January 30, 2023 The…

January 30, 2023
The Honourable Steve Clark
Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing
777 Bay Street, 17th Floor
Toronto, ON M7A 2J3
Dear Minister Clark,

Re: ERO Posting 019-5868
City of Toronto Official Plan Amendment No. 591
710 Kipling Avenue, Toronto

We represent Mario Ostojic, the owner of the property municipally known as 710 Kipling Avenue in the City of Toronto (the “subject site”). The subject site is developed with a 2-storey commercial building occupied by Royal Meats BarBeque and is currently designated Core Employment Areas in the City of Toronto Official Plan.

The purpose of this letter is to request that Official Plan Amendment No. 591 be modified by amending the proposed redesignation to Mixed Use Areas and to introduce a new site and area specific policy to address the inclusion of affordable housing on the site (as described below).

Background

On July 22, 2022, Toronto City Council adopted Official Plan Amendment No. 591 (“OPA
591”), which amended the Official Plan with respect to Economic Health Policies and
Policies for Employment Areas. OPA 591 has been forwarded to the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing for approval pursuant to Section 26 of the Planning Act. Among other matters, OPA 591 redesignated the subject site from Core Employment Areas to General Employment Areas. No Site or Area Specific policies were proposed for the subject site as a part of the Official Plan Amendment.

Requested Amendment

In light of the Province’s increased emphasis on the construction of new homes, particularly the goal to construct 1.5 million new homes over the next 10 years, the owner has re-evaluated the requested amendment to the Toronto Official Plan, and instead believes the property would be appropriate for the construction of new residential development, potentially including an affordable housing component.

The subject site is well located within the City of Toronto, being located on a corner site along a Major Arterial Road. The subject site has access to excellent public transit service, with Kipling Avenue having frequent bus service to Kipling Subway Station approximately 1.5 kilometres to the north. The subject site also has easy access to a wide variety of commercial, employment, and recreational amenities in the immediate vicinity, particularly along The Queensway approximately 500 metres to the south.

Although the subject site is not located on the immediate edge of the surrounding employment area, existing residential uses exist only metres to the south along the east side of Kipling Avenue. As such, we do not believe residential uses would be out of place in the proposed location.

Further, a Land Use Compatibility Report prepared by Gradient Wind, submitted as a part of the initial conversion request to General Employment Areas, found that the site will meet the minimum distance separation distances from sensitive land uses for all Class I, II, and III Industries, as set out by the Ministry of Environment Conservation and Parks Land Use Compatibility Guidelines. While further analysis of a potential residential use may be required to confirm compatibility, as such a use was not analyzed in Gradient Wind’s report, there were no immediate land use conflicts identified.

While the site would not qualify as an inclusionary zoning area as defined by the Planning Act, as it is not located within a Protected Major Transit Station Area, the owner of the subject site is also aware of the desire for an increase in affordable housing across the Province. As a result, the owner would be willing to entertain a site and area specific policy which would require the implementation of a minimum of 5% of units being provided as affordable housing units. This would generally align with the inclusionary zoning regulations set out in the Planning Act for Protected Major Transit Station Area. Thus, a site and area specific policy is requested as follows:

A mixed-use development is permitted, provided that any new development containing residential units on the lands will secure a minimum amount of affordable housing as follows:
i) if a residential development is proposed, a minimum of 5 percent of the total new residential gross floor area shall be secured as affordable housing; and
ii) the affordable housing shall be secured at affordable rents or affordable ownership prices for a period of at least 25 years from the date of first residential occupancy of the unit.

If you have any questions with respect to this letter or wish to discuss this matter in detail,
please do not hesitate to contact the undersigned.

Anthony J. Italiano
ID Planning Group
6475044692