We need public inquiry into failure of planning
Re: Quiet resolution ends two disputes [Town Crier, Nov. 17], which reported on the agreement to settle the (development) dispute concerning the Art Shoppe site.
Back in June, (Ward 22 councillor) Josh Matlow and Ben Daube told community council they had reached a settlement with the applicant seeking to build some 60 floors at the northeast corner of Yonge and Eglinton with some 25 floors on Roehampton. Yet, at Committee of Adjustment on Nov. 19 the developer appeared to get more height, more units, more diversity.
The gambit was used by the developer of the 30- and 34-floor condo towers at Eglinton and Dunfield, as well as the developer of the condo on Yonge just south of Lawrence. When I raised the issue with a senior planner I was told this is nothing more than a minor variance to zoning.
But the zoning will have been established by a settlement agreement ratified by council and subject to OMB approval. A developer entering into a “settlement” then going to Committee of Adjustment is either reneging on this settlement agreement or is asking the Committee of Adjustment effectively to sit in appeal of the OMB.
This is the kind of question that needs to be examined by a public inquiry into the failure of planning in Toronto.
If the Art Shoppe applicant now goes to Committee of Adjustment, resignations will be in order.
Bob Murphy
Yonge Street
Toronto
