41 Chatsworth dr.
BACKGROUND
This is the site of the former church on the south side of Chatsworth Drive between Yonge and Duplex. In 2013 an application was submitted by Parkset Developments Inc. for a 6-7 storey building. The City, and the community through Developing Areas Responsibly in Toronto (DART), opposed this application. In 2016 the former Ontario Municipal Board rejected the proposal.
In 2017 a new proposal was submitted by 41 Chatsworth GP Inc. Although the height, gross floor area and density were noticeably reduced compared to the original proposal, the new proposal called for a 4-5 storey building which would be 17.2m tall facing Chatsworth and 18.8m tall facing Duplex Parkette due to the slope of the site. A preliminary report by City Planning for this proposal was considered by North York Community Council in February 2018. This report identified issues to be addressed and resulted in a community meeting.
The Developer appealed the application to LPAT in 2019. In October 2020 LPRO and DART requested and were granted Party Status in the LPAT appeal in order to allow us to fully engage in the process. In December 2020 City Council refused the application and recommended the City attempt to reach an agreement through mediation with the Developer, failing which the City will oppose the application at LPAT. Mediation took place in March 2021.
LATEST UPDATE: SETTLEMENT
Representatives from LPRO and DART participated in the LPAT-led mediation, along with Terry Mills, a planner whom LPRO and DART jointly retained thanks to generous support from the Community.
The mediation was successful and resulted in a settlement offer agreed to by all parties. The settlement offer was unanimously approved by City Council on May 5,2021 and subsequently approved by LPAT on May 12, 2021.
The building will have four storeys above grade facing Chatsworth Drive and five storeys facing Duplex Parkette. The upper levels of the building include numerous step-backs. The building will be 17.5m in height and a small portion of the roof will include an additional 4m tall mechanical penthouse.
Changes to the Developer’s proposal that were successfully negotiated at the mediation include:
- The number of condominium units has been reduced from 43 to 30, a 30% reduction which will reduce the traffic impact of the building (original 2013 site proposal included 114 units)
- The east end of the site, with an area of over 250m2/2,700ft2 will be dedicated to the City and become a new “gateway” to Duplex Parkette, increasing the frontage of the park on Chatsworth Drive by over 500%
- The Developer will make a donation to the improvement of the new park gateway
- The building will be set back farther from Chatsworth Drive
- The underground garage has been removed from underneath the front yard of the building along Chatsworth Drive, which will allow for improved landscaping.
- In addition to preserving most existing street trees, the Developer will plant 19 new trees on both their own property and City property along Chatsworth Drive
- The façade facing Chatsworth Drive has been improved to include variation so it does not appear as a continuous wall
- The design of the building has been revised to better fit with the neighbourhood
- LPRO and DART will participate in the Site Plan Working Group, which will examine the finer details of the proposal including the park gateway design, for final approval by Planning. The Working Group is expected to meet in the fall of 2021.
A heartfelt thank you to the 41 Chatsworth donors and to DART, which put a considerable amount of time into this application over the past 8 years. Thank you also to the 41 Chatsworth Committee who worked on this proposal for the past several months: Eli Aaron, John Gleason, Arlena Hebert, Maureen Kapral, Michael Kehoe, and Alan Morson.
