solution like we can do
screw piles but in that case we can only
build the ground floor not the basement
and that will not lead to a functional
dwelling a functional garden space the
square meter will be very less than a
standard and functional garden space.
>> Okay. Thank you very much. Much
appreciated. Um, our next deputent is
Muhammad Hussein.
Mr. Hussein online. Nope. Uh, how about
Nicole Curado?
Nicole, can you hear me?
>> Yes, I can.
>> All right, we're on the last item. Tree
removal at two Fairfax Crescent number
nine. Yes, I I would say that there is
definitely a way you could build the
garden suite without cutting the tree. I
think that
you don't necessarily need a basement.
If you make the garden suite a tiny
home, it would be worth looking into
tiny homes. They they're done very
common in in Halifax and gardens. Yeah,
garden suites can become tiny homes.
Most tiny homes don't have basements and
they're they're quite functional. You
can actually fit a lot into a lot of
functional
space into a small into a small place.
The the problem is if you allow cutting
this tree
to build a basement and another place. I
mean, one of the problems with building,
you know, another
basement and another place on on this is
going to be things like flooding. So,
you're adding more paved space, you're
adding another basement, you know, where
where there's a tree growing, where
there's a tree growing, there's probably
going to be water. So, I would presume
that this is going to make the place
more prone to flooding. Whereas if the
tree will actually help shade a tiny
home and it will help maintain the
temperature,
it will help keep it cool in the summer
and and help insulate it in the winter
by being acting as a windbreak.
So it's it's you know, I would say there
there definitely is a way that you can
you can preserve this tree. just
redesign what your redesign the the
garden suite into a tiny home
or because you know without it doesn't
have to have a basement. It can it could
be a tiny home. Usually what you have is
you'll have you'll have two stories and
and no basement. It's just on sometimes
they're even on um sometimes they're
mobile but sometimes they're they're
stationary but they're they're they
don't have to have a basement.
Okay. Thank you, Nicole. Questions of
the deputy?
Seeing none, thank you very much. We're
going to bring it into committee.
Questions of staff?
No questions of staff. Speakers?
Anybody? Going once, going twice. Uh, so
I'm going to support the recommendations
in the report to refuse the application.
Any questions of me?
Sorry.
No,
I'm the keeper of the tree today.
All in favor? That carries.
Bills.
That completes our agenda for the not
yet, gentlemen. We have bills.
Councelor Meyers
that bills 436 to 439 prepared for the
April 30th, 2026 meeting 31 of the
Scarbor Community Council be declared as
bylaws and passed subject to 226.9 of
the City of Toronto Act 2006.
>> All in favor? That carries.
>> One more.
>> That confirmatory bills to confirm the
legislative proceedings of this
>> say it was your turn.
Go ahead, councelor Miles.
>> of the Scarbo Community Council acting
under delegated authority at meeting 31
on April 30th, 2026 be declared as
bylaws and passed subject to section
226.9 of City Toronto Act 2006. All in
favor?
Motion to adjurnn. All in favor? Carry.
Thank you. Thank you everybody.