City, resident and developer seeks resolution
Trying to work out deal before OMB hearing
But some want area’s flooding problems fixed first
Kris Scheuer
(Written for Town Crier March 4.)
A redevelopment on Kippendavie is heading to the OMB. Photo by Francis Crescia/Town Crier.
Beach residents, the city and Longo Development are frantically trying to work out a compromise on a Beach apartment proposal in advance of a scheduled Ontario Municipal Board hearing.
Councillor Mary-Margaret McMahon asked for a deferral when the controversial development proposal at 66 to 76 Kippendavie Ave. came before Toronto and East York Community Council on Feb. 16.
“We will work our tails off in the next few weeks to see what we can come up with,” McMahon said.
She would not take a position on what a suitable compromise would entail for a current proposal that would see six homes demolished to construct a four-storey, 65-unit apartment building.
The city has yet to rule on the proposal one way or another as it has been deferred on more than one occasion since last summer. The city’s planning department recommends approval of the application, which is heading to the Ontario Municipal Board for a June 13 hearing.
A city engineer is expected to report back to community council’s March 22 session about this development regarding water and flooding issues.
Joanne Dicaire of the Kew Beach Neighbourhood Association is calling for a freeze on any local development, including the Kippendavie plan, until the city resolves ongoing flooding issues in her community.
The area bound by Victoria Park, the lake, Danforth Avenue and the Toronto Eastern Beaches is one of 32 flood areas the city is studying for solutions regarding years of basement flooding issues. Kippendavie, which falls within this study area, has combined sewers so heavy rains can overload them and cause basement rainwater and sewage to back up into residential homes.
The city’s reporting back this spring on solutions for the Kippendavie area and then the community would vote on resolutions, Dicaire said. It would take three to five years to implement changes.
“Let’s put a moratorium on any new development for three to five years,” she said.
Development partners behind the Kippendavie project say they are working hard to find a resolution residents can live with.
Developer Dino Longo said March 4, “The hopeful resolution is that Kew Beach Neighbourhood Association can bring something to its members and our two parties can make a deal rather than drag things out at the OMB.”
Calls to the residential association’s lawyer Jane Pepino with Aird and Berlis were not returned by press time. An OMB prehearing was scheduled for March 4, but given the city’s deferral on a decision it was expected that not much would be resolved on that day. The development will come back to community council March 22 and then to city council for a vote in April.
Kris Scheuer 