Members of Council and Staff:  Please keep this agenda and the accompanying material until the City Council meeting dealing with these matters has ended.  The City Clerk’s Office will not provide additional copies.

Special Assistance for Members of the Public:  City staff can arrange for special assistance with some advance notice. If you need special assistance, please call 416-397-7768, TTY 416-338-0889 or e-mail pgmc@toronto.ca.

Closed Meeting Requirements:  If the Planning and Growth Management Committee wants to meet in closed session (privately), a member of the committee must make a motion to do so and give the reason why the Committee has to meet privately. (City of Toronto Act, 2006)

Notice to people writing or making presentations to the Planning and Growth Management Committee: The City of Toronto Act, 2006 and the City of Toronto Municipal Code authorize the City of Toronto to collect any personal information in your communication or presentation to City Council or its committees.

The City collects this information to enable it to make informed decisions on the relevant issue(s). If you are submitting letters, faxes, e-mails, presentations or other communications to the City, you should be aware that your name and the fact that you communicated with the City will become part of the public record and will appear on the City’s website. The City will also make your communication and any personal information in it – such as your postal address, telephone number or e-mail address – available to the public, unless you expressly request the City to remove it.

The City videotapes committee and community council meetings. If you make a presentation to a committee or community council, the City will be videotaping you and City staff may make the video tapes available to the public.

If you want to learn more about why and how the City collects your information, write to the City Clerk's Office, City Hall, 100 Queen Street West, Toronto ON M5H 2N2 or by calling 416-392-7340.

Declarations of Interest under the Municipal Conflict of Interest Act

Confirmation of Minutes - January 6, 2010

Speakers/Presentations – A Complete list will be distributed at the meeting

The Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning Division recommends that:

1.         Consultation with residents' and ratepayer associations, business and industrial associations and other key stakeholder groups continue, through February and March, with a view to agreeing on how to best incorporate the intent of existing zoning permissions.

2.         A final report, outlining the proposed changes to the draft zoning by-law released in May 2009 that address the concerns raised in public forums, in written submissions and by members of City Council, be prepared and include a printed copy of the main by-law text and maps for the April 21, 2010 meeting of the Planning and Growth Management Committee.

3.         A Statutory Open House be held April 28, 2010, where printed copies of the zoning by-law text and maps will be available.

4.         A Statutory Public Meeting of the Planning and Growth Management Committee be held on May 19, 2010.

This report responds to the requests the Committee made at its meeting held on November 4, 2009, respecting the new draft Zoning By-law. The report indicates the process and timeline for incorporating further changes into the proposed Zoning By-law. The concerns raised by residents, businesses, stakeholder groups and members of Council are continuing to be addressed especially with respect to expressing the intent of the existing zoning permissions and minimizing the issues raised related to the harmonization of zoning standards.  As a result, it is recommended that a final report, outlining the proposed changes to the draft zoning by-law, be sent to the April 21, 2010 meeting of the Committee. In addition, the report recommends that a Statutory Open House be scheduled for April 28, 2010 and a Statutory Public Meeting for May 19, 2010.

The report presents a brief, high-level review of outstanding public comments and concerns received to date. These comments and concerns will be addressed in the report to Committee scheduled for April 21, 2010. Staff will continue to consult with residents and stakeholder groups about how best to incorporate the intent of the existing by-laws. 

Particular attention has been given to the brief of Matthias Schlaepfer which raises fundamental concerns regarding the conformity of the new Zoning By-law project with the Official Plan. The brief rests on a misunderstanding of the manner in which the proposed percentage lot coverage approach is to be applied. The new Zoning By-law proposes limits on the number of stories which combined with lot coverage are designed to produce limitations on residential floor space development that are directly equivalent to those achieved through the FSI method. The two systems of control are not at odds with each other.

Councillor Giambrone, seconded by Councillor Perks, recommends that:

1.         City Council direct the Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning, through the Zoning By-law Project, in consultation with Municipal Licensing and Standards and Toronto Building, to report to the Planning and Growth Management Committee on potential amendments to the City-wide Zoning By law regarding restaurants and related uses based on the analysis done for the “Final Report - Queen Street West – Restaurant Study”, including:

-           consideration of the introduction of a City-wide definition of a Bar as well as consideration of which zones within the City that Bars should be permitted uses; and

-           consideration of changes that would limit the concentration of Bars in zones where they are permitted uses, such as a cap, or a separation distance requirement. 

The Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning Division recommends that:

1.         The Toronto Green Standard performance measures, as adopted by City Council at its meeting held on October 26 and 27, 2009, remain unchanged at this time.

2.         The City Policy on Green Roofs buildings owned by the City of Toronto or any of its agencies, boards, commissions or corporations not be amended for the reasons identified in the report (January 22, 2010) from the Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning.

This report responds to requests for additional information from the City Council meeting on October 26, 2009. Council requested that the Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning consider a number of amendments to the Toronto Green Standard including: requirements for in-building systems that will better facilitate the City's three-stream recycling program; moving the requirement for provision of Energy Star compliant refrigerators and dishwashers into Tier 1 of the Toronto Green Standard and requiring City and ABCCD owned buildings that are not heated or cooled to meet the same green roof standards applied to private sector buildings.

This report does not recommend any amendments to the Toronto Green Standard resulting from this report.

Councillor Walker, seconded by Councillor Stintz, recommends that:

1.         City Council direct the Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning, to conduct an Urban Design Study for the intersection of Yonge Street and Eglinton Avenue within one block in all directions. 

The intersection of Yonge Street and Eglinton Avenue (Yonge-Eglinton) is one of the five Urban Growth Centres in Toronto identified by the Provincial government in the Places To Grow Act where hyper-intensification of development built form is directed and encouraged to sustainably accommodate the population growth projections of the City’s Official Plan and the Places to Grow Act. 

Yonge-Eglinton is the geographic centre of the City, the intersection of two major transit lines with a bus station hub, and has plenty of everything except open-space. Presently, it is confronted by three major potential changes: 1) the TTC is preparing to build an underground streetcar line under Eglinton Avenue; 2) Build Toronto wishes to redevelop the public land on the southwest corner to a height of 120 metres and density of 9.0 times coverage of the lot; and 3) the only existing open-space (on the northwest corner) is proposed to be filled in by a developer.

In order to ensure Yonge-Eglinton develops the way it should, City Planning must conduct studies with the community residents.  The Yonge Eglinton Focused Review Planning Study was conducted between 2002–2009 with members of the community and City Planning. The results are area specific Official Plan and Zoning By-law amendments that guide the height, density and urban design of development in the southwest quadrant, as well as intensification policies for all four quadrants of the intersection.  Now, City Planning needs to conduct a study to generate urban design guidelines for all four quadrants.

Urban design is an integral part of how Yonge-Eglinton will develop. Urban design directs the relationships of built form, massing and architecture between developments to facilitate aesthetics, sustainability and efficiency. Good urban design also ‘makes things work’, like linking pedestrian connections from shopping to transit so it is easy to find the way; or removing vehicle ramps from mainstreets to create a seamless pedestrian environment; or limiting the size and shape of a tower’s floorplate to reduce the impact of shadows on our neighbourhoods.

An Urban Design Study examines the existing conditions and evaluates the features that should be kept, encouraged or discouraged; it enunciates a vision for a specific area. Topics of discussion for an Urban Design Study of Yonge-Eglinton should be (but not limited to):

- open-spaces and natural features
- network of streets
- pedestrian circulation
- transit circulation
- vehicular circulation
- building typologies
- landmark buildings
- streetwalls and frontages
- character and identity
- gateways and focal areas
- revitalization areas

Yonge-Eglinton has not had an Urban Design Study conducted for its four quadrants. It is the only Urban Growth Centre that does not have complete Urban Design Guidelines. The local neighbourhood and City needs good urban design at Yonge-Eglinton to make future changes work and provide a long-term vision.

(Submitted to City Council on January 26 and 27, 2010 as MM45.6)

The Etobicoke York Comunity Council on January 12, 2010, referred the following motion to the Planning and Growth Management Committee for consideration:

"2.        That the Planning and Growth Management Committee request the Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning, to ensure that the Avenue Study planned for Weston Road between Ray Avenue and Humber Boulevard (and including Eglinton Avenue West to Black Creek Drive and Black Creek Drive from Eglinton Avenue West to Trethewey Drive), be scheduled for study in 2010."

Advising that the Toronto Transit Commission on December 16, 2009 received a report, entitled "2008 APTA Rail Audit Updates", and directed that a copy of the update be forwarded to the Planning and Growth Management Committee for information.

Forwarding a Notice advising that the Toronto Transit Commission and the City of Toronto are undertaking a study to amend portions of the alignment and construction methods of the approved Environmental Assessment (EA) for the "Spadina Subway Extension - Downsview Station to Steeles Avenue", approved by the Ministry of the Environment in October 2006.