After years of opposition, many Annex residents relished the defeat of a proposed development on 64 Prince Arthur Ave. The proposal was brought to the City of Toronto twice – the first time as a 29-storey condominium building with luxury rentals, the second time as a 19-storey building. In both instances, the design was one of twisting steel and glass that would have stood in stark contrast to the low-rise brick and vine neighbourhood.

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BBB Architects have come back to the community with a new plan for 350 Davenport Rd., near Dupont.

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Councillor aiming for negotiated settlement By Geremy Bordonaro The Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) has completed its pre-hearing process for 321 Davenport Rd., where Alterra Developments has applied to build an eight-storey glass building including 16 penthouse condominiums and a two-level parking garage on the site. The development would require a by-law amendment, as the application […]

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Safe Rail Communities, a local advocacy group, has drafted its Rail Emergency Preparedness Toolkit as part of its Rail Safety Improvement Program. Funded by Transport Canada, the toolkit provides residents living near rail tracks with emergency contacts in case of a train derailment. On the morning of August 21, 2016, two cars on a Canadian […]

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A mediated settlement has been reached regarding the future of 316 Bloor St. W. Representatives from the City of Toronto, the Annex and Harbord Village residents’ associations, and State Building Group (which owns the building) met for two days to address concerns about the developer’s original proposal to raise a 42-storey building on the site. […]

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The University of Toronto is seeking broader powers to do as it pleases with respect to developing new buildings in certain designated large swaths of its campus. In effect, it wants to be an off-leash development dog, a request that has the community wary. The City of Toronto should be too. Twenty-five years ago the […]

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The Toronto and East York Community Council unanimously endorsed a planning staff recommendation to approve Westbank Projects Corp.’s application to redevelop the southwest corner of Bloor and Bathurst streets on April 4. It’s a significant milestone that comes after three years of community consultations and collaborative work between the Vancouver-based developer, planning staff, and community […]

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Site recommended for heritage list—impact on development unclear By Annemarie Brissenden City Planning announced its intention to designate 698 Spadina Avenue under the Ontario Heritage Act and list the property on the City of Toronto’s Heritage Register last month. The announcement came four days before a community consultation meeting on the University of Toronto’s application […]

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Recommendations for mandating community participation By Annemarie Brissenden Four local residents’ associations, collectively representing the north end of Ward 20, banded together late last month to submit commentary on the province’s review of the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB). In their letter to the Province of Ontario’s planning policy branch, the Annex Residents’ Association (ARA), Harbord […]

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Residents glimpse settlement offer By Brian Burchell In an effort to bring transparency to the Ontario Municipal Board’s (OMB) mediation process, Joe Cressy (Ward 20, Trinity-Spadina) took the unusual step of bringing a developer’s confidential settlement offer to the community for comment before that offer is voted on by Toronto City Council. “You have an […]

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By Annemarie Brissenden The city has responded to a developer’s application to build what many have termed a “vertical rooming house” at 316 Bloor St. W. with a development of its own: the Bloor Corridor/Annex Block Study. “Two applications led us to believe that there is a certain amount of development pressure in the Annex,” […]

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Relentless OMB stifles creative green projects [pullquote]“I’ve come to the conclusion that the overriding factor in municipalities getting nice things is sheer willpower.”[/pullquote] By Terri Chu Every time someone mentions a great municipal infrastructure project on the other side of the pond (usually in a really progressive nation like Germany or Sweden), I mutter some […]

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