STAFF REPORT ACTION REQUIRED 203-205 College Street – Zoning Amendment Application – Request for Direction Report Date: May 19, 2016 To: Toronto and East York Community Council From: Director, Community Planning, Toronto and East York District Wards: Ward 20 – Trinity-Spadina Reference 15 208876 STE 20 OZ Number: SUMMARY The owner of the property at 203-205 College Street has appealed their application for a Zoning By-law amendment to the Ontario Municipal Board due to Council's failure to enact the requested amendments within the time prescribed by the Planning Act. A pre- hearing has been scheduled for August 16, 2016. The purpose of this report is to seek City Council's direction with respect to the position of the City at the Ontario Municipal Board hearing. The proposal before the Ontario Municipal Board is for a new 29-storey building (99.9 metres including mechanical penthouse) comprised of a 26-storey tower atop at 3 to 5-storey base. The proposed development has an FSI of 15.16 times the lot area and a gross floor area of 21,454 square metres including 19,433 square metres of residential gross floor area and 2,021 square metres of non-residential gross floor area comprised of retail at grade and office on the second and third floors. The existing 5-storey office building with retail at grade would be demolished. Two levels of underground parking are proposed which would include 58 vehicular parking spaces. Staff report for action – 203-205 College Street – Zoning Amendment Application – Request for Directions Report 1 Staff acknowledge that there are certain positive features associated with the proposed development, including the provision of office space and a sufficient amount of indoor amenity space. However, the proposed height and massing are not appropriate for the site given the small size of the site and the primarily low to mid rise character of the surrounding context. This report recommends that Council direct Staff to continue discussions with the applicant concerning appropriate heights and massing. In the event that these discussions do not resolve the outstanding issues identified in this report, this report recommends Council direct the City Solicitor, together with appropriate City staff, to oppose the proposal at the Ontario Municipal Board. For reasons discussed in this report, the application does not conform to the policies of the Official Plan, constitutes overdevelopment and is not good planning or in the public interest. RECOMMENDATIONS The City Planning Division recommends that: 1. City Council authorize the City Solicitor and appropriate staff to attend the Ontario Municipal Board hearing to oppose the application at 203-205 College Street in its current form. 2. City Council authorize staff to continue negotiations with the applicant concerning appropriate heights and massing for this development site including appropriate public benefits to be secured pursuant to Section 37 of the Planning Act if an agreement can be reached. 3. City Council direct City Planning Staff, in the event that the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) allows the appeal in whole or in part, to request that the Board: a) Withhold any order to approve a Zoning By-law Amendment for the subject lands until such time as a Site Plan Agreement has been entered into between the City and the owner, and any pre-conditions to Site Plan Approval are fulfilled including addressing parking spaces and access, and loading and servicing issues as outlined in the memo from the Manager, Development Engineering, Toronto and East York District dated April 19, 2016. b) Request that a Section 37 contribution be secured as part of the OMB decision. 4. City Council authorize the City Solicitor and necessary City staff to take such necessary steps, as required, to implement the foregoing. Staff report for action – 203-205 College Street – Zoning Amendment Application – Request for Directions Report 2 Financial Impact The recommendations in this report have no financial impact. DECISION HISTORY The subject site is within the College Street Built Form Study Area boundaries. A final report on the College Street Built Form Study is anticipated in fall, 2016. Information on the College Street Built Form Study is available on the City's website, via the following links: http://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2013/te/bgrd/backgroundfile-60742.pdf http://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2014/te/bgrd/backgroundfile-71563.pdf At its meeting on November 10, 2015, Toronto and East York Community Council adopted the recommendations of Staff contained in the preliminary report for 203 College Street, and expanded the notice requirements for the Community Consultation Meeting. A link to the Community Council direction is below: http://app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewAgendaItemHistory.do?item=2015.TE12.35 Pre-Application Consultation A pre-application consultation meeting was held with the applicant on July 14, 2015 to discuss complete application submission requirements. ISSUE BACKGROUND Proposal The application before the Ontario Municipal Board was submitted to the City of Toronto on March 9, 2016. The proposal was modified from the original submission on August 19, 2015. A comparison of the first and second submissions is outlined in Table 1 – Summary of Application – Comparison of First and Second Submissions. The proposal before the Ontario Municipal Board is for a 29-storey building (99.9 metres including mechanical penthouse) comprised of a 3 to 5-storey base and a 26-storey tower. The proposed development has an FSI of 15.16 times the lot area and a gross floor area of 21,454 square metres including 19,433 square metres of residential gross floor area including 309 residential units and 2,021 square metres of non-residential gross floor area comprised of retail at grade and office on the second and third floors. The existing 5- storey office building with retail at grade would be demolished. Two levels of underground parking are proposed which are to include 58 parking spaces, including 35 resident parking spaces, 19 visitor parking spaces, and 4 car share spaces. The total amount of vehicular parking has remained consistent between the first and second submission, however the proportions of residential parking, visitor parking, and car share spaces have changed as outlined in the Table 1 – Summary of Application – Comparison of First and Second Submissions. Access to and egress from the underground parking is proposed from the south end of the property via a public lane Staff report for action – 203-205 College Street – Zoning Amendment Application – Request for Directions Report 3 connecting to College Street or via the loading access from Beverley Street that connects to the public lane. A total of two loading spaces are proposed, including one Type G loading space and one Type C loading space. The loading spaces are proposed to be located at-grade at the southern end of the property with access and egress available via Beverley Street or the public lane to the rear. The development is proposed to include 326 bicycle parking spaces. This includes 278 long term bicycle parking spaces, 31 visitor bicycle parking spaces, and 17 office/retail bicycle parking spaces. The amount of proposed bicycle parking has decreased since the first submission. Bicycle parking is proposed to be located exterior to the building at the south-east corner of the site, in a bicycle parking room on the ground floor accessible from the public lane, and in a bicycle parking room on the mezzanine level. A total of 675 square metres of indoor amenity space (2.2 square metres per unit) and 504 square metres of outdoor amenity space (1.64 square meters per unit) are proposed for the development. The proportion of both indoor and outdoor amenity space per unit has increased since the first submission. Indoor amenity space is proposed to be located on the mezzanine level and on the fourth storey. Outdoor amenity space is proposed on the fourth storey, accessible via the indoor amenity space proposed on the fourth storey. Details of the proposal before the Ontario Municipal Board (the applicant's second submission) compared to the applicant's first submission are provided in the below table: Table 1 – Summary of Application - Comparison of First and Second Submissions First Submission (August, Second Submission (March, 2015) 2016) Height 33 storeys (114.5m 29 storeys (99.9 metres including mechanical including mechanical penthouse) penthouse) FSI 16.16 15.16 Tower Floorplate 750 square metres 741.8 – 764.7 square meters Gross Floor Area Residential 21,476 square metres 19,433 square metres Non-Residential 2,328 square metres 2,021 square metres Total 23,804 square metres 21,454 square metres Tower Setbacks to Lot Lines North 2.0-2.9 metres 2.1-2.5 metres South 12.5 metres 11.9-12.5 metres East 2.5-3.1 meters (5.5-6.5 2.5-3.1 meters (5.5-6.5 meters to centre line of meters to centre line of lane) lane) West 2.0-2.5 metres 1.8-2.7 metres Staff report for action – 203-205 College Street – Zoning Amendment Application – Request for Directions Report 4 Proposed Sidewalk Zone Beverley Street 4.5-9 .0metres 4.0 -7.0 metres College Street 5.0- 9.8 metres 5.0-5.75 metres Amenity Space Indoor 712 square metres (2.0 675 square metres (2.2 square metres/unit) square metres/unit) Outdoor 444 square metres (1.25 504 square metres (1.63 square metres/unit) square metres/unit) Unit Mix 1-Bedroom 240 (67%) 208 (67%) 2-Bedroom 87 (24%) 68 (22%) 3-Bedroom 29 (8%) 33 (11%) Total 356 309 Vehicular Parking Spaces 58 58 (Resident: Car Share: (33: 4: 21) (35:4:19) Visitor) Bicycle Parking Spaces 434 (348: 68: 18) 326 (278: 31: 17) (long term: visitor: office/retail) Loading Spaces 1 Type G; 1 Type C 1 Type G; 1 Type C Site and Surrounding Area The subject site is located at the south-east corner of College Street and Beverly Street and currently contains a 5-storey office building.