The Second Leslie to Coxwell Urban Design Guideline meeting is scheduled for Thursday October 8 at S.H. Armstrong 7:00 P.M. TO 9:00 P.M.

The Second Leslie to Coxwell Urban Design Guideline meeting is scheduled for Thursday October 8 7:00 pm to 9pm at S.H. Armstrong. This meeting will present the city’s draft of the urban design guidelines which reflect community feedback from the meeting in April, and the Official Plan policies for Queen St. between Leslie and Coxwell. 

These are the guidelines that this section of Queen needs to have in place going forward for the many developments that are in the works. Please try and plan on being there. 

BACKGROUND: In June 2014, City Council requested the Director, Community Planning, Toronto and East York to assess the portion of Queen Street East between Leslie Street and Coxwell Avenue to determine whether either the existing Urban Design Guidelines for Queen Street East between Coxwell Avenue and Neville Park Boulevard or the (at that time) emerging Urban Design Guidelines for Queen Street in between Jimmie Simpson Park and Leslie Avenue, and associated Official Plan policies, should be extended to apply to the portion of Queen Street East between Leslie Street and Coxwell Avenue, and report back to Toronto and East York Community Council in 2015. 

The first meeting was on April 21, 2015 

Community Workshop #2: October 8, 2015 Meeting Notice

Contact Kelly Jones Planner, Community Planning City Hall, 19th Floor, East Tower 100 Queen Street West Toronto, Ontario M5H 2N2 Tel: 416-392-4293 Fax: 416-392-1330 

E-mail: kjones2@toronto.ca

You can also contact the following Ward Councillors: Councillor Paula Fletcher Ward 30 – Toronto-Danforth Tel: 416-392-4060 Email: councillor_fletcher@toronto.ca

Councillor Mary-Margaret McMahon Ward 32 – Beaches-East York Tel: 416-392-1376 Email: councillor_mcmahon@toronto.ca

How the LCC's work has paid off

The Leslieville Community Coalition Incorporated is incorporated as a not-for-profit, non-charity organization formed by Leslieville residents, business owners, and property owners in response to the concerns of the community to the proposed 1327-1339 Queen Street East development by Rockport Group. 


The LCC formed as a result of a community meeting called in March 2014 by Rockport Developments. The meeting was to introduce Rockport Groups proposal for a development at 1327-1339 Queen St. The push back from the community was palpable. Since this meeting the LCC has worked on getting the developer to adhere to the Mid-Rise Guidelines that are in place both to the west and to the east of this section of Queen Street in Leslieville. 

Since that time the LCC has:
 • Lobbied successfully to have a Heritage study done for the buildings slated for demolition. 

• Lobbied successfully to have the city review City policy regarding laneway housing as it relates to the development. • Lobbied successfully for a Planning study to be implemented to create meaningful guidelines for development in the area. 

• Lobbied successfully to have a working group comprised of Leslieville community representatives and Toronto City Planning convened to review the application. 

• Lobbied successfully to have the City of Toronto Transportation Services review: The Transportation impacts of potential change and growth of the Leslie Street Coxwell Avenue Planning Study that is underway, and the Urban Transportation Consideration Report, submitted by the applicant, taking into account all recent changes to the transportation and transit network. 

• Invested in an independent evaluation by a registered planner of the developer’s proposal

• Informed and updated residents about the development by creating a Blog, Facebook page and website. 

• Incorporated as an organization to qualify as a party, gaining full participation status, at the Ontario Municipal Board.

• Retained legal counsel as well as the services of a registered planner and an architect. 

• Organized an additional community meeting to update residents on the status of the application. 

• Organized three one-on-one meetings with the developer to create a dialogue regarding the application. • Provided the developer and his architect with architectural drawings to show an acceptable alternative proposal for the neighbourhood. 

• Organized several meetings with Ward 30 and 32 City Councillors regarding the proposal. 

• Created a campaign including the distribution of lawn signs, and organized community fundraisers to pay for the costs involved in the OMB appeal process. 

• Reached out to other neighbourhood associations with similar interests. 

• Participated in the OMB mediation process as a full Party with the City staff and the developer. 

 To continue to work towards responsible development We Need Your Vision.  Become a visionary today! Invest in the future of Leslieville.  Call 416-461-6417. 

Visionaries have started stepping forward!

Yahoo !!!!! There is excitement in the air! We have our first Leslieville Visionaries and the announcement is only a few days old!*

BUT we need more visionaries. Many More. WE NEED You!

By donating $1.000.00 you or your business will be acknowledged and profiled publicly on our networks.

Join us in envisioning our Leslieville community’s future character. Become a VISIONARY TODAY!!
CALL 416-461-6417;

Or Email(click):.


* "Leslieville Visionary" Ad by Leslieville Community Coalition on p2 of the Sept 24th edition of the The Beach Mirror | Issuu: http://t.co/0nvTERocos



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Become a Leslieville Visionary

The Leslieville Community Coalition needs help with the next step of our fund-raising initiative. We are is running a full page ad in the Beach Mirror appearing September 24 to launch a campaign looking for Leslieville Visionaries (see below). We are asking individuals like yourselves to be a visionary for the community. We’re challenging people to invest in their vision of what it takes to make a neighbourhood great in order to make it a reality? To do this We Need You!

A Leslieville Visionary is someone who not only recognizes the need to take a stand for good planning, great design, and appropriate development in this area but is also someone willing to invest in our neighbourhood. The character of this unique community is at risk and without vision our section of Queen Street East could become another charmless, generic condo corridor.

The Leslieville Community Coalition is scheduled to go the Ontario Municipal Board in January 2016 to represent this community’s vision for future development. We’re expanding fundraising outreach so that legal and other experts can be retained for the hearing. The focus is to get individuals and businesses to commit to becoming “Leslieville Visionaries” by donating $1000 each. The funds will go directly to help the LCC retain the legal expertise necessary for a seat at the table at the OMB. If you are, or know someone who could be a Visionary please contact us via email or call 416-461-6417 to donate. We will have packages outlining the benefits of becoming a Leslieville Visionary and why it’s so important. Visit the blog for the latest updates.

Let's Focus on Raising the Bar

View from Hiltz and Queen of the development at 1327-1339 Queen East if the the OMB allows the developer to go ahead with a 26.3 metre building plus 3.8 metre mechanical penthouse, in violation of the City's Guidelines.

"We're one of the fastest growing cities in North America. Our Guidelines are not stopping development. In fact, one could argue, when you have that much growth you need to be more rigid in ensuring that you're getting really great outcomes because there's a risk that you will, in fact, get a lot of low quality product. And there are some that will argue that that has in fact happened because we've grown very quickly. Stuff slips through.

...there are some sites where its time has not yet come. And that's okay because we've got a lot of units approved in this city that have not yet been built. Let's actually focus on raising the bar and getting a better product."

—Jennifer Keesmaat, Chief Planner, City of Toronto,
Chief Planner Roundtable - Mid-Rise Buildings: Growing Toronto's Neighbourhoods (at 31:01)

Tim Kirkwood edit of the video from the April 24, 2015 forum:
Chief Planner Roundtable - Mid Rise Building: Growing Toronto's Neighbourhoods (33:48)



If you think Leslieville needs to focus on raising the bar for future developments in the neighbourhood please help by clicking the Paypal button and donating today.



References:

Video above is an edit of the 7 hour long Chief Planners Roundtable - Mid-Rise Buildings: Growing Toronto's Neighbourhoods - held a Toronto City Hall, Conference Room 1 on April 24 2015.

City of Toronto | Chief Planner Roundtable | http://www1.toronto.ca/wps/portal/contentonly?vgnextoid=4a2946bca58c1410VgnVCM10000071d60f89RCRD




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The Mid-Rise Grey Zone

This is what the massing of the development at 1327-1339 Queen East will look like if the the OMB allows the developer to go ahead with a 26.3 metre building plus 3.8 metre mechanical penthouse.  The Mid-Rise Guidelines to the east and the west of this area only allow for a 20 metre building on this site.  The existing zoning only allows for a maximum height of 12 metres.

How does Rockport’s architect, Roland Rom Colthoff, justify a height that exceeds the guidelines by more than two-storeys?

 

"There's a real burden on the development of a relatively small site to try and achieve something. All the projects we've done, we've breached the height. Typically the goal is to get 8-storeys on the site on a 20-metre right of way (and) the argument being that we would have had a mechanical penthouse regardless, in addition to the 6-storey height, and if we can prove through the planning principles that Jack [Winberg], mentioned as well, that there's no impact - that you don't have any additional shadow, if there are no additional overlook impacts - why not have that additional area, have those additional residences on the street contributing to that vital street economy?  I don't know how you do it, but I suggest that you take the guidelines as the mean and try and think about a grey zone on either side of that where there’s a limited amount of projections the principal ones being the elevator and stairs."  Roland Rom Colthoff, 

Director RAW Architects and designer of the project at 1327-1339 Queen St. East 

quoted from City of Toronto’s videotaped April 24th roundtable discussion on  Mid-Rise Buildings: Growing Toronto's Neighbourhoods

If you think Leslieville's future development should be based on vision and not on a grey zone that impacts shadow and overlook please help by donating today.

 

Update Mid-Rise Building Performance Standards Monitoring on the agenda tomorrow September 16

Tomorrow at City Hall, there's a meeting of the Planning and Growth Management Committeel.  One of the agenda items is entitled Mid-Rise Performance Standards Monitoring.  Here's the top line extract:

Summary

In July 2010, Council directed staff to use the Mid-Rise Building Performance Standards in the evaluation of mid-rise development proposals.  Council also adopted a monitoring period to the end of 2014 in order to measure the effectiveness of the Standards. 

This report represents the results of over five years of monitoring of the Performance Standards through data analysis of mid-rise building applications and consultation with city staff, City Council and external stakeholders (e.g. local residents and ratepayer groups, architects, urban designers, planners and developers), including experiences at the Ontario Municipal Board and advice from the Design Review Panel.  Review of the data analysis coupled with feedback received guided the recommended changes to the Performance Standards set forth in this report.  If you click on the link below it will take you to the agenda item.  

http://app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewAgendaItemHistory.do?item=2015.PG6.6

If you follow the link above under Background Information, attachment number 6 is the top line summary of Toronto's Chief Planner Roundtable from April 2015. 

It's interesting to compare the city's written version and the live video compilation created by Tim Kirkwood https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBtar3XaM8o&feature=youtu.be 

 "How much someone paid for a site is not a driver of livability. It's not a driver of good form.  It doesn't in anyway ensure neighborhood compatibility, it usually results in pretty onerous shadow impacts and transition issues. " Jennifer Keesmaat, Executive Director and Planner  - City of Toronto

 

If you think Leslieville's future development should be based on vision and not on property speculation please help by donating today.