Community okays Ryerson residence: Ryerson plan for student residence gets okay from area residents

Eric Morse —

About 20 residents of 192 Jarvis St attended a Ward 27 public consultation on Feb. 11 concerning the construction of a 30-storey (originally 27-storey) student residence for Ryerson University at 186-188 Jarvis St (between Dundas and Shuter).

The residence is proposed to contain 197 units (583 beds). The project is to be developed by Ryerson in partnership with developer Bousfield, Inc. The architect is IDI Group, and emerges from the master plan for Ryerson which seeks to compensate for a lack of suitable student housing on campus.

This was the second public consultation following an initial consultation in January 2013. At the first consultation, residents of the condo at 192 Jarvis to the north had expressed concern that the windowed north wall of the proposed building was too close to the apartment windows of 192 Jarvis (the south wall facing Hazelburn Co-op is blank). They also expressed concern that the green roof on the north side of the 2-storey podium originally designated as an amenities space should not be accessible to residents of the building owing to apprehensions about noise. Other major concerns expressed at the earlier consultation was that not enough sidewalk space on the Jarvis side had been allocated and that the original proposal did not provide for enough parking. Following the consultation, the designer formed a working group with representatives of 192 Jarvis and Hazelburn Co-op.

City Planner Henry Teng reported that since the original consultation, the developer and architect had revised the design to take these concerns into account. Parking has been doubled to 32 underground spaces, the north wall has been moved back and the green roof of the podium closed to resident access. The sidewalk has been widened so that the front of the building is level with the buildings on either side, and the frontage is designed to accommodate leasable space with the possibility of a café, enhancing the public vibrancy of Jarvis Street. There is a pedestrian walkway proposed through to Mutual St where the current laneway is. The façade is designed to be as translucent and light in appearance as possible.

In response to a query from the audience, the architect explained that the windows on the north wall will be aligned with the student desks, thus allowing maximum light while separating the student from the window. The distance between the living room window in the design and the existing windows in 192 exceeds the light/privacy guidelines by two meters for a total of 13 metres between the building curtain walls.

The consensus appeared to be that the designer and developer had accommodated public concerns very well.

“We had hoped that the space might be filled eventually by two nice little rows of townhouses,” said Geoff Arnold of 192 Jarvis. “But that clearly isn’t going to happen and the modifications you have made have answered a lot of the concerns we originally had.”

Toronto Centre Councillor Wong-Tam noted that change is coming gradually to this section of Jarvis St. after a long period without development. She commented that the city is taking a holistic view to development as it arrives in the district to ensure vibrancy and increased safety. She reminded residents that the proposal is not yet finally approved by city planners and that written input is still solicited. Once approved, the presentation will go to community council, where input from the neighbourhood can again be received.