Council Approval of Towers and Community Centre , S@DM

On Tuesday, City council by a vote of 37 to 3 decided to approve the proposal for tall towers and a community centre facility as part of the Don Mills Centre redevelopment, Shops at Don Mills. This is a game changing decision for those that believe that Secondary Plans established with community involvement, especially in a city area not part of the provincial intensification designation should carry some restrictive power.

(To see what's happening at council meetings, see the blog link in the sidebar)

But alas, this is not so. The city once again has proven unable or unwilling to thwart a strong developer and stand up for a neighbourhood and its residents.

Don Mills neighbourhood in the Lawrence Ave and Don Mills is essentially a low rise community. Yes, there are many apartment blocks. But they are less than 6 stories. The council decision will bring a 32 storey & 24 storey towers and others (10-16 stories).

With the council decision we can expect that existing rental apartment owners will be reviewing how they can redevelop their properties and gain the heights allotted to Cadillac Fairview (CF).

CF managed its feat simply because the residential component density was averaged over the mainly one storey commercial area. But as they have seemed to get away with something that is neighbourhood altering we should anticipate in the next 20 years to see the Lawrence and Don Mills intersection area to become a hub of condo highrises. We must wonder about the smarts of the councillors who sit on the North York Community Council as well as the residents running the local resodent association, DMRI. Why did no one see the need to revisit the land zoning as CF was working out its initial plans?

The deal (see link above) is not an easy read. The community centre (not managed or staffed by city staff or using city rates for facility use and programmes but open to the general public) and green land park components are not easy to grasp. There are land swaps, 49 year leases, city payments, CF payments, multi-if condition clauses, some funding for a new twin pad rink located elsewhere, etc.

There was an Urban Design Review Panel staffed by those who profit from working with developers. As you might expect this panel did not comment on the lack of adherence to the Don Mills secondary plan (part of the city's Official Plan). The panel worked as a bunch of technocrats who could not afford to offend a hand that might feed them someday.

It is likely that most on city council did not read the decision document closely. For example, there are no definitions for keywords like "affordable" as it applies to public use of the community centre, or "primarily" as it applies to tenant use and rental space in the community centre.

From a quick read (it's legalese torture), it is not apparent what the city got and will own 5o years from now.

Where is the city visionary when you need one? Councillor Minnan-Wong must be applauded for standing up_ he saw the future and he stood up with the Friends of Don Mills to protect the Don Mills neighbourhood.