Don Mills condo project gets council nod on second try
[attach]1347[/attach]City council gave the green light to a massive re-development in Don Mills.
After hours of private and public debate Feb. 23, council approved a settlement plan for residential towers plus townhouses, a park and community centre at 939 Lawrence Avenue East, 1090 Don Mills Road and 75 The Donway West.
The plan includes seven buildings ranging in height from 11 to 32 storeys and will be completed over a 10-year period. And developer Cadillac Fairview’s sweetened the deal with a community centre, which won’t open until 2020.
Reaction to the project is bitter and sweet.
Simone Gabbay, founder of Don Mills Friends is dismayed the city voted 37-3 in favour of the plan, when council rejected a similar proposal on this site back in October.
“They (developer) played around with heights,” she says Feb. 26. “Very little has changed accept the (location) of the arena.”
The current Don Mills Civitan Arena will eventually be relocated in a land swap between the city and developer and the municipal government will endeavour to build a new twin-pad ice in the area.
Overall, this project goes against the local planning document the Don Mills Secondary Plan that took decades to create, says Gabbay.
“With this one decision, we have thrown out the planning document,” she says. “We have no law. It’s like the Wild West. That’s the basis of frustration.”
“Such tall buildings will change Don Mills forever,” she adds.
Of the three politicians who voted against the plan Denzil Minnan-Wong voiced his displeasure with the decision to reporters after the vote.
“It sets the tone for future development in central Don Mills. It aggressively violates the secondary plan,” he said. “It will change the nature of the Don Mills community from this day forward.”
He said, it sets a precedent as future developers will look to these approved heights and want to build something similar.
“You (will) turn central Don Mills into a district of tall buildings,” said the Don Valley East councillor. “You create a vision by thinking about what kind of community you want and in this arrangement, instead of defining and determining and creating your own destiny, it’s being shoved down our throat by a developer.”
Not everyone is as upset by the city’s decision as Gabbay and Minnan-Wong.
Terry West president of Don Mills Residents Inc has mixed feelings about the deal.
“I was sad today as I am happy. We would love to be here today without a settlement to be quite honest with you,” he says directly after council’s vote. “That’s what we have to live with.”
He says this settlement brought some negotiated wins for the community namely the $17 million community centre. In the end he sees the deal as a victory that’s overwhelmingly supported by residents.
The Don Mills Residents Inc group polled locals and held meetings to get community reaction to the project. While on the surface it appears the community is divided on this settlement agreement, that’s not true, according to West.
“Don Mills Residents has 1,200 paid members. (Gabbay’s) Don Mills Friends has no paid members. There are about 10 of them and they are very vocal,” he says.
“(We are) absolutely confident we speak for the majority of our community,” concludes West.
The Don Mills Residents group along with the city will support the project when it goes to the Ontario Municipal Board in March.
Gabbay says her group will not oppose it at the OMB.
– With files from Christopher Reynolds
