Applicant: Roselawn & Main Urban Properties
Party: Eglinton Park Residents’ Association
Mediation scheduled for 20-22 July, 2020
| SUBMISSION OF THE EGLINTON PARK RESIDENTS’ ASSOCIATION |
| July 7, 2020 |
These are the goals of the Eglinton Park Residents’ Association (the “EPRA”) with respect to the proposed property development on the properties municipally known as 2400-2444 Yonge Street.
Address: 95 Orchard View Blvd. Toronto, M4R 1C1
Appearing at the mediation
Shari Lash, member of the board
211-2 Edith Drive
Toronto M4R 2H7
shari.lash@gmail.com
Thomas Cohen, chair of EPRA
95 Orchard View Blvd.
Toronto M4R 1C1
tcohen@yorku.ca
The EPRA (incorporated 2008) represents the residents of the nine square blocks in the Yonge-Eglinton area, the boundaries of which are the following: Roselawn Ave. to the north, Eglinton Ave. to the south, Yonge St. to the east, and Eglinton Park to the west. The proposed development on 2400-2444 Yonge Street is slated for the northeast corner of the EPRA’s boundaries, at Yonge Street and Roselawn Ave.
CONCERNS WITH THE PROPOSED DEVELOPMENT
The EPRA has followed the discussion of this project from the start. It was active in the unsuccessful campaign to defend the Bank of Montreal building from its hasty destruction. It noted the rejection, in November 2017, of the earlier proposal for two towers on the site. And it has attended closely to changes in the present proposal. First, there has been a change in owners and in architects, producing a new design that is subtler, more varied, and more granular as it meets the street. Second, some of the planning rules have shifted. Ontario’s Bill 405 of June, 2019, rewrote the Yonge-Eglinton Secondary Plan and weakened some provisions of the Midtown in Focus study, most pertinently those that limited the heights of towers. Third, Ontario’s Bill 107 puts a premium on density near transit stops. And, fourth, there is public interest in building abundant housing, to counter the rapid rise in rents and prices. Fifth, the current pandemic has alerted citizens and planners to many issues of building configuration, like the need for ample room for private work and living, and for safe, agreeable public realm. Accordingly, we argue not for midrise, but for a high rise a bit less high, a podium less tall, a complex more in fitting with its immediate surroundings, and a public square on Yonge Street.
First, Good fit with heritage. This project abuts the Montgomery Square neighbourhood and character area recognized by Bill 405, with its the three historic buildings: the old police station, the current fire hall, and the restored Station K post office, all core civic monuments of North Toronto and also the site of Montgomery’s Tavern and the 1837 rebellion. As proposed, the project is too massive and too close to heritage buildings.
Second, we wish to see a scaling down from the Yonge-Eglinton intersection, as endorsed by Bill 405. Towers should gradually step down, the farther they are from the main intersection.
This downward sequencing is already established in the Yonge-Eglinton neighborhood. We now have 31 storeys (107.2 metres) at Whitehaus, to 27 storeys (84 metres) at Montgomery Square, and then, two blocks north, to a projected 14 storeys (50 metres) at the Capitol Theatre site. Meanwhile, the proposed towers for 2400-2444 Yonge Street step back up, with the 27 storey tower, at 97.2 metres, some four storeys, or 13 metres, taller than Montgomery Square (84 metres), immediately to its south.
Development should decrease in height, density and scale going away from Yonge/Eglinton crossing.
Third, we wish to address the floor plate of the two towers. In the revised design the floor plate has increased far beyond the model 750 square metres, to 844.37 (south tower) and 860.09 (north tower) square metres. That change in floor plate will make for less separation between the towers and more shadow on both Yonge Street and the neighbourhoods to the west and north. We aim for one tower, or, if two towers, slim ones.
Fourth, the podium. The new proposal raises the podium from nine storeys (2017) to twelve. In the earlier project, at nine stories, the podium already brought objections from city planning. We aim to bring it lower. Six would be good.
Fifth, the proposed project does not transition well to the less densely built avenue to the north.
Sixth: We wish to move the proposed park from the northwest corner of the property to the northeast, where Roselawn meets Yonge Street. The intersection of Yonge and Roselawn was one of several that the Midtown in Focus plan singled out as appropriate for a Yonge Street plaza. We want to see the public space moved to the intersection, and made more generous than the 412 square metres currently envisioned.
Finally, we wish to align this project with good urban planning principles:
- (a) The proposed units are not conducive to the growing and diverse family units in North Toronto. Towers in our area are increasingly housing families with one or more children, which requires at least two bedrooms per unit. Despite this, the proposed suites are generally very small and mostly one-bedroom units.
- (b) The design for the Yonge St. frontage, although more articulated and lively than its 2017 predecessor, offers nothing for the public. There is no space to retreat from the street, no place to sit, nor any place for public art. In that, this plan is far less successful as a public place-maker than The Montgomery (25 Montgomery Ave.), to its south. The current project ought to contribute more to enlivening Yonge Street as a “public place”.
- (c) Despite being on the historic Yonge Street, the project adds nothing to the neighbourhood’s sense of collective history. This contrasts with The Montgomery, which commemorates its location as the site of famous Montgomery’s Tavern. Further, the Capitol Theatre, two blocks north, is keeping its facade and movie marquee while undergoing redevelopment. The developers, through art and imagination, ought to join in the celebration of Yonge Street’s long, eventful history.
Eglinton Park Residents' Association 
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