Please be advised that Aird …

Please be advised that Aird & Berlis LLP are counsel to 39 Wynford Inc. (the "Owner"), the owner of 39 Wynford Drive in Toronto (the "Subject Site"). Please see our attached submission letter and accompanying planning addendum report.

The Subject Site is a 1.62 hectare property located at the southeast corner of Wynford Drive and Gervais Drive, approximately 240 metres east of Don Mills Road. The Subject Site currently contains a 4-storey office building and surface parking lots, with vehicular access taken from Wynford Drive. The existing floor space index (“FSI”) of the Subject Site is 0.39 times the area of the lot, which represents a significant underutilization of a property of this size and in this location. The Subject Site is located in close proximity to transit, being approximately 120 metres from the Aga Khan Park & Museum Station (at the Don Valley Parkway southbound exit ramp and Eglinton Avenue East) along the future Eglinton Crosstown Light Rail Transit line (the “Crosstown LRT”). In addition, the Subject Site is also approximately 320 metres from the Science Centre Station (at Don Mills Road and Eglinton Avenue East), which connects into both the Crosstown LRT as well as the under construction Ontario Line subway. The Subject Property represents an important opportunity for greater intensification and is appropriate for mixed use development.

On July 21, 2021 the Owner, through its planning consultant Bousfields Inc. (“Bousfields”), filed an employment areas conversion request for the Subject Site as part of the City’s current MCR process (the “Wynford Conversion Request”). The Wynford Conversion Request proposed the Subject Site be redesignated from the City’s in-force Employment Areas designation to Mixed Use Areas under the Toronto OP.

Only July 19, 2023, City Council adopted Official Plan Amendment 653 (“OPA 653”), which partially approved the Wynford Conversion Request by converting the Subject Site as well as the abutting property to the south at 15 Gervais Drive from Employment Areas (as shown on Map 2) and General Employment Areas (as shown on Map 20) to Regeneration Areas with an accompanying new Site and Area Specific Policy 828 (“SASP 828”). SASP 828 imposes certain requirements and restrictions on the future redevelopment of the Subject Property, including that residential uses are not permitted prior to the completion of a local area study that culminates in the adoption of a further Secondary Plan or Site and Area Specific Policy.

We are writing on behalf of the Owner to respectfully request the Minister exercise its authority and modify OPA 653 with respect to the Subject Site. In support of this proposed modification to OPA 653 requested by the Owner, we have included a Planning Addendum Letter prepared by the Owner’s expert land use planning consultants Bousfields and included as Appendix “A” to our submission letter.

For the reasons outlined in the attached submission letter, the proposed OPA 653 as adopted by City Council fails to support significant mixed use development on the Subject Site, which is located within a Council-adopted MTSA and is in close proximity to significant new transit infrastructure, by designating the lands as Regeneration Area rather than Mixed Use Areas and requiring the completion of a local area study, all of which will delay any new development. Furthermore, the accompanying SASP 828 as adopted by Council provides overly restrictive policies that require affordable housing in amounts and tenures that greatly exceed the requirements established in the Planning Act and the City’s own inclusionary zoning by-law and which impose requirements to include Core Employment Area uses that will not be compatible with, and may in fact prevent, both the existing office uses and intended future residential development.

Specifically, the Owner respectfully requests that the Minister exercise his discretion to modify paragraph E) (iv) of OPA 653 as follows:

1. OPA 653 should be modified to redesignate the Subject Site from General Employment Areas to Mixed Use Areas (as opposed to Regeneration Areas);

2. SASP 828 should be modified by:

a. deleting policies a), b), and d) requiring the completion of a further local area study with various component plans and strategies, and the adoption of a further Secondary Plan or Site and Area Specific Policy prior to residential uses being permitted on the Subject Site;

b. maintaining policy c) but deleting sub-policies i) and ii) which unnecessarily restrict the type of non-residential uses that might be accommodated and which are incompatible with the City’s proposed OPA 680 (which would significantly limit permitted office uses in Core Employment Areas);

c. amend policy e) to reduce the affordable housing period in sub-policy ii) from 99 to 25 years;

d. amend policy f) by introducing an end date of January 1, 2030 for the annual 1.5% increase in the affordable housing requirement; and

e. amend policy h) to delete the language at the end of that policy which states that SASP 828 would prevail over the City’s inclusionary zoning by-law in the event of a conflict, to make it clear that the Subject Site is subject to the same affordable housing requirements as other properties that fall within the City’s inclusionary zoning by-law.

Therefore, for the reasons set out in our submssion, the Owner respectfully requests the Minister modify OPA 653 to change the redesignation of the Subject Site from Regeneration Areas to Mixed Use Areas, to be supported by the Modified SASP policy framework included here as Attachment “1” to the Planning Addendum Letter in Appendix “A”.

We thank you for the opportunity to make this submission requesting the Minister amend OPA 653 regarding the Wynford Conversion Request. Should you have any questions about the above, please do not hesitate to contact Alexander J. Suriano or Aird & Berlis LLP, at 437-880-6108 or asuriano@airdberlis.com or the Owner’s planning consultant, Mike Dror of Bousfields, at 416-947-9744 ext. 241 or mdror@bousfields.ca.