Requesting Modification to…

Requesting Modification to Toronto Official Plan Amendment 540, respecting Site and Area Specific Policy Areas 654 (Dundas West) and 655 (Bloor GO). The request includes the provision of alternative minimum density mapping that should be substituted for that in OPA 540. This request is made for Choice - the owners of 2238-2290 Dundas Street West, and 104-105 Ritchie Avenue . A Choice proposal for this site would deliver approximately 2,600 residential units - meeting important housing supply needs. This is perhaps the second most intensively transit-served area in Toronto after Union Station. It features a TTC Subway station, two GO Stations on different lines, the Union Person Express Station and a streetcar line. As a large site, offering comprehensive development opportunities, it is among the sites with the most potential to deliver transit-supportive development in Toronto. The site is the prime opportunity for intensification in both MTSAs.

The City of Toronto has adopted minimum density mapping for Major Transit Station Areas that is artificially low. As a result, the provincial policy objectives of encouraging intensification - especially for housing - at transit stations, is not achieved. The adopted Official Plan Amendment is not consistent with provincial policy and is not in conformity with the Growth Plan.

Ontario is experiencing a housing supply crisis. The new Planning Act section 16 (20) requires municipalities to bring their zoning into conformity with the Major Transit Station Area minimum densities within one year. Modification as requested offers the opportunity to accelerate the delivery of important new housing supply. The Official Plan Amendment should be modified to provide for meaningful minimum densities that will establish an incentive for the intensification that the province is seeking to achieve.