Update – 4195 Dundas St W OLT Appeal

Dear residents,

I want to provide you with an update related to the development application at 4195 Dundas St. W (and affiliated sites), which is currently under appeal at the Ontario Land Tribunal (OLT).

As you may be aware, OLT appeals are legal proceedings that effectively remove development applications from the municipal approval process and the OLT becomes the decision making body. You can learn more about the OLT from a recent article in a development focused issue of our newsletter.

In this case, the process has included:

• Mediation between the applicant and City staff at the OLT – Since receiving direction from myself and my fellow members of City Council on October 11, 2023, City Staff have attended the OLT in opposition to this application and engaged in mediation efforts with the applicant. Mediation efforts have been based on the priorities indicated by the City Council which can be found in this report. Often, mediation efforts are supported by City Council with the goal of finding a mutually acceptable middle ground, and avoiding the risk associated with a contested hearing at the OLT.
• Meetings between myself and City Staff – Through this appeal process, I have met several times with City Staff to receive updates on the mediation efforts and provide feedback. That feedback has been informed by concerns we have heard from area residents. 
• The applicant filed with prejudice revisions in July, 2024 – With prejudice revisions are not confidential, which means that the public can access them to review and share their feedback directly with myself and Planning staff. In this case, I received feedback that the changes were generally a step in the right direction. These changes were a direct result of the work from our City Staff and my office, and further improvements have been secured in the settlement offer through additional OLT mediation.
• City Council accepted a settlement offer arrived at through the OLT mediation process – Mediation concluded recently with a report to the September 5th, 2024 Special Meeting of Council. This item at Council included a recommendation from the City Solicitor to accept a confidential settlement offer, supported by City Staff who conducted the mediation. I introduced a motion directing Staff to discuss the opportunity for an in-kind Community Benefit Charge contribution for public realm improvements around the site with the site owner, since this block of Prince Edward Dr N does not have sidewalks on the west side. This item was adopted by Council, and the confidential documents are now public, so residents can review the details of the settlement.
• Up next: a settlement hearing at the OLT, not a contested hearing – Because Council adopted this recommendation, the OLT appeal will now proceed to a settlement hearing, not a contested one. I will share an update on the outcome of this hearing in my email newsletter as soon as I am able to.

Through the development application review process before the OLT appeal filing, and then through further mediation efforts during the OLT appeal process, we achieved many improvements on the design of this development.

Please see the following comparison of key changes:

In addition to the above improvements, the following changes were also achieved through this process:

• Family-sized units – The proposed number of 2 & 3 bedroom units significantly exceeds the recommendations in the City’s Growing Up Guidelines, and these units generally meet or exceed the ideal unit sizes recommended in those same guidelines.
• Complete removal of the City-owned EMS site from the proposal – The City did engage in discussions with the applicant to see if there were benefits that could be secured with the inclusion of the EMS site, including the retention of EMS services at this location. However, an agreement could not be reached that satisfied the City, so this parcel was removed from the proposal, and there will be no changes to the EMS site as a result of this proposal.
• New parkland improvements – The new park was moved to the south side of the development, off Prince Edward Dr. N, providing an improved buffer between the low-rise residential neighbourhood and this more dense development.
• Reduced building heights + altered built form – The original proposal included three 18-storey towers connected by a 9-storey base building along the Dundas St W frontage, a 10-storey midrise building to the rear of those towers off of Prince Edward Dr. N, and some townhomes along the south edge of the site. The accepted settlement includes an 11-storey building along the Dundas St W frontage with three connected taller buildings attached but set back from the avenue. Two of those taller buildings are 14-storeys, and the building closest to Prince Edward Dr N is 12-storeys for a better transition to the street and neighbourhood. There are also townhomes on the south west portion of the site.
• Improved setbacks and stepbacks – Setbacks around the perimeter of the site have been increased. The midrise building has stepbacks at the 6th and 8th storeys to provide an improved streetwall experience along Dundas St W.
• Increased amenity space – The indoor and outdoor amenity spaces have been increased to provide a combined 4 square meters total per unit (previously 3.7 square metres total per unit).

The OLT appeals process places the City in a difficult position, and I want to thank City Staff for achieving significant improvements through their hard work during the mediation process. I believe this settlement represents a significant improvement over the original development proposal. 

Thank you for your interest and engagement on this development application and appeal – without your feedback, we would not be able to advocate so strongly for local needs and desires through these processes.

Yours in community service,

Councillor Amber Morley
Ward 3, Etobicoke-Lakeshore