Consulations for River St. condos deferred

Dennis Hanagan –

Residents will have their say later this year about two condo towers proposed for River St. at Shuter.

One is 26 storeys and the other 34 on River St.’s east side. They’re being proposed at a time when the city is still trying to nail down its Queen-River secondary plan.

A city planning report to the August meeting of Toronto and East York community council said one of the issues to be resolved is the proposal’s “prematurity” in view of the fact the secondary plan has yet to be approved by city council.

It is expected that residents will have their say on the towers in the final quarter of 2014, meaning sometime in October, November or December. The secondary plan will be presented to community council in December or January.

Mavi Developments Inc. is applying for an official plan and zoning amendment for 77 River St. and 7 Labatt Ave. The towers would have 578 units. Of that 108 would be 2-bedrooms and 27 3-bedrooms.

The towers would share a 7-storey base building with retail on the first and second floors and offices on the third and fourth. The Salvation Army building on River St. and the low-rise office building on Labatt would have quarters in the new development.

There willl be 364 underground parking spaces and space for 488 bicycles. In addition there’ll be 140 parking spaces to serve retail, office and residential visitors.

Issues that planning staff want to resolve include the height and massing of the base building, the mix of unit sizes, the impact of shadows on the surrounding area, a publicly accessible courtyard and consistency with the Queen-River secondary plan.