The voice of our community
The Federations of North and South Toronto Residents Associations held their annual planning forum on January 17. There was a full house of attendees, including two DPRG board members, who were both curious and unhappy about the direction of development in their neighbourhoods.
The City Planning Department has now released its report on this proposed development, which you can read online or download. From our perspective it is rather weak relative to the community’s concerns.
Proposed for the corner of Avenue Road and St. Clair Ave. W., this huge tower, both in height (49 floors) and in footprint, generating a massive 540,000 sf of space and 631 suites, towers over the adjacent condos to the east and west and the single family detached homes on Foxbar.
This huge double tower development of 37 and 43 storeys is almost FOUR times taller than the closest apartment building to the north. Immediately across the road are single family homes.
Remarkably, City Planning gave this enormous building a positive planning report and the application was recently approved by the Toronto East York Community Council. It is on a small site, located on this narrow, residential cul-de-sac. The building is now 60% taller than the earlier 22 storey application, at 35 floors.
The recently received application for a massive double tower project is unacceptable. The scale and density are greatly excessive. Lawton is a narrow residential street that cannot accommodate this scale of traffic and influx of residents.
Like residents across the City, we continue to strongly object to Provincial legislation that does not permit municipalities to establish appropriate planning policies and regulations to ensure appropriate development.
Foxbar and Deer Park residents have been working with the applicant to improve the 49 storey Fitzrovia rental building application at the south east corner of Avenue Road. We are concerned about the excessive height of the tower at this location.
The DPRG spent more than a year working with the developer and other stakeholders on the new development plan for the Yonge/Heath/Alvin/St. Clair East block that was approved several years ago – an important block that we consider includes the Deer Park “Town Centre.” It has a park on the northwest corner, mid-block walkways and … Read more