The situation, the property owners of 36 through 162 Vine Avenue have come together to request a review all of the Vine Avenue commercial properties to convert the land usage to mixed use including residential and commercial uses from the current core employment use designation.
If this conversion is allowed there will be huge development on the north side of Vine Avenue with great height increases in the buildings that will be built, beyond the size of the buildings that sit on the land now.
Development on the site with likely dwarf the size of the houses on the south side, blocking their light, sun and air. Development will also likely cause the loss of the Junctions’s most historic building the Robert Jackson Roman Meal building at 108 Vine Ave., This building now houses the Sweet Potato grocery store.
Below is the technical data being reviewed by the city.
CONVERSION REQUEST July 28, 2021, 36-162 Vine Avenue
Request to redesignate all of the lands from Core Employment Areas to Mixed Use Areas to permit a range of uses including residential, commercial and employment uses.
Current existing uses:
Keele Street, north of Dundas Street West Parkdale-High Park (4)
Multiple Owners (Urban Strategies Inc) Approximately 1.9 hectares (4.7 acres)
(from east to west) a self-storage facility; two-storey commercial buildings; a one-storey commercial building with various uses including a grocery store, gym and offices; a two-storey house form building containing offices; a semi-detached residential building; a two-storey commercial building with a number of small offices, studios, workshops and gym and a surface parking lot.
OFFICIAL PLAN AND ZONING FRAMEWORK
Urban Structure: Designation(s):
Area Specific Policies: Zoning By-law:
Employment Areas (Map 2)
Core Employment Areas (Map 17)
Chapter 7 SASP 442 – 108 and 162 Vine Avenue
Employment Light Industrial Zone (EL) in the City of Toronto Zoning By-law 569-2013
SITE CONTEXT AND ADJACENT USES
The CP Galt subdivision rail corridor, which includes the Canadian Pacific (CPR) West Toronto / Lambton Yard (further north, lands designated Core Employment Areas and General Employment Areas north of the rail corridor)
Low density residential uses (further south, the Dundas Street West main street area, consisting of generally 2-3 storey mixed-use buildings, this area of Dundas Street East is part of the ongoing “The Junction Phase 1” Heritage Conservation District study)
A gas station; a mixed-use development (Heintzman Place) consisting of a 16-storey building; and, the main street area of Keele Street consisting of 2-3 storey mixed-use buildings, which is part of the ongoing “The Junction Phase 1” Heritage Conservation District study (further east, low density residential uses)
West:
The Vine Avenue Playground (further west, low density residential uses)
As part of staff’s preliminary review of the conversion request, staff have identified the following issues:
Ability to provide a stable and productive operating environment for existing and new businesses and their economic activities;
Provision of a variety of land parcel sizes to accommodate a range of permitted employment uses;
Compatibility with surrounding existing and permitted uses including sensitive land uses;
The displacement of existing uses that service the local community and at suitable scales.
Ability to provide opportunities for the clustering of similar or related employment uses.
Ability to provide appropriate buffering and/or separation of employment uses from sensitive land uses, including residential;
Noise, vibration, and safety issues from the railway corridor and yard immediately north of the lands;
Impact on the capacity and function of the transportation network;
Sufficient community services and facilities such as parks, public spaces, libraries,
recreation centres and schools exist or are planned within walking distance for new
residents; and
Based on staff’s preliminary assessment, the lands should be retained as Employment Areas and continue to be designated as Core Employment Areas.
The City will be reviewing the land use policies for lands designated under its Official Plan as Core Employment Areas and General Employment Areas. Generally, Core Employment Areas are geographically located within the interior of employment areas and are primarily used for industrial activities. General Employment Areas are mostly located on the periphery of employment areas.[6] In all Employment Areas, the Growth Plan 2019 requires municipalities to prohibit certain land uses (residential); prohibit or limit other sensitive land uses; prohibit or establish size or scale thresholds for major retail uses; and address compatibility issues between employment areas and non-employment areas.[7]
Parties seeking to re-designate their Employment lands to non-employment uses must make their formal request no later than August 3, 2021. (Which was none by the property owners.
Each conversion request is required to address Conversion and Removal Policies for Employment Areas as set out in the Work Plan, to meet the necessary tests and policy considerations that apply.
