OMB to hear arguments over Bathurst St. development

[attach]7815[/attach]A proposed Forest Hill condominium supported by the city solicitor’s office but opposed by local councillor Joe Mihevc is going before the Ontario Municipal Board on May 8.

City council is also against developer Goldman Group’s proposal for an 18-storey mixed-use tower at 1486 Bathurst St., despite a staff report recommending its approval.

Goldman executive Guy D’Onofrio said Mihevc is opposing the development because his company has refused to meet his “outrageous” funding demands.

“The councillor’s expectations of Section 37 payments were outrageous,” said D’Onofrio, vice-president of development, planning and government relations for Goldman Group.

“He was asking for more than half a million dollars on a development that doesn’t qualify under the city’s own policies for Section 37 contributions.”

Goldman revised its application in February, addressing several concerns neighbours had voiced about the plan, notably replacing a driveway that would have required demolishing a home on nearby Raglan Avenue. The company also reached an agreement with the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation, which owns an existing building at 1482 Bathurst St., and pledged to give the city $300,000 in community funding.

Mihevc declined to be specific for the Town Crier about his reasons for continuing to oppose the project, saying only that there are “a variety of issues” and he feels “it would not be good for me to negotiate in public.”

Area resident Paul Harvey, who doesn’t support the revisions that see the former driveway replaced by a widened lane behind the tower, said he doubts the hearing will solve anything.