Memo to Graig Uens

From Mirvish Village Task Group

Re prep for June 7 Discussion Group

June 2, 2016

Dear Graig,

The MVTG met May 31. First, thank you for the box of material you provided. Also, for the ongoing attention you and others in City Planning are giving to this file.

Much of the WB resubmission responds to concerns and comments (as I’m sure we’ll hear on June 13). However, there are still issues, some new and some outstanding, that we would like to hear from you on, either on June 7 or in advance.

  1. What is the timeline for the city's response to this latest submission? There is concern that WB may go to the OMB (which is their right) now that the Honest Ed laneway has been taken off the table as part of the proposal.
  2. What are your concerns related to complying with the 45 angular plane? Are there other criteria that affect height? (You have talked about ‘context’ in the past.) We think that the tower heights & the overall scale of the proposal are far too large for the site and its context, but we need to know how the City is approaching this. We have our opinions as to which towers need to be reduced the most. What is the City’s point of view?
  1. Do you think the Park space is adequate at about 900 sq m? Are you going after more on site? We would appreciate a comparison to Healey Willan park in this discussion. What are WB’s proposals for offsite? We would like to know the process for designing the park space? Will the City own & manage it? (see next point)
  2. We intensely dislike the landscape design on Markham and in the park, which has an unobstructed flank with the garbage and loading bays at the rear of Bloor St. Despite our suggestions at the meeting with WB, we don't see trees and canopy such as we suggested. Is it possible to put this aspect of the development up for competition? The University of Toronto ran its Landmark competition, with various landscape firms generating lots of fresh ideas, which resulted in wide community consultation. (See also for rendering of the U of T landscape: We need some fresh ideas. The delay until construction would provide lots of time for a well-negotiated, new vision for Markham, Lennox, the park and Palmerston lane…

5. Heritage. What are the properties not being preserved? Is the city going after additional sites?
6. Transportation assessment. A big job. When do you anticipate having this ready? First read through the BA report leads us to think we need to isolate the neighbourhood more.
7. Do you have an opinion or criteria by which you will arrive at an opinion as to the right density for the site, especially the number of residential units? We feel the reduction is still too high. It’s important to get the overall density right, as it affects so much else – size of parking garage, traffic etc.
8. We don’t have a clear idea of the market – size, servicing, layout, cover etc.
9. The parking garage is very deep. What is the alternate plan for parking?
10. We note that our comments on bike parking don’t seem to have registered. There is nothing above grade that we can see.

11. Urban Street Wall. This is the level of the development with which pedestrians will interact the most. There is an opportunity to integrate the heritage buildings, notably along Bathurst, with the design of this wall and to establish the character of the street based on the heritage buildings. Also, using materials such as brick and stone will help achieve this integration.
12. At what point will the construction management plan come up for discussion? We need to have input while it is possible to adjust. Questions such as: Where is the gate? How long will it take? Phasing? Closure of streets? Route for heavy trucks? Is our estimate of 8 - 10 years about right? We need the parameters ... A lot of the construction plan hinges on the density ...

I hope these points help to focus our discussion. We will be very interested in your initial assessment of the application. Also, given the concerns about public realm, we suggest inviting City Urban Design to one of your Discussion Group meetings.

Regards,

Paul

Paul MacLean,

Mirvish Village Task Group