Sadly, OMB still rules, but Yonge gets small break

By Dennis Hanagan –

The city has armed itself with new ammunition to confront developers who want to dispute planning decisions for Yonge St. between College and Carlton and Charles streets in front of the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB).

City councillors and residents frequently express frustration that the OMB, more often than not, gives developers what they want, and not what the city and residents want.

In September, Toronto and East York Community Council adopted an official plan amendment describing the way the city wants that eight-block stretch developed.

Toronto Centre-Rosedale Councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam feels the city now is in a better position to win cases at the OMB. “Certainly having more planning policies, more planning tools at our disposal is helpful,” she told The Bulletin.

“We’ll be able to point to the guidelines and say these are the documents, these are the planning policies that we (the city) are asking the developers to comply with and we expect them to follow the rules,” Wong-Tam said.

Wong-Tam noted passionate debate can arise between the city and residents on one side and a developer on the other over what constitutes appropriate built form and height along Yonge.

At a February public meeting, attended by The Bulletin, a proposed condo for Yonge and Isabella drew hits from local businessmen and residents who complained about the march of tall towers along Yonge from Bloor.

The official plan amendment was long overdue, said Wong-Tam, considering “we have a lot of development pressure in the area.”

A city planning report accompanying the amendment sets out matters to be assessed when the city considers development proposals, including things such as building setbacks, parks, street views, minimizing shadows, wind impact on pedestrians, and architecture that fits in with that of nearby historical buildings.

It also mentions neighbourhoods adjacent to Yonge called “character areas” where new development will have to be “appropriate” to the areas and their “attributes and distinct identity.” One of those areas is Church Street Village.

Robert Fabian, co-chair of the Church Wellesley Neighbourhood Association’s development committee, says his own vision for The Village is to have it more demographically inclusive.

“By its own nature the neighbourhood encourages and supports diversity. The next step for (it) is to facilitate social integration, the full spectrum of Canadians.”

As for the amendment’s policies, Fabian feels they go in the right direction. But he’d like to have seen more attention paid to Yonge’s pedestrians.

“The most crying need is to rebalance our use as a public realm.” While Yonge’s sidewalks are jammed, very rarely are its traffic lanes, Fabian said in an interview. “We’re not giving enough space to pedestrians and giving too much space to cars.”

He’d like Yonge’s four traffic lanes—between Gerrard and Dundas, for instance—reduced to two to allow for wider sidewalks. Along with that he’d like frequent lay-by lanes for taxis, buses, and delivery trucks. It would dramatically increase pedestrian safety and still let the same amount of traffic move through, he said.

Ideally, Wong-Tam would like Yonge’s sidewalks to be six to ten metres wide.  Will she get that on every single application? “Probably not,” she admits. “But now we have a set of rules that tell developers this is what we want—and if you don’t build according to those rules we don’t support your application.”

The Bay Cloverhill Community Association (BCCA) on the Bay St. corridor urged council to adopt the amendment. “I definitely see the need for a framework of this part of Yonge St. because the Tall Buildings Downtown Guidelines ignored it,” says spokesperson Kathryn Holden.

It came to be known as the White Zone, she said in an interview. The result was local residents thought they were protected from tall buildings, but developers thought it meant they could build what they wanted. The amendment gives the eight-block stretch “very special help” in terms of what will and won’t be allowed there, said Holden.

The BCCA neighbourhood has also been designated a “character area.” Her association’s vision is to welcome more families to the Bay corridor. Developers offering family-size units would help that become a reality, she feels.

“We are inviting families to come here. We want the area to become more stable and less transient,” said Holden.

With all said and done Wong-Tam wants Toronto to wash its hands of the OMB. In 2012 she met then Municipal and Housing Affairs Minister Kathleen Wynne to have Toronto exempted from the OMB’s purview. Wynne’s response was a disappointing thanks-but-no-thanks, according to Wong-Tam.

But there may be some hope with Ontario’s new Municipal and Housing Affairs Minister Linda Jeffery. According to Wong-Tam the new minister’s message now is “we’re willing to listen.”