housing
36-storey tower at Wellesley and Church; demolition of 65 rental units approved with updated terms
City staff recommend approving demolition of 65 rental units at 64-66 Wellesley East and 552-570 Church Street to enable a new 36-storey mixed-use building with 409 units, including 65 replacement rentals. This revises an earlier approval for a 31-storey building. Neighbours object to density and shadow impacts on adjacent properties.
From the floor
“I live at 60 Southport Street and am one of the directors on the condo board. I speak for myself today, not for the board, but there are some concerns that overlap with the interest of 60 Southport. We are the building most affected by this proposed amendment, being right next door.”Resident of 60 Southport Street, director on condo board (speaking for himself)
“The density in the Swansea secondary plan was set at a maximum of four times the lot area. The proposed amendment is arbitrarily crossing that out and changing it to six or more. For what reason?”A resident
“In the report for action, if you look at attachment 10, that is labeled looking east, but it's actually looking west. You can see the Humber River behind the proposed tower. Attachment 11 is labeled looking west, but it's actually east. You can see Grenadier Pond. That's sloppy and significant when we're supposed to trust that the shadow study is acceptable.”A resident
“The shadow study is concerning as the south side of 60 Southport is going to be shadowed already by the buildings approved at 34. The new proposal takes what little area was not shadowed during the day for most of the year and puts the south of the building into shadow at least four hours or more when you look at the shadow study on March 21st.”A resident
“I'm not against development. People do need good housing, but this proposal is not good housing. It makes housing that's already there demonstrably worse to live in.”A resident
1 more person spoke
“I'm a resident for 60 Southport. I've been living there for four years. The biggest issue is the proposed density. The developer is trying to fit too much into a small piece of land and that will create many of all these problems that we are raised.”Resident of 60 Southport Street
Also in this item
• The report identifies inaccuracies in supporting studies: shadow study renderings mislabeled (east/west reversed); transportation study listed speed limits incorrectly (50 km/h recorded for streets actually posted 40 and 30 km/h). Staff recommendation does not address these errors.
• This is an amending report to a July 2023 council approval. The building height increased from 31 storeys to 36 storeys; unit count rose from 405 to 409 total units. Both the replacement rental unit count (65) and the demolition approval remain unchanged.
The journey
Time to act
You can weigh in
Item has already been decided by council (July 19-20, 2023) in its original form; this amending report updates terms of that approval. No further deputation or voting opportunity.
Decision
Approved: demolition of 65 rental dwelling units permitted; replacement of 65 rental units required in the new 36-storey development; tenant assistance plan updated to reflect current city practices; replacement floor plans updated based on revised development proposal (36-storey, not 31-storey).
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