Application not perfect, but beneficial - Growing Thornhill


NRU
Jan. 28, 2015
By Edward LaRusic

A Vaughan councillor says a development in Thornhill is too dense and too high, but has voted in favour of council’s approval believing it will bring significant community benefits to the neighbourhood.

Baif Developments Limited received Vaughan council approval last week for its zoning by-law and official plan amendments for a development on the northwest corner of Bathurst Street and Beverley Glen Boulevard. It proposes to construct four buildings of 6, 12, 15 and 25 storeys including a six storey podium with retail fronting on Bathurst. It will accommodate 797 residential units and 975 parking spaces.

Ward 5 councillor Alan Shefman told NRU that he’s not thrilled with the height and density being added to the neighbourhood, and many in the community agree. However, he believes the section 37 agreement will be of huge benefit to the community.

“[Baif will] provide $350,000 for public art and $350,000 for local improvements. There’s two parks in proximity, as well as a city theatre pretty close to that location. Then, [Baif] also added a maximum of 50,000 for the residents who, when they move in, will receive VIVA bus passes. As you know, there’s rapid transit that’s going to be adjacent to the building on Bathurst Street and then going over to the new subway station.” Shefman had raised concerns about Baif ’s application at the committee of the whole meeting.

“For the life of me, I don’t understand why staff has issued such a supportive report,” said Shefman at the January 13 meeting. “I said right from the outset, and I’ve been very consistent that this is too much for this particular space.”

A week later and after discussions with Baif, Shefman felt that a positive staff report on the application meant that it wasn’t practical to fight this at the Ontario Municipal Board.

“I would have liked to have less density, I would have liked to have less height. The reality is the $750,000 [in section 37 contribution] is a great bonus to the community.”

Shefman added that fighting the proposal at the board - which would require hiring an outside planner and would cost in the order of $150,000 to $200,000 “of taxpayer dollars” - would have a slim chance of success.

Baif planner Michael Goldberg (Goldberg Group) told committee of the whole that this application, which has been ongoing since June 2013, is the result of a lot of discussion among Baif, staff and the community.

“All of that input was extremely helpful. It helped the applicant, the town staff and members of the public to understand the project better. The application was revised by lowering the buildings, increasing some separations and paying much greater attention to detail [in terms of] both the architecture in the site planning and the potential landscaping that would be implemented during the site plan stage for the westerly buildings next to those residents.”

The application amends the 1985 Thornhill Community, which only permits 208 residential units on the site, and no commercial. While policies for this site in the 2010 Vaughan official plan are under appeal, it serves as a more recent reference. The 2010 plan as drafted allows heights of up-to-12 storeys, and a floor space index of 3.5. Biaf is asking for upto-25 storeys and a floor space index of 4.35.

“We’re happy that we were able to arrive at a project that, certainly in our opinion but also in the opinion of your staff , fits in with the fabric of the neighbourhood as it is and as it as planned,” said Goldberg.

The Baif site is located adjacent to a planned BRT on Bathurst Street that will run west on Centre Street towards the planned subway expansion in the Vaughan Metropolitan Centre from Toronto. Proposed as part of phase 2 of York Region’s vivaNext’s highway 7 west/Vaughan expansion, the BRT is expected to be completed before 2019.

Beverley Glen Ratepayers Association president Josh Martow said he is disappointed by council’s decision to approve the Baif development. Martow ran against Shefman during the 2014 municipal election, coming within about 800 votes of the incumbent.

Martow attributed the planned Bathurst BRT-which his ratepayer’s group opposes-as a key reason the Baif development was approved at the densities and heights that were asked for. He said that without the BRT, developments like Baif ’s would have a much harder time being approved and have less success at the OMB.

Shefman said that the Baif development would have come along with or without a planned BRT, which is a regional response to managing intensification in Thornhill.