John Phillips went to the OMB hearing on Monday and here is his update on what happened:
It started at10am and finished at 5.30pm. FFL had 5 people in attendance, only two had active roles.The lawyer Tara Piuko of C of A fame and a Planner, extremely important. I think I could live comfortably for a year on the money spent for this hearing. We had four residents, three letters and Elizabeth Hallok and her 97 year old mother.
I do not know if it is normal but we managed to eke out a reserved decision. the boards findings will be known within four weeks.
Not too sure if you pick up Now Magazine. This weeks edition has a full page ad, similar to the one last fall, declaring the Grand Opening Sale of FFL. It is slated for June the 6th and 7th. We managed to get this in front of the board member, I do not know that it had any effect on him. What was priceless though, according to Elizabeth, was the look on Leslie Yaeger’s face. Small victory, just wish I had seen it myself.
John Phillips has asked that I forward this information (email below) regarding the Feather Factory Ontario Municipal Board Hearing. John will be going to the Hearing to oppose the application, and wanted anyone who also opposes the proposal to understand that the OMB will rule on the application based on whether:
The variances requested (by the Feather Factory in their application):
(1) maintain the general intent & purpose of the By-law
(2) maintain the general intent & purpose of the Official Plan
(3) are desirable for the appropriate development & use of the land & building
(4) are minor”.
Cheers
Peter
Hello Neighbours:
Thanks, Peter, for the update.
Yes, Feather Factory Lofts has gone back to an earlier proposal to provide 39.0 sq.m of indoor residential amenity space and 30.97 sq.m of external residential amenity space.
This is still less than half of what the City of Toronto called for — 86.0 sq.m. of indoor, and 86.0 sq.m of outdoor, amenity space.
It is important that we the community continue to tell the authorities what we think.
The only way to do that is at the OMB hearing on May 25 and 26.
The OMB requires that your LETTER (NOT an email) BE READ INTO THE RECORD at the hearing. The actual reading of the letter can be done by a ?Participant? at the hearing. Usually, this is a community member who is attending the hearing.
I will be glad to take your letters to the hearing and read them into the record. Please drop off your letter to 69 Ritchie Avenue by the evening of Sunday May 24th.
Whether you are writing for the first time, or if you have are simply updating a letter you sent previously to the City of Toronto, please address it to:
Ontario Municipal Board
Re: Case No. PL090277
2154 Dundas Street West
Minor Variance A0174/09TEY
Please make sure you keep your letter “on topic” (which is to say, the amenity spaces and the effect it will have on the community).
Don’t forget to drop your letter off at 69 Ritchie Avenue by Sunday evening 24th of May.
I apologize for the length of this; please take the time to read it entirely if you have an opinion on the Feather Factory Development.
This morning, a small group of concerned neighbours (me, John Phillips, Elizabeth Hallok and Brian Torry) met with Leslie Yager, the representative from Plazacorp at the City Hall offices of Gord Perks, with the councillor present. As you may remember, Plazacorp requested this meeting in order to come to an agreement about what the neighbours would accept, and wished to “mend fences” (their words) prior to going into a hearing at the Ontario Municipal Board. This Hearing is set for May 25, 2009 at 10 am. You may have already received a notice from the OMB about this hearing, and additional material from McCarthy Tetrault, Plazacorp’s lawyers.
We all know that the main concern about this project is the issue of parking. Now that the Feather Factory building is designated as a Heritage Building, they are not required to provide parking should the building be granted residential status, which will take place if they win at the OMB. At the January 29 meeting which Gord Perks held at High Park Baptist Church, Leslie Yager said that she had secured an agreement with Loblaws to provide 22 parking spaces in their lot adjacent to Herman Ave on a month to month lease, which was all that Loblaws felt they could offer. Today she reiterated this proposal and said they would stand by it; there is limited parking in the area available and this was the most realistic thing they could do to alleviate the parking issue.
They said that they would be going to the Ontario Municipal Board with a proposal which would eliminate the amenity space entirely, and in exchange for our not challenging the proposal, Plazacorp would make a donation to the Ritchie Avenue Parkette. When pressed, they said that this would be in the $15,000 to $20,000 range.
That was their offer. A lot of discussion ensued, which I won’t bore you with, however their offer did not agree with several issues which our neighbours felt strongly about, and we asked Leslie Yager to go back to Plazacorp and discuss with them the following:
1) Parking is the main issue, we need assurances that the lease agreement with Loblaws would go ahead
2) The amenity space is important for those living in small spaces; these folks will be our new neighbours. To eliminate it entirely, especially when we had fought this issue at the Committee of Adjustment, was an insult to them and to the existing neighbours who wrote letters and came to the hearing.
3) Money is not the issue; if they want to make a donation to Ritchie Parkette this would be of benefit to the community, but our approval will not be bought.
I have just received their response, forwarded to me by Gord Perks and copied below, and I would like your thoughts on how we proceed from here. Please bear in mind when considering their revised offer that:
a) Parking is not one of the variances they seek at the OMB; this would be a separate agreement done by Plazacorp in order to mend fences with us.
b) We won at the Committee of Adjustment but it would be unlikely that we would win at the OMB, especially if we turn down this revised offer which the OMB may feel is in good faith; the members of the OMB don’t know the neighbourhood and don’t really care; unlike the Committee of Adjustment which is made up of residents of various city neighbourhoods.
c) Going to the OMB will require a substantial commitment of time which many of us don’t have a lot of.
d) Our relationships among neighbours are the most important thing to preserve here; whatever we decide we must try to do it without dividing the great sense of community we have built up. We’re between a rock and a hard place, and if the best thing for us to do is just walk away from the table, so be it.
e) Regardless of whether we have a majority of neighbours agreeing to accept the offer, and we do so, everyone still has the right to go to the OMB and challenge the proposal if they feel strongly about it.
I have copied Gord Perk’s email below. Please read it through, think about it and email me with your thoughts by Thursday, April 30 at noon. John and Elizabeth have offered to go door to door with this information for those without email addresses. I would like to give Plazacorp an answer by Friday, May 1 at the end of the business day.
Thanks;
Peter
Debbie Adams and Peter Fleming
Ritchie/Herman/Golden/Silver Neighbours Group
80 Ritchie Avenue
Toronto, ON
M6R 2J9
From Gord Perks, Re: Plazacorp’s revised offer:
Good afternoon,
Leslie Yager has met with her principals at Plazacorp and in exchange for support
from my office and the community for the variances, they will do the
following:
- provide an indoor amenity room of 39 square metres ( this is the room
on the first floor, north side of the building between the two
stairwells, that was the space proposed at the Committee of Adjustment
hearing).
- make a financial contribution to the community in the amount of
$15,000.
With respect to community support Plazacorp would ask for a letter of
support to the three variances sought from the RMRA and from the
Ritchie/Herman/Golden/ Silver association.
She has advised that Loblaw*s is not willing to let their agreement
form part of an order at the Ontario Municipal Board, but as stated
previously, Leslie has confirmed that they have an agreement in
principle for 22 parking spaces.
This sounds awfully close to what you were asking for. I think you
should consider it seriously. Please advise.
Gord
Gord Perks
City Councillor
Ward 14, Parkdale-High Park
Looks like the folks at the Feather Factory have decided to take their case to the Ontario Municipal Board and appeal their rejection by the Committee of Adjustment. Many thanks to Lily Korkka for updating us, we’ll provide more information as it arrives.
We’ve won a battle in a protracted war…..and I am so impressed with the great spirit and energy of our neighbourhood; On Wednesday March 4 we met at the Committee of Adjustment, and after four hours of sitting around (interspersed with some discussion with the Feather Factory representatives), the Committee heard the case and agreed with the affected neighbours! They rejected the Feather Factory Lofts application to reduce the amenity space required by law, and therefore the developer has to go back to the drawing board and make good on the required amount of space. It was clear to the C of A that the decision NOT to comply was purely motivated by profit. Our new neighbours, when they do finally arrive at 2154 Dundas Street West, will at least have enough space to meet and discuss community issues in their building.
Many thanks to all of the people who sent in letters (very important that you did this, it is part of the official record) and all of the folks who came down to City Hall (this show of strength was critical) and those brave enough to speak at the hearing. Brian Torry spoke very eloquently, as did John Phillips, Gerry Lebrun, Kevin Healy, and Mary Korda, among others. It was inspiring and vindicating, to say the least.
I have emailed Councillor Gord Perks to get a clear understanding of what happens next in this process, and I will forward that information when I receive it.
The Feather Factory folks have been nothing but negligent throughout the entire renovation process, and I do hope that this will be a bit of a reality check for them. We’re on a roll; Metrolinx and 25 Ritchie better do their homework!
Just a note to remind you of the Committee of Adjustment board review of the Feather Factory Lofts application tomorrow (Wednesday, March 4) at 10 am at City Hall, second floor committee room 2. If you can’t get to the meeting, there is still time to fax your letter to David Driedger, Committee of Adjustment (416) 392-0508. Make sure to quote the file number A0174/09TEY and the applicant Feather Factory Lofts Inc. on your letter, and send it in today so that it may be included in the file they review tomorrow. I’ve attached a copy of the letter I sent below; feel free to crib from it if that is helpful.
Kevin Healey, chair of the RMRA, has arranged a meeting/tour of the Feather Factory Loft on Thursday, February 26 at 7:00. Everyone is encouraged to attend. It is hoped that a large showing from the neighbourhood will strengthen our hand and let Plazacorp and the City know that we are very committed to see the right things done in our neighbourhood.
The RMRA has learned that the owners of the Feather Factory are conducting a tour of 2154 Dundas this Thursday evening at 7pm; you are welcome to join the tour if you have not already viewed the property from the inside. As you may know, the recently conferred Heritage Designation allows them to be exempt from the requirement to provide parking, and residents have limited opportunity to halt the project through the Committee of Adjustment meeting on March 4.
The RMRA is not happy with the circumstances behind the renovation and zoning of the property. But at this stage, we have little power to do anything; however it does provide an opportunity to have ask the developers of the project to support our local parketttes on Ritchie and Columbus Avenues and for planting of trees on Dundas Street West.They are willing to commit $5,000 to this project; we have asked for $50k, pointing to similarities to the Ritchie lofts support of the Wabash Community Centre. In return, we could issue a letter of support for the project at the committee of adjustment. Not ideal, but it does get us something for our local community.
Paul Weinberg
Local representative, Roncesvalles Macdonell Resident’s Association
The Heritage Preservation Board on February 20, 2009 unanimously approved the Feather Factory application (attached below this post, it is a pretty big file) for historical designation. This designation allows the development to be exempt from parking requirements. This is an unfortunate loophole in the system, which is designed to give flexibility to developers and encourage them not to tear down historical structures; we’re really caught between a rock and a hard place on this one.
There is a Committee of Adjustment meeting on March 4 at 10:00 re: 2154 Dundas St. The meeting will be held in Committee Room 2, second floor of City Hall.
The purpose of the application is to convert the Zoning from a 44-unit commercial building, to a 43-unit residential building — but with no variance to zoning by-laws regarding parking.
