Staff Report City Of Toronto Planning HUMBERTOWN 259 and 270 The Kingsway and 1144 Royal York Road – Zoning By-law Amendment Application – Final Report

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STAFF REPORT ACTION REQUIRED

 

259 and 270 The Kingsway and 1144 Royal York Road – Zoning By-law Amendment Application – Final Report

Date:	April 26, 2013
To:	Etobicoke York Community Council
From:	Director, Community Planning, Etobicoke York District
Wards:	Ward 4 – Etobicoke Centre
ReferenceNumber:	12 111249 WET 04 OZ

 

SUMMARY

This report recommends approval of this application. The proposal meets the intent of the City’s Official Plan forintensification in Mixed Use Areas. The proposal is consistent with the policies and provisions of the Provincial Policy Statement and is in conformity with the Greater Golden Horseshoe Growth Plan. The proposed height, density and built form are appropriate and the design reflects a continuation of the modernist approach for these lands. The development makes efficient use of land and existing infrastructure and provides additional landscaping and open spaces.

RECOMMENDATIONS

1.                  City Council amend the former City of Etobicoke Zoning Code for the lands at 259 and 270 The Kingsway and 1144 Royal York Road substantially in accordance with the draft Zoning By-law Amendment attached as Attachment 8 to this report.

2.                  City Council authorize the City Solicitor to make such stylistic and technical changes to the draft Zoning By-law Amendment as may be required.

3.                  Before introducing the necessary Bills to City Council for enactment, require the owner to enter into an Agreement pursuant to Section 37 of the Planning Act satisfactory to the Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning, and the City Solicitor, such agreement to be registered on title to secure the following facilities, services and matters from the owner at its expense:

A.       A cash contribution of $2,500,000 to be paid to the City prior to the

issuance of the first above-grade building permit, to be allocated generally as follows:

i.                  $1,300,000 for capital improvements to Humber Valley Park and Humber Valley Arena and Ice Rink; and

ii.               Provide and maintain works of public art within the lands, or provide cash in lieu thereof, of a value not less than $1,200,000, implemented under the City’s Public Art Program.

B.                                     Require that the cash amounts identified in A above shall be indexed

annually in accordance with the Non-Residential Construction Price Index for the Toronto CMA, reported quarterly by Statistics Canada in Construction Price Statistics Publication No. 62-007-XPB, or itssuccessor, calculated from the date of execution of the Section 37 Agreement to the date of submission of the funds by the owner to the City.

As a legal convenience, the following matters should be secured in the Section 37 Agreement:

C.        The owner shall construct and maintain the development in accordance

with Tier 1 performance measures of the Toronto Green Standard, as adopted by Toronto City Council at its meeting held on October 26 and 27, 2009 through the adoption of item PG32.3 of the Planning and GrowthManagement Committee.

D.         The owner shall, at its expense complete the following transportation

improvements, including satisfactory detailed functional and engineering design drawings, cost estimates, financial guarantees, engineering and inspection fees, and insurance to the satisfaction of the Executive Director, Engineering and Construction Services, specifically:

Royal York Road

a)                  reconstruct the full width of Royal York Road, from a point 25 metres north of the north limit of Ashley Road, to Royal York Court, within two years of project build-out.

Ashley Road/The Kingsway

b)                  reconstruct the full width of The Kingsway, from a point 25 metres north of the north limit of Ashley Road, to the south limit of Lambeth Road, within two years of project build-out.

c)                  provide the City with a certified cheque in the amount of $300,000 to cover the City’s costs of undertaking an environmental assessment, if required, for the proposed widening of Ashley Road from two lanes to four, such monies to be returned if an environmental assessment is not necessary. If an environmental assessment is required, any unspent portion of this amount is to be returned.

d)                 provide a detailed design, financial securities, and construct the pavement widening on Ashley Road, between Royal York Road and The Kingsway.

e)                  provide the City with a certified cheque in the amount of $500,000 for the installation of traffic control signals, excluding any required intersection improvements that would be required at the owner’s additional expense, at the intersection of Ashley Road/Royal York Road, and the possible future signalization of Ashley Road/The Kingsway, following signal warrant studies to be conducted by the applicant within two years of project build-out.

f)                   design and construct a separate left turn storage lane at the north approach to The Kingsway/Ashley Road intersection with a 70 metre storage lane length and a 15 metre transition taper, and a separate left turn storage lane at the south intersection approach with a 20 metre storage lane length and a 15 metre transition taper.

Lambeth Road

g)                  reconstruct the full width of Lambeth Road, from Royal York Road to a point 25 metres north of the existing north plaza entrance on Lambeth Road, within two years of project build-out.

h)                  provide a detailed design, financial securities, and construct the realignment of the Lambeth Road and The Kingsway intersection, including the introduction of an auxiliary left turn storage lane atthe north intersection approach, providing a 25 metre storage lane length and a 15 metre transition taper.

The Kingsway

i)                    provide the City with a certified cheque in the amount of $250,000, excluding any intersection improvements that would be required at the owner’s additional expense, for the installation of a pedestrianactivated traffic signal at The Kingsway/Private Street B intersection following a warrant study to be conducted by the applicant within two years of project build-out.

Humber Valley Neighbourhood

j)                    provide the City with a certified cheque in the amount of $100,000 to cover the City’s cost of introducing traffic calming measures in the area bordered by Islington Avenue to the west, Dundas Street West to the south, Royal York Road to the east, and The Kingsway/Edenbridge Drive to the north.

4.                                                    Before introducing the necessary Bills to City Council for enactment, require the

owner to enter into an Agreement pursuant to Section 114 of the City of Toronto Act and Section 41 of thePlanning Act satisfactory of the Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning, and the City Solicitor, such agreement to be registered on title to secure the following facilities, services and matters from the owner at its expense:

A.                  Prior to Site Plan approval pursuant to Section 114 of the City of Toronto Act, the owner shall provide a Construction Management Plan at its expense to the satisfaction of the Director, Engineering and Construction Services.

B.                   Prior to Site Plan approval pursuant to Section 114 of the City of Toronto Act, the owner shall agree to provisions regarding environmental sustainability, wind mitigation, municipal services and street treeirrigation.

C.                 The owner shall satisfy the requirements of the Toronto District School Board regarding warning clauses in purchase agreements and site signage.

D.                Prior to Site Plan approval, the owner shall provide the City with a certified cheque in the amount of $140,000 to be used to implement signal priority for Toronto Transit Commission buses at existing signalizedintersections and at the proposed signalized intersection of Royal York Road and Ashley Road to the satisfaction of the Toronto Transit Commission and Executive Director, Engineering and ConstructionServices.

E.                 Prior to Site Plan approval, the owner shall provide the City with a certified cheque in the amount of $72,000 to cover the City’s costs of relocating existing bus shelters and street furniture in the vicinity of thesubject site.

Financial Impact

The recommendations in this report have no financial impact.

DECISION/APPLICATION HISTORY

This application was submitted in January 2012 to amend the former City of Etobicoke Zoning Code to permit a mixed use development on the existing Humbertown Shopping Centre site.

The original proposal was comprised of five development blocks including 5 mixed use buildings with commercial uses on the ground floor and second floor, and twenty-eight 3 storey townhouses dwelling units. Buildings ranged in height from 11 storeys to 21 storeys. The proposal contained 682 residential units, 21,837m² of commercial gross floor area and had an FSI of 2.24 times the area of the lot.

A Preliminary Report on this application was before Etobicoke York Community Council on March 20, 2012 directing Planning staff to schedule a community consultation meeting.

http://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2012/ey/bgrd/backgroundfile-45583.pdf

At the meeting, Etobicoke York Community Council also directed Planning staff to report to the May 15, 2012 meeting on the feasibility of conducting a Secondary Plan review or area specific Zoning By-law or policy to be created for the Humbertown Plaza expansion including the existing Apartment Neighbourhoods area located immediately north of Humbertown, as well as the northerly portion of Dundas Street West.

Staff reported to the May 15, 2012 Etobicoke York Community Council meeting and advised that a Secondary Plan review was not required for the proposed Humbertown Shopping Centre redevelopment. Etobicoke York Community Council received the staff report and directed staff to include in the review of the application a thorough

examination of the contextual surroundings and alternative development concepts; to undertake a peer review of the applicant’s retail market analysis; and to establish a Working Group.

http://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2012/ey/bgrd/backgroundfile-46819.pdf

In September 2012 a revised proposal was submitted comprising the five development blocks and five buildings with commercial uses on the ground and second floor, twenty-eight 2 and 3 storey townhouse dwelling units, as well as three residential buildingsranging in height from 9 storeys to 21 storeys. Similar to the initial proposal, this proposal contained 682 residential units, 21,837 m² of commercial gross floor area and had an FSI of 2.24 times the area of the lot.

In December 2012, a further revised proposal was submitted which made substantial modifications to the redevelopment concept. This revised proposal continued to maintain five development blocks and a total of eight buildings over the site. However, building heights, overall density and the number of residential units were reduced and the amount of on-site open space area was increased.

Table A below presents information on the three submissions.

TABLE A

	ExistingCondition	OriginalSubmissionJanuary 24,2012	RevisedSubmissionSeptember 6,2012	Revised SubmissionDecember 18,2012
Building Height	2 storeys	21 (max)	21 (max)	12 (max)
GFA (m2)Retail/commercialResidential	13,7500	21,837 59,803	21,837 59,803	21,837 53,059
Units	0	682	682	604
Floor Space Index	0.33	2.24	2.24	2.06
Parking Spaces	529	1,442	1,709	1,652
Open SpaceOpen Space %%of site	0 0	2,336 m26.4	5,657 m215.6	6,215 m217.1

 

ISSUE BACKGROUND Current Proposal

The applicant proposes to demolish the existing Humbertown Shopping Centre located on the west side of The Kingsway, and two buildings located on the east side of The Kingsway (currently tenanted by The Bulk Barn and the Liquor Control Board of Ontario). The lands would be redeveloped with a mixed-use development comprising five blocks containing: one two storey commercial building; three residential buildings

with commercial uses on the first two floors; and a fifth building combining 28, three storey townhouses with a one and two story commercial building. The taller residential buildings would range in height from 8 storeys to 12 storeys (see Attachment 1: SitePlan).

The applicant proposes 21,837 m² of retail/commercial space and 53,059 m² of residential gross floor area. A total of 604 residential units are proposed of which 403 units (67%) would be one bedroom units, 173 units (28%) would be two bedroom units and the 28 townhouse units would contain three bedrooms (5%).

The development is proposed to be constructed in two phases. The first phase of development would be located between The Kingsway and Royal York Road and consist of 9,942 m² of commercial uses and 381 dwelling units (Blocks 3, 4 and 5 – see Map 1 below) in buildings up to 10 storeys in height. A total of 802 below-grade parking spaces are proposed for the residential and commercial components.

Phase 2 would be located on the west side of The Kingsway and would consist of

11,895 m² of commercial uses and 223 dwelling units, including 28 freehold townhouses fronting on Lambeth Road (Blocks 1 and 2 – see Map 1 below) in buildings up to 12 storeys in height. A total of 850 parking spaces are proposed for the residential and commercial uses in this phase.

Map 1

The proposed total gross floor area of all buildings is 74,896 m², resulting in a floor space index (FSI) of 2.06 times the area of the lot.

A connected system of publicly accessible open spaces is proposed throughout the site identified in the proposal as the Village Square, the Humberline, Humber Square and Lambeth Community Green. Approximately 2,352 m² of indoor and outdoor amenity space would be provided for the Humbertown site.

A parking supply of 1,652 spaces is proposed including surface parking and underground parking. The majority of on-site parking would be provided in a two-level underground garage extending under much of the site. The underground parking garage would contain approximately 1,610 parking spaces and 42 spaces would be provided at grade on Block 2. Approximately 533 bicycle parking spaces would be provided for residents, visitors and commercial tenants in both secure rooms (occupants) and accessible rooms on the ground and P1 levels.

Access and loading to Phase 1 would be provided from two private streets which are proposed on the east side of The Kingsway. Private Street ‘A’ would be located between Block 3 and Block 4 and Private Street ‘B’ would be located between Block 4 and Block 5. Access and loading to Phase 2 would be provided from The Kingsway at Ashley Road with a second driveway serving the west side of the site on The Kingsway, directly opposite Private Street B.

Fifteen loading spaces are proposed and would be located below grade and would not be visible from the street or the adjacent neighbourhoods.

The Application Data Sheet in Attachment 6 provides additional information on the proposal.

A more detailed description of the proposed uses, building heights and development elements are provided in Attachment 7.

Site and Surrounding Area

The Humbertown Shopping Centre (“Humbertown”) has served the surrounding community with neighbourhood retail uses since 1956. When it was first constructed, the existing Humbertown was one of the most unique and contemporary shopping centres inEtobicoke and western Toronto.

Humbertown currently contains 13,750 m² of retail and office uses. The majority of the 3.6 hectare site is devoted to surface parking. A total of 529 at grade parking spaces currently exist on Humbertown (189 parking spaces on the west side of The Kingsway and 340 parking spaces on the east side of The Kingsway).

The site is generally located on the west side of Royal York Road and north of Dundas Street West. It is bounded by Royal York Road to the east, Lambeth Road to the south

and west, Ashley Road to the north, and is bisected by The Kingsway. The site slopes toward the Humber River, having a west to east grade change of approximately

5.5 metres.

The main shopping center is located on the west side of The Kingsway and consists of:

1)                                     a two storey building on the northern portion of the site with a Second Cup, Scotia Bank, Goodlife Fitness, Shoppers Drug Mart, small retailers and other commercial services; and

2)                                     a one storey grocery store (Loblaws) and small scale commercial and retail uses on the southern portion of the site.

The land on the east side of The Kingsway is largely devoted to surface parking, but does contain two stand-alone, single storey buildings. Vehicular access to this part of this site is from the east side of The Kingsway and from Royal York Road. The Royal York Road Boulevard is generous with many mature trees particularly at the north end of the property.

The subject lands are surrounded by the following land uses:

North: 17 storey apartment building on the north side of Ashley Road, and a number of 4 storey walk-up apartment buildings on both sides of The Kingsway.

South: immediately south are single detached dwellings. Further south across Royal York Road is the 10 storey Royal York Gardens apartment building on the north side of Royal York Court and the 14 storey James Club apartment building on the south side of Royal York Court.

East: single detached dwellings on the east side of Royal York Road.

West: immediately west are a number of 4 storey walk up apartment buildings and St. Giles Kingsway Presbyterian Church. Further west are single detached dwellings.