On Tuesday, August 31, 2010 at 8pm, Councillor Saundercook is hosting a community meeting regarding the development proposal for 61, 63 and 67 Vine Avenue. The meeting will take place in the second floor Window room of the Annette Community Centre, 333 Annette Street.
The developer plans to demolish the 3 existing buildings and replace them with 5 townhouses.
During the June 17, 2010 Etobicoke-York committee of adjustment meeting your JRA requested this meeting as part of the negotiations. The consent to sever the existing lots and several variance requests were granted by the panel with the stipulation that the developer in conjunction with the local councillor consult with the community regarding the design of the townhouses.
The developer’s committee of adjustment application proposed a modern looking, flat roof structure. The facade material included metal cladding with large glass windows incorporated with brick and concrete. Your JRA felt this design did not respect or reinforce the existing physical character of the neighbourhood.
Please come out and join the discussion and help shape our great neighbourhood.
Martin L. JRA Vice-Chair
12 Comments
About time! I can't even begin to tell you all of the shady stuff that goes down on those properties.
"Your JRA felt this design did not respect or reinforce the existing physical character of the neighbourhood."
They are replacing a bunch of buildings which look like they are about to fall over at any time… The big red house almost burned to the ground last year. What specifically is the objection with the proposal? Is it simply the look of the proposed buildings or the fact they are essentially turning this into one property?
Hello Sean,
At the committee of adjustment hearing we did not object to the demolition or construction of the new townhouses.
After seeing the plans however we felt broader community input into the design of the new townhouses would result in a better final product.
We encouraged every developer to follow the Cities “good neighbour” policy which recommends they consult with neighbours on the design and configuration but in this case they did not.
My neighbours were telling me about some commotion this week involving people on that street and stolen property that theives stored behind one of those houses??
Cool… Thanks for you reply! I received a couple snail-mailings recently about this meeting.
Any chance of posting a plan or drawing of the proposed 5 townhouses?
Hello Raymond,
When a proposal goes to the committee of adjustment you can see the plans at city hall but you can't copy or take a picture of them.
Will they be shown at the community meeting on the 31st?
I'm sure they will show some plans but if they made changes they might not have the old ones.
Any minutes from this meeting? What was said?
Hello Tom,
The developer presented their design, it didn’t change allot from the contemporary design submitted to the committee of adjustment.
Generally residents would like to see something Victorian. Using the Canadian Rodgers Eastern for inspiration was mentioned a few times.
The developers are insisting on a contemporary design and said “Vine Ave is second choice street for anyone looking to buy a Victorian home”. That didn’t sit well with the residents. But they calculate Vine is a “first choice street” for the contemporary design market.
Some people said they would support a contemporary design but they didn’t really like this one. The proposal was described by some as looking more like a suburban industrial plaza than contemporary home design from 2010.
The JRA is going to talk with the Vine Ave residents and see if anyone has any suggestion on how we can improve the contemporary design. We will also have the plans at our Junction Arts Festival booth (High Park Ave) and at our Sept 16 meeting if anyone would like to see them.
How insulting to the existing neighbours. This developer is demolishing at least one heritage home and telling them that the existing built-form is second-rate.
The modern townhouses should fit in with the existing built form in terms of scale, cladding materials (brick), and proportions. I warn against architectural conservatism. The Victorian era ended a century ago; today's attempts at recreating it tend to be obtuse and poor.