e e
for
e e
check one
two e
check
check e
good morning councelor Burnside are you
present good morning uh this is the uh
North York Community Council chamber
councelor Burnside if you're present can
you please turn on your
camera thank you and good morning
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e e
good morning
everybody my name is James Pastak the
chair of newth York Community Council we
have Corum calling the meeting 16 to
order welcome
everybody I don't think we need crowd
control today and I thank you very much
for coming on your vacations although we
may be meeting in different PL locations
today North Community Council would like
to acknowledge that the land we are
meeting on is the traditional territory
of many nations including the Miss Saga
of the credit the Ashton Robbie Chipawa
hosi and wend peoples is now home to
many diverse Nations and 's people and
also acknowledge the treaty the Toronto
is covered by treaty 13 with the Miss
Saga of the credit today's meeting is
being held by video conferences being
live streamed online at
youtube.com/ Toronto City Council live
if you're registered to speak in today's
meeting please listen for me to call
your name I will call speakers in the
order they appear on the list the list
of speakers can be viewed online by
visiting North York Community Council
page at
toronto.ca counil and clicking the
speakers box for today's
meeting members of members the clerk has
provided all agenda materials at
toronto.ca counil and on CMP the clerk's
meeting portal Clerk's it staff are
available to members if you need help
with your devices I also want to remind
you to refuse to to please submit and
approve all your motions by email staff
are available at nycc toronto.ca to help
with the Motions are there any
Declarations of Interest under the
municipal conflict of interest act if
you do have an interest please raise
your hand and unmute your mic and
indicate the the item number and the
nature of the interest
I do not uh I do not see any members
this is a special meeting of community
council and under Council procedures no
no business is permitted to be
introduced at this meeting the purpose
of the special meeting is consider
urgent planning or Heritage matters that
cannot wait until October meeting of
city council for a decision to be
made uh there are two items on the
agenda okay so uh
we can run through the agenda um 16.1
6125 Young
Street
um I don't have any deputat on this item
are there questions for
staff councel
Chang thank you uh through through the
chair I just would like to understand
the Parkland dedication for this uh site
and the opportunity that present connect
to another Dedication that is happening
north of this
property through you the chair um right
now uh there is uh a potential if the
applicants is able to do so uh to secure
an offsite dedication through this
development um the offsite dedication uh
would be based on the value of the cash
and lo um which would go towards
securing that offsite dedication if the
applicant agrees to do
[Music]
so and is there uh dedication from
another uh another project that is just
North of the potential that they uh
might
be available for this site through the
chair yes counselor um through the
development to the north 6167 Young
Street I believe an onsite Parkland
dedication was secured uh based on um
the potential of uh land to be conveyed
through this uh uh offsite uh dedication
through 6125 Young Street there is
potential to expand
that and then would that not then create
a connection towards Center Park yes it
would right thank
you those are all my questions thank you
councelor Chang any other questions for
staff no I I just like some clarity um
on why we're
here um the My introductory remarks
which were prepared by I guess clerks
and and legal um saying that the files
before us could not wait until October
uh could you explain why that is the
case uh these files have been hanging
around for a long time
and why they had to be done
today through the chair um the the files
were deemed Urgent by the clerk because
they are both files that if approved
will result in a settlement on a
different file uh the city has put
forward Opa 615 it's a secondary plan
for the Steels young area and that
hearing is scheduled to commence in
October accordingly in order to get
these files off the books and allow the
settlement to go through or it's a
partial settlement
uh it was deemed that these files were
urgent and that approval of them was in
the city's interest as it would allow us
to move forward on the settlement on the
other file on the OPA 615
file so as you know we don't normally do
statutory hearings during the summertime
because well people are away uh they're
on vacation they're at Cottages they're
camping uh they're doing whatever now
could holding this meeting today and
maybe even preventing people from
deputing could that trigger another
appeal uh through the chair this this
meeting has been on the agenda for over
a year uh notice has been provided in
accordance with the requirements of the
planning act as it is with every meeting
and of course we understand that people
can be in way in August but there's no
indication that anyone wrote with with a
concern people could have submitted
letters there's no sense that that there
is someone who feels their rights were
not um we were not permitted to come
forward and and in any event the clerk
has done their due diligence and
provided notice as required
so it it is true it's been sitting there
but it's really not a regularly
scheduled meeting it's a holder uh if
one is necessary and in the recent
council meeting we
withdrew uh all the all the holders for
August of
2025 uh because that is a recess period
and we normally don't have statutory
meetings during a recess period or um
during summer holidays I don't think
that's really a question I think it's
more of a uh a statement anyway we're
here
anyway
[Music]
um and we'll deal with these matters
okay any other questions for
staff speakers on the
item I have a
motion so uh this is a motion that staff
continue to work with the applicant
towards securing the Parkland dedication
it would provide an important connection
to Center Park in an area that is
currently looking like many many large
tall towers without any uh sufficient
Park land or walking path so this is a
great opportunity for this
future uh Village that we're building
concrete Village
okay thank you uh councelor Chang any
questions for the
Mover
no okay um Council Chang did you you
were those the conclusion of your
remarks yes oh yeah yes yeah brief I
know people have fishing to do off the
docks okay no all right so um okay so
Council Chang has moved your motion and
um the staff report so uh all those in
favor of the
motion opposed that is carried the item
is amended all those in
favor
opposed uh that is
carried next item is 16.2 6355 Young
Street official plan Amendment zoning
bylaw Amendment decision report
approval uh we do have a speaker on the
item is Lori Payne
here hi Miss
Payne are you with the
applicant okay oh over over
here great thanks for joining us your
five minutes uh good morning members of
North York Community Council I recognize
it's August and a special meeting so I'm
primarily here to answer any questions
you may have I'll just make a couple of
remarks um my name as was mentioned is
Lori Payne I'm the COO for ogc who is
the applicant for 6355 Young Street um
first of all I want to say that we
support staff's recommendations as set
out in NY1
16.2 The Proposal before you delivers on
a number of City and public policy
objectives in particular our development
supports the major public investment in
the North in the young North subway line
extension up to Steals and
Beyond um it also supports the
objectives of the Young Street North
secondary plan which has been a massive
effort on the part of city planning to
put a planning framework in place in
advance of the subway
extension um we did have the opportunity
to have a discussion with uh councelor
Chang and in advance of this meeting and
she identified a particular concern
that's come up in this neighborhood and
perhaps uh more broadly in North York
around the level of visitor parking
supplied in in current developments our
proposal does meet with City bylaw
requirements in terms of visitor parking
and has the support of Transportation
staff however in the interest of working
together and we've had a good
relationship working with the community
the staff and counselor we'd like to
offer an additional three parking spaces
reduce our resident parking and increase
our visitor parking to help um come
together so with your approval today we
will be able to withdraw our appeal of
the north uh the Young Street North
secondary plan and as I said we've
worked collaboratively and
constructively with City staff councelor
Chang and counselor Chang over the last
year to arrive at a mutually agreeable
resolution that we believe supports a
vibrant future for the young Steels
Corridor we would like to thank staff
Council Chang and the community for the
time and energy they have invested in
this community and we look forward to
being part of its future thank you great
thank you very much um are there any
questions for the
depues council
changen thank you thank you Lori for
your deputation I just was wondering how
many uh units of housing is there in
this
El there are 613
units 63 so what percentage is the
parking of the 600 units uh in the
current application there are eight
visitor parking spaces which
represents um you know relatively small
percentage of the total number of units
and and we'll be increasing Again by
another three spaces that does comply
with the city's bylaw that that requires
two spaces plus um
0.2 of the overall unit
count are you aware that
counselor uh Carol and myself have
raised concerns about the city's current
policy in the suburb areas due to the
lack of existing parking
infrastructure I am aware and again
that's part of the reason why we've
offered to increase uh the amount of
parking available I will point out that
this site is immediately adjacent to the
new steel subway station that uh is
underway or getting underway um and
we've been working with the north y
North young secondary plan to encourage
other modes of transportation we're
looking at car we have car share in The
Proposal we have um abundant bike
parking and we're really located right
on Young Street
so is there parking infrastructure
because we know that people cannot pick
where their relatives live or their
friends so while an owner can say I am
choosing not to be car dependent I'm not
going to buy a parking spot but when we
choose our friends or are are you
suggesting that people who buy in your
property should only have friends and
relatives who live on transit
I am suggesting that when we take policy
action to reduce parking Supply then
people alter their behaviors to respond
to that reduced Supply and that's how we
encourage people to shift to other modes
of
transportation but might be much harder
if your relatives don't live close to
Major Transit right you certainly need
to plan for that um and as I said there
are going to be visitor spaces on the
site
10 for 600 units so 1,200 people
potentially more up to 3,000 people to
share 10 visitor parking
spots um and that you know includes the
use that might used by PSW by
contractors by at any given time
multiple people might need multip mle
visitor parking spots so just do you
think it's reasonable
to to only pick your friends and
relatives who can use major transit to
visit
you I think as I say as a planner and a
good planning reflects uh reducing
parking as much as possible and I will
say that we are in compliance with the
city's zoning bylaw with respect to
visitor
parking we are currently revisiting
because we don't think it's reasonable
and sustainable for this community okay
that's all my questions thank you thank
you thank you uh councelor Chang I I'm
going to follow up on on those questions
a little bit um you're you're mentioning
you're following the bylaw are there any
restrictions to adding more visitor
parking the bylaw sets a minimum but I
don't recall the bylaw saying you can't
add
more um we can add more yeah under the B
okay yes uh now underground parking what
what is the plan there I'm just kind of
hunting for it um so we will have a
total of 105 spaces including the
visitor of underground uh
parking uh on five levels so we're uh
providing a significant amount of
parking and again we're in compliance
with the bylaw so how many total spaces
is that that 100 105 total including the
visitor and then so it'll be uh 93
resident visitor and then one car share
space so's 93 parking spots for owners
or
correct and it's
400 613 units 613
units so you are aware of what happens
when when people don't take a spot and
need parking they park on the local
streets and and then they ask for permit
parking which we don't normally Grant in
in North York are you aware of that
cascading effect I am and I'm aware that
there is enforcement of those policies
as
well okay all right we'll leave it at
that thank you thank
you any other questions for the deputat
or we can move to questions for
staff questions for staff
councel
Chang thank
you I'm just wondering what is the
longterm plan for the Young Street North
secondary plan in terms of parking
infrastructure will there
be street parking on the interior
streets uh at the Young and Shephard
area I'm sorry young and steels
uh through the chair I mean the
secondary plan itself doesn't regulate
on street parking so that would be
outside of the official plan policies
that would be uh something that the tra
traffic enforcement and then
transportation services would regulate
through on street parking the secondary
plan itself doesn't talk about parking
when Street WS for for the secondary
plan are we what are we thinking like in
terms of how wide that street is the use
of bikes that we're hoping everyone will
uptake what what are we trying to
accommodate in the street widths that
have been mapped out in the secondary
plan uh through the chair it depends on
which site or sorry which road um some
of their streets the secondary plan
talks about uh cycling Network and
building out that cycling Network um
it's not proposed for every street
depending it partially is dependent on
the width of that street um and there
are certain streets within the secondary
plan area that have minimum Dimensions
wids within uh the official
plan so has an analysis even been done
about the feasibility of including
street parking in that
area as part of the secondary plan
process the city also undertook a
transportation master plan uh which
looked at all the traffic impacts on uh
the proposed intensification levels uh
and looked at those traffic impacts and
whether or not uh improvements were
needed and recommended a number of
improvements that would be secur that
are secured through the secondary plan
at a secondary plan level and then will
be implemented uh as development comes
forward on a site by site basis where
appropriate
so whose responsibility in you know
analyzing these Transportation studies
is the need for parking like who who
would have analyzed the secondary plan
and said oh we might you know downtown
or for example at Young and St Clair
they have a parcade because they
recognize that that area has a lot of
commercial interest and they built a
parade there which really serves the
local restaurant
but we're trying to build a whole new
community with lots of density and has
there been any analysis done of
increasing the number of people we
always say we want complete communities
where people can live work and play and
so we're trying to you know Foster
robust hopefully re non-residential uses
which does require a level of parking
capacity so is that studied at all in
the secondary plan process especially
given the current
legislation that has very minimal
requirements with regard to visitor
parking so counselor uh you had a number
of questions in there the first one was
kind of who looked at it uh the city did
uh hire a outside consultant to
undertake the transportation master plan
which was then reviewed internally by a
number of Divisions including uh
transportation planning as part of uh
City Planning but also transportation
services as part of the Young Street
Transportation master plan they did look
at parking um I'm not sure to the to the
level that you're asking or suggesting
but it was something that was analyzed
as part of that
work and was there a resulting
suggestion uh given that currently
developers are bringing very few visitor
parking spots to the table is there some
kind other infrastructure we're going to
develop to ensure that we don't end up
in this difficulty where people are
parking illegally everywhere and we
don't have the enforcement capacity to
be everywhere all the
time uh there no new infrastructure
counsel I don't think we recommended any
parking lots um and then again as far as
Park on street parking goes that's
entirely within the reg the our
abilities to regulate and permit uh
wherever we see fit as a city not as a
division but it doesn't make sense to me
that we are trying to secure certain
Street widths we ask for certain
setbacks from our developers but we
don't have a plan of whether or not
we're going to do on street parking can
that's your last
question yeah wouldn't that be a
consideration in mapping of the width of
the streets
through the chair um I think just kind
of going back to what my colleague was
saying I mean mapping out the street
with uh in large part was intended to
see if we could you know increase uh
pedestrian movement cycling movement um
and and I would concur with one of the
earlier comments that a large part of
our objective for the city is we're
trying to to change the behavior of
people driving so the the movement to
create even more parking um is something
that I think uh Council may want to
revisit as you had said with the visitor
parking but I think on a broader scale
if Council believes that you know in
these uh in North York and the other
districts that more parking is needed
whether not it's supplied by uh
applicants or is it supplied more uh
globally Believe by our parking
enforcement our parking authority like
those are discussions I think that
certainly could happen I mean we do have
uh a parking authority that has sites
and can explore sites with our create
colleagues to uh create more parking and
that can happen you know on its own
independent of applications but there
are also opportunities for Partnerships
that could happen you know when a
development site comes forward and um
you know the parking authority could
perhaps work jointly uh on sites to get
additional parking um in buildings that
the parking authority will run itself so
those are kind of questions and
discussions that could happen um if that
is something that um needs to be pursued
further thank
you thank
you thank you councelor Chang uh
councelor Cole did you have questions
for staff
yes uh in in this project there's 613
residential units how many of the units
are
affordable uh through the counsel as of
right now no affordable units are
[Music]
proposed none
affordable so could we have
uh uh as part of the settlement here
could we have uh basically proposed u a
certain percentage of affordable units
in
here through the chair counc Cole the
province has really limited the city's
ability to require any applicant to do
affordable housing that is a very
consistent in in many different ways and
uh we are left with very few options so
the short answer is it's very difficult
for us to negotiate it and it was not
done on this project
so there's been no discussions about
possibly getting the developer to
include maybe 10 affordable
units I mean we've done that in other
projects where we've negotiated with the
applicant to uh uh at least include a
minimum number of affordable
units so through the chair I would say
that staff did have some preliminary
discussions uh with the applicant about
providing some affordable units and it
was something that I think the applicant
was willing to take a closer look at U
given the time frame that we had to deal
with right now I think the the response
was you know we can we can continue to
explore it as this application moves
forward um and certainly there was an
expectation that um The Counselor May
raised the issue about affordable
housing as well so we certainly put it
on the table for uh the applicant to be
thinking
about so can we should we move a motion
there for today to include some
affordable units that as part of the
ongoing discussions that um hopefully
councelor Chang could agree to
do through the chair I think um if we
don't have the time today to do it
perhaps what could happen is before this
item reaches Council we could work
together on the
language okay so uh hopefully we can uh
uh take this offline to U basically look
at that uh very very critical need of
affordability in the Young Street uh
upper Young Street Corridor there uh in
the secondary plan for young I think
it's called the Young steel secondary
plan is it young
North young North do the
uh does the secondary plan ever uh sort
of uh outline the need to incorporate
affordable housing in a secondary
plan uh through the chair counselor it
doesn't specifically talk about
affordable housing it talks about trying
to achieve a mixture of unit types uh to
provide a full range of housing but not
specifically affordable
units why wouldn't
we uh explore the possibility of
including affordability in a
plan uh why don't we normally do this uh
most secondary plans don't do this can
we or why don't
we um counselor the secondary plan does
not but the the secondary plans are
intended to work in conjunction and as
part of the city's overall official plan
and the official plan as a whole does
contain policies around affordable
housing so are there any affordable
housing U principles out of the official
plan that uh might um reinforce the need
to
uh uh include affordability in the
future applications here including this
one so counselor this it affordable
housing something that staff tried to
achieve uh and as earlier stated we have
had conversations with the the applicant
the the fact with the community benefits
and the way it's worded is the applicant
has to be open to supplying those units
it's not something that we can force
upon the applicant uh so we are having
those discussions but we can't require
them to provide
it and then that's the provinces refusal
basically to support the city's request
for inclusionary zoning right that that
was turned down by the province that we
can't
basically include affordability in all
these new developments are taking
place so through the chair um counselor
what I would say is um The Province
hasn't refused the inclusion area zoning
what it's tied to is their approval of
our major transit station area policies
and that document has still has not been
approved by the province so when that
gets approved then it will kick in the
inclusionary zoning around Transit
stations so the province has still
refused to how many years have we had
that on The Minister's desk that he's
refusing to
sign about intensification basic mtsa PM
m whatever it is around stations how
long has it been on The Minister's desk
C coun Cole I mean really um I don't
think we should drag staff into
Political
debates
um I don't think it's I don't think it's
healthy if you want to make those
comments in your remarks uh it's in
order but of order six
minutes you know what I think I started
his clock late but you have a point
councelor Cole I think you're out of
time but if you want to add those
remarks about what's sitting on The
Minister's desk and and the stacks of
paper and I don't know I think they're
in order I'm talking about building
affordable housing I understand fully we
have a motion ready to go people on the
streets yes no I I have questions for
staff so I'm gonna I'm going to follow
up where you left off because I think
it's an important
Point okay thank you thank thank you
councel
Cole so following up uh with with
councel call I know staff is very aware
that we just adopted the downo secondary
plan and in that plan uh we had a number
of Provisions for affordable housing yet
staff seem to be saying we can't ask for
affordable housing under a secondary
plan or even under the current planning
regime and I don't I don't quite get
that because if you don't ask you don't
get and we might not be able to tighten
the screws but if people land owners
want their approvals quickly um um then
a little bit of flexibility usually goes
a long way can they comment on why um
the young North secondary plan didn't
have any provisions for H affordable
housing yet uh the D up update Downs you
does particularly in William Baker and
in Allen
East through the chair um probably a
combination of several reasons counselor
first would be there was already an
existing Downsview secondary plan that
was in place that had affordable housing
policies um that were uh in large part
kind of carried over into the new
secondary plan the second reason I would
say is um you know Downsview is very
unique we've got two specific land
owners in that area uh one is largely
the federal government and the other one
is um North Crest so in cooperation with
them to build out that entire secondary
plan area
um they obviously were willing to
provide uh affordable housing um but I
would stress that because it's too large
land owners and uh there was a lot of
cooperation moving forward with the the
long-term development of that Community
um that's that's how we achieve those
policies a little bit different here in
terms of young North because um it
although it's a large area it's
obviously many different land owners and
I would also say say that um you know
our planning regime has changed quite
significantly as well right with the um
Community benefits charge um requiring
that we can only ask for the 4% so um it
could be done if there's cooperation uh
certainly but uh our frame legislative
framework right now is the 4% that we
have to work
with the the community benefits charge
uh the for % is that a go into a
Citywide pool or is that a split between
local and Citywide or is that all
local through the chair it's uh it is a
Citywide
pool okay so out of out of sort of uh
process we really don't ask uh Property
Owners anymore to to add 5% afford 10%
affordable and so I think through the
chair uh we certainly can ask and there
have been examples across the city where
um applicants have been willing to
provide more and that's something that
we may write into uh the official plan
amendment that we're approving there are
examples of that across the city even
outside of downs
view okay all right thank you um any
other questions for
staff and we we do have a an affordable
housing motion uh ready but let's go to
speakers speakers on the
item councelor Cole I know that you um
had
some uh passionate remarks about the
process so councelor Cole um councelor
Chang
okay yeah okay coun co go ahead
thank you Mr chair yes I think uh uh you
know councelor Changs uh this attempts
to get even some um visitor parking uh
in some way shows how absurd this whole
process is becoming and that we're
trying
to get three extra visitor parking spots
uh to deal with the reality of people
living in the corridor here
and um and never mind trying to
basically uh ensure that this is a
complete Community sustainable community
and um and um uh so we're approving here
again it looks like you know
613 uh residential units uh probably a
thousand people
plus and again the question is U uh can
working people people Working Families
uh live uh in uh young north um I mean
it looks like if this trend continues U
uh they can't uh because these are uh
going to be very expensive uh small
units and um there's no place for
working
people and so therefore uh I think we've
got to U uh look at not only this
development but everything that's
happening there on Young Street where um
you know councelor Chang has been
desperately trying to get community
infrastructure uh for all these
residents to basically meet get Services
uh have uh social uh interactions
um Health uh supports these are very
important parts of building a community
so we just can't build you know 50 story
buildings uh and and then in context
this is not just not one building I know
councelor
Chang I mean I don't know how many she
has uh every council meeting North York
here we have approvals for three or four
of these and uh we can't uh have sort of
a comprehensive approach where we can
look at at least the uh as in Downsview
which is a bit easier because there's
different ownership here is totally
private ownership but we somehow have to
get uh some forces at play here to uh
include uh real
infrastructure on young streets going
forward given the number of people and
this is a only chance to do it if we
don't do it um you know this is you know
concrete City forever I mean I thought
you named the Center Park maybe name it
concrete Park I mean this is what is
happening to our city and I know um uh
it's not fashionable to talk about
affordable housing uh because there's
housing housing housing but you can't
say the word affordable anymore uh
because the province has not deemed it
essential and that's why they're sitting
on all these U mtsa which are around
trans stations and they haven't signed
off on them they're all over the city
where they our U planning department is
saying yes this is a designated uh major
transit station study area yet they're
all sitting on The Minister's desk for
about two years and he's refusing to
sign off on
it and yet we are approving all this
density around subway stations and the
minister has not signed off on the
density yet we approve these things
because there is this
plan uh that one day will be accepted by
The Province so it's just Madness that's
taking place in terms of planning here
and I don't blame our staff who has
caught you know with uh you know 10
different pieces of legislation which uh
is impossible to keep up with and
imagine the public trying to keep up
with these things you know ask the
person on the street what an mtsa
is ask does the public know that we
can't basically we're not allowed to
build affordable
housing our plan can't basically dictate
affordable housing minimums even we have
to beg the developers and we get five 10
units which is
ludicrous and you know then the the
developers also have a problem with the
rising cost of
materials labor land Etc so anyways
whatever we can do to support councelor
Chang and her effort to essentially
humanize Young Street uh to make it
somewhat acceptable for working people
to live on Young
Street thank you very
much thank you uh councelor Cole um
councelor
Chang thank you chair uh I have a motion
and uh I really want to thank deputy
mayor uh koh's many comments they are
important comments because they're about
the livability of a city so I am asking
uh our city uh executive D development
review and to work with the general
manager of Transportation Services to
work towards increasing the visitor
parking from 8 to 15 to 20 I think
adding three spots is really nominal and
not going to even 20 is not going to
uh is not going to make a huge dent but
I think that given
the the density of this building 50 plus
stories that we
should be working towards a more
reasonable number which is not capped by
city um City Rules as was highlighted by
our chair so I'm hoping that our uh
developer her friends will help me work
towards a more livable community and I
think that having more visitor parking
uh will help and so it just means
decreasing the number of owner parking
so owners can choose whether they want a
parking spot or they want to have a
Transit oriented lifestyle but owners
cannot choose where their relatives live
where their friends live and how their
friends might visit them so this um is
just seeking to make a
small advancement to improve the
sustainability uh and impact on the
surrounding Community the second part of
the motion is to work with the applicant
on affordable housing and uh count
Deputy Mayor Cole is right we should be
building more affordable housing and
when we look
across our huge City with our growing
Skyline and to know how little
affordable housing there is and how we
really stopped building it for the last
20 years it seems to me that our city
has been built with greed as our Compass
so we are making money for people who uh
you know have the resources to invest in
real estate but the commoditization of
real real estate and the lack of
policies that ensure that we have the
full range of housing available means
that we're living in a city that is
becoming livable and really if we look
at the issues like
homelessness encampments that are
growing across our city this is the
result of the lack of affordable housing
so if people want to live in a livable
City if our developer friends want to
build a complete City that where the
quality of life is mained for everyone
then all have to work together and
building affordable housing is a way to
pitch in towards building a better City
together so I both of these motions uh
are tied to working with the developer
in advance of our special city council
meeting on September 5th and I hope that
our applicant will work with our city
divisions to advance both of these
important pieces that will help improve
our thank
you thank you uh councel ch um councel
bernside did you want to speak before I
do no I'm okay I won't be speak all
right thank you thank you
Council so no thank you councelor Cole
and councelor Chang you've made some
very valid points and I think uh um land
owners and developers have to understand
what's good for business and it's not
just putting up a tower but what
surrounds it visitor extended or
expanded visitor parking is good for
business Parkland on-site Parkland
dedication is good for business
affordable housing within a unit is good
for business those affordable housing
units often turn into buyers uh down the
road and of course we have affordable
ownership program as well as long as
it's well funded
developers have to realize that they
cannot work in the short term they have
to work in the long term to understand
that their long-term reputation on
building complete communities is what
people look at when they buy when they
invest and when they get approvals at uh
at Community Council and at Council so I
realize there's sacrifice uh maybe a
little bit of sacrifice in the in the
long term on on the bottom line to do
these things but in the long run their
reputation and their ability to continue
building across the city uh is enhanced
one of the reasons we have a housing
crisis and affordability crisis in the
city is between 2018 and
2022 when uh the Downtown Development
was on
fire and we were building 50 60 story
Towers in many of the areas down and
around Skydome and uh and the CN tower
um we were just negotiating cash based
section 37 agreements with almost no
affordable housing coming in on those
applications and we missed an
opportunity to develop thousands of
affordable housing units uh within those
and when I say affordable I don't mean
social housing I mean below market so
that we can keep the next generation of
of professionals uh and workers in our
city and people are leaving the city
young people three of my four kids have
left the city um and they left for
different reasons other than
affordability but they're not coming
back because of affordability uh issues
so I think um I don't know what the
likelihood of negotiating these
complicated Arrangements between now and
September 5th uh are uh but we certainly
must uh must try and I urge the uh
developer to um to be the good corporate
citizen that uh that it can be and to
make way for affordable housing options
uh on on a contract basis we usually set
terms for those we defer DCS we defer
property taxes and we give an
opportunity for those who can't afford
to actually get get housing and it takes
pressure uh off our housing weight list
off our social housing uh and uh in in
in some cases it gives dignified living
uh to to seniors as well so with that
um I I will support both the Motions on
the visitor parking you're going to have
a lot of lonely people in that building
with seven parking spots for visitors
they're going to be cramming the streets
which which uh cannot cannot handle that
kind of volume of dozens of cars um uh
on the streets uh trying to visit uh
friends and family uh in in your
building uh so so this is an ISS these
are all issues when people think about
buying um and we don't have easy answers
for them thank you very much
okay so we have the motion if we can put
the motion on the screen there we go the
first part is about a visitor parking
and the other one is about affordable
housing all those in
favor opposed uh that is carried the
item is amended all those in
favor opposed that is carried well uh
that concludes our two items for today
and I understand we do not uh move bills
uh for for today's meeting so in that I
um I conclude today's proceeding I thank
you very much uh City staff uh clerk
staff um our technical crew at the back
here members of the public and of course
counselors for calling in on their
vacation so all the best for the rest of
the
summer and uh and enjoy the rest of the
day thank you very
much thanks
everyone happy fishing for
Back to Home