DEVELOPMENT: Meeting to discuss townhouse proposal

Leaside residents will have a chance to learn about a development proposed for the northeast corner of McRae and Sutherland drives at a Jan. 8 planning meeting at Leaside Gardens.

Submitted in August, the application is for six three-storey townhouses and a pair of two-storey detached homes, five of which would include rooftop patios. The site is currently occupied by an auto repair shop.

Ward 26 councillor John Parker says the application has his full support.

“A previous owner had a more aggressive proposal, and I sort of told him to go away,” Parker said in late December. “The current owner acquired the property from that developer and has got the message that the whole thing should be scaled back.”

While “we’ll probably haggle over some of the details,” the general approach being suggested is one he is comfortable with, Parker said.

The meeting is set for 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 8 at Leaside Gardens, 1073 Millwood Rd.

The Leaside Property Owners’ Association will be a party in the proceedings, and not mere onlookers, on Feb. 17 when the Ontario Municipal Board hearing into the proposal for a condominium at 2 Laird Dr. gets under way.

Party status means the association will be able to present expert witnesses to support its position that developer Knightstone Capital Management’s proposal doesn’t provide an effective transition between the seven-storey building and the two-storey
houses next door.

LPOA gets party status for OMB hearing

LPOA vice-president Geoff Kettel says he is enthused that the association will also get to cross-examine the other side’s expert witnesses, and that both its testimony and cross-examinations will have legal status in the OMB’s decision.

Other neighbours will have participant status at the hearing. After submitting a statement to the board, they will be invited to share opinions regarding the proposal.

The LPOA witness statement and neighbours’ statements are due by Jan. 17.

Kettel says his association is currently assisting 21 participants who plan to speak at the hearing.

No building permit yet for SmartCentres

Completion of environmental remediation is believed to be what is holding up the start of construction on the new SmartCentres development at 70 and 80 Wicksteed Ave., which had been scheduled to get under way in the fall.

While SmartCentres did not respond to requests for comment, Ward 26 councillor John Parker acknowledged in December that the city had not yet issued a building permit and that the main reason for the delay is that the company must conduct environmental remediation work. He expects that work to start early this month.

“My guess is that the environmental work will take a few months early in the year … and then construction can commence after that,” he said.

It is not clear whether the construction delay will impact the intended completion date, projected to be late this year.