, Aird & Berlis LLP. !J We have reviewed the revised Downtown Local Centre Secondary Plan ( DLC ) currently. Agenda Item 18. I February 21, 2017

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1 , Aird & Berlis LLP I I Agenda Item 18 I N. Jane Pepino, C.M., Q.C., LL.D. I Direct: I jpepino@airdberlis.com I February 21, 2017 BY j Mr. Stephen M.A. Huycke Town Clerk The Corporation of the Town of Richmond Hill 225 East Beaver Creek Road Richmond Hill, Ontario L4B 3P4 Dear Mr. Huycke and Members of the Committee of the Whole: j Re: Downtown Local Centre Secondary Plan j Committee of the Whole Meeting, February 21, 2017 j 9861 Yonge Street and 240 Church Street, Town of Richmond Hill Aird & Berlis LLP has been retained recently by 9861 Yonge Developments Inc., the owners of the lands municipally known as 9861 Yonge Street and 240 Church Street (the Subject Lands ), in the Town of Richmond Hill (the Town ). The Subject Lands form a through lot of 0.21 hectares (0.52 acres) between Yonge Street and Church Street South, north of Palmer Avenue.!J We have reviewed the revised Downtown Local Centre Secondary Plan ( DLC ) currently before the Committee of the Whole and as prepared and recommended by Town staff. We have also reviewed the oral and written submissions on the draft DLC by Murray Evans of Evans Planning on behalf of our client, dated February 3, 2016 (attached as Appendix A), j We note that the latest version of the DLC does not address our client s concerns regarding the distribution of densities in the Town s Civic District. Accordingly, we write today in opposition to the revised DLC. i I Development Proposals on the Subject Lands 1 Applications for an Official Plan Amendment, Zoning By-law Amendment, and Site Plan were submitted to the Town by the previous owners of the Subject Lands in October, 2012 to permit a mixed-use development comprised of a five-storey commercial building along j Yonge Street, an eight-storey residential building in the centre of the Subject Lands, and I four townhouse units fronting onto Church Street South. The proposed development j represented an on-site density of 2.61 FSI. A revised application responding to circulation comments was resubmitted by our client in November, A public meeting on the j resubmission was held in May, Brookfield Place, 181 Bay Street, Suite 1800, Box 754 > Toronto, ON. M5J 2T9. Canada T F w w v:;-, a i r cl ft e r f I s, r: o m

2 February 21,2017 Page 2 We have been advised that a further resubmission is anticipated by our client that contemplates a 14-storey mixed use building on the Yonge Street frontage, while maintaining the four townhouse units fronting onto Church Street South. This revised development proposal would represent a density of approximately 3.85 on the Yonge Street frontage. Context of the Subject Lands The Subject Lands are located in the southern portion of the Civic District within the DLC. The DLC directs intensification within the Downtown area towards both the Uptown and Civic Districts, while protecting and maintaining the lower-rise, pedestrian-oriented scale of the Village District in between. Policy envisions the Uptown and Civic Districts as mid- to high-rise mixed-use districts with a maximum density of 2.5 FSI for each district. Schedule 4 of the DLC identifies the Subject Lands and limits density to 2.0 FSI on the Yonge Street frontage, and 1.25 FSI on the Church Street South frontage. This cap on density is significantly reduced from the 2.5 FSI that is permitted under the current Official Plan for these lands. Inconsistency within the Civic District The DLC seeks to cap density across the Civic District at 2.5 FSI, but the distribution of densities within the district is wildly inconsistent. For example, Schedule 4 contemplates densities of 3.0 FSI for the lands immediately south of the Subject Lands, south of Palmer Street and the Town s proposed linear park. These lands are adjacent to and possess the same attributes as the Subject Lands, yet the Subject Lands are envisioned for less than 60% of the permitted density of these neighbouring properties to the south (and potentially considerably less, based on applications for these lands currently before both the Town and the Ontario Municipal Board ( OMB )).1 Similarly, densities for the property directly across Yonge Street from the Subject Lands, extending from Harding Boulevard in the South to Hopkins Street in the north, was settled at 4.02 FSI by the Town in response to the owner s appeals at the OMB. This represents more than double the density permitted on the Subject Lands under the DLC. 1 A proposal for 9825 Yonge Street (D ) has been appealed to the OMB. Per the Town s Application status chart of August 2016, while the original proposal was for 3.0 FSI, the application has since been revised to request 4.7 FSI. Applications for an Official Plan Amendment and Zoning Bylaw Amendment have also been submitted for an assembly of lands immediately south of the Subject Lands as Town files D and D The assembly includes 9839 Yonge Street, 254, 258, 264 Church Street, and 17 Harding Boulevard. Per the plans available, the requested FSI is Aird & Berlis llp 394

3 February 21, 2017 Page 3 Within the Civic District but further north of the Subject Lands, at the corner of Hopkins Street and Atkinson Street, the Town has again agreed to another density exception by permitting a density of 3.3 FSI. The result is an inconsistent patchwork of densities within the same Civic District. Such an approach fails to create the smooth upward transition in intensification from the lowdensity Village District to the highest-density development in the Civic District, as is intended in Policy of the DLC. Inconsistency with the Overall Intensification Strategy The density provisions in Policy provide for the Uptown and Civic Districts as midrise to high-rise mixed-use Districts transitioning down to the lower-rise Village District and adjacent neighbourhoods. This transition envisions the Uptown and Civic Districts as boolcends to the Downtown area, with greater intensification at the north and south ends, while preserving the lower-rise character of the Village District in the middle. The Schedules to the DLC do not reflect this policy intent. In the north end of the Downtown, each lot fronting Yonge Street in the Uptown District is permitted a density of 3.0 FSI or higher, with the exception of the lots fronting Wright Street and Dunlop Street at the southern edge of the district. Within the Village District, intensification is transitioned downward to densities of 2.0 FSI for every property fronting Yonge Street. In the Civic District, where we would expect to see increased intensification once again, the densities remain the same as those in the Village District as far south as Palmer Street. The permitted density on the Subject Lands, at the southern end of the Civic District, are identical to those in the heart of the Village District, despite the direction to focus greater intensification to this area within the DLC. Conclusion The Town has directed through its Official Plan, that the highest and most dense forms of development within the DLC shall be located at the south end of the Civic District. The DLC currently before the Committee of the Whole fails to achieve this goal. Instead, it has created a patchwork of intensification within the Civic District that makes inefficient use of downtown lands and underutilizes a portion of Yonge Street that is meant to be an important focus of urban development in the Town. The reduction in allowable density on the Subject Lands will inhibit the approval of our client s development application that has been before Town staff since 2015, and will preclude the proposed amendments to those applications currently being developed by our client. We, therefore, respectfully request that the Committee of the Whole not recommend the revised DLC to Council at this time so that we may work with staff to address the concerns Aird & Berlis llp 395

4 February 21, 2017 Page 4 noted above. We further request that our office be provided any notice regarding further consideration of the DLC by the Town and its Council. Should you have any questions about the foregoing, please do not hesitate to contact the undersigned or David Neligan at our offices (dneligan@,airdberlis.com; ). Yours truly, AIR&& BERLIS llc\ N. Jane Pepino, C.M., Q.C., LL.D. NJP/DPN Enel. c. Client Murray Evans and Adam Layton, Evans Planning Aird & Berlis lu> 396

5 Urban Planners Project Managers INC. February 3, 2016 Mayor David Barrow and Members of Town Council Town of Richmond Hill 225 East Beaver Creek Road Richmond Hill, Ontario L4C 4YS Dear Mayor Barrow and Members of Council, Re: Draft Downtown Local Centre Secondary Plan Council Public Meeting February 3, Yonge Street and 240 Church Street, Town of Richmond Hill Evans Planning Inc. represents 9861 Yonge Developments Inc., the owners of the lands municipally known as 9861 Yonge Street and 240 Church Street ('Subject Lands'), in the Town of Richmond Hill. Our Client has submitted applications to amend the Town's Official Plan and Zoning By-law to facilitate the development of the Subject Land with a five-storey commercial building fronting onto Yonge Street, an eight-storey residential building located in the centre of the site and four, three-storey townhouse dwellings fronting onto Church Street. The proposed development represents an on-site density of 2.61 FSI. The applications were deemed complete by Town Planning Staff on October 23, A public meeting for this development was held before Town Council on February 6, A second submission responding to circulation comments was filed with the Town on November 27, We provide this submission to Town Council to note our Client's concerns with the proposed development policies contained within Policy and shown on Schedule '4' to the draft Downtown Secondary Plan. The intent of the Draft Secondary Plan is to allow a development density of 2.0 FSI on the Yonge Street portion of the land and 0.75 FSI on the area adjacent to Church Street South. The Town's Official Plan provides for maximum development density of 2.5 FSI within a block, for lands within the Civic District" in Downtown Local Centre designation. It is the stated objective of the Town's Official Plan to allow for higher forms of urban uses within its Downtown Local Centre in order to provide an environment which will be supportive of public transit and local commercial uses, thereby promoting a pedestrian oriented community. It is our respectful submission that to limit the development on these lands to a density which will result in a reduction of 20% FSI along Yonge Street and 70% along Church Street, is contrary to the objectives of the Official Plan and a significant under-utilization of Yonge Street located in a district which is to be the focus of urban 8481 Keele Street, Unit 12, Vaughan, Ontario L4K 1Z7 Tel: ( ) Fax: ( )

6 LANN/NG INC. development within the Town. As an indication of the significance of the impact of the proposed density allocation for this land, the four townhouse units fronting onto Centre Street South would not be permitted, as the density of this component of the project is 1.08 FSI. Therefore a built form of lesser density than townhousing will be the result of adopting the 0.75 FSI density limit. It is offered that townhousing is not an unreasonable expectation as a transition land use for lands which front onto Yonge Street. It is important to note the context of our Client's land. The lands situated opposite to this property, on the west of Yonge Street, are contemplated to achieve a development density of 4.0 FSI. The lands immediately to the south of the proposed Palmer Avenue Urban Square and Linear Park are intended to develop at 3.0 FSI for the overall block. The southerly lands possess the same attributes as our Client's lands, namely: they are located adjacent to Yonge Street; they are located adjacent to the Palmer Avenue parkette, they are abutted to the east by Church Street South and are bounded by a stable residential community east of Church Street South. In light that the locational characteristics are the same, and the properties effectively are adjacent to one another, it is reasonable that the development rights should be comparable. The inefficient use of downtown lands is particularly concerning when this land has existing development right of 2.5 FSI and a context where adjacent development surrounding this site are or will be in excess of the densities being contemplated. One of the main urban growth objectives of upper tier and local policies is to facilitate intensification in appropriate locations. Through the adoption of the Town's Official Plan, it is the stated direction of the Town that the "...highest and most dense forms of development within the Downtown Local Centre shall be located...at the south end of the Civic District". We are respectfully requesting that the development be equally distributed throughout the Civic District and that our Client's lands be recognized in the same manner which has been employed with the neighbouring lands to the south. If you require any additional information or should you have any questions please contact the undersigned. Yours truly, Murray Evans cc Yonge Developments Inc. Page 2 398