RECOMMENDATION:
That draft plan of subdivision
19TM-02005 (SU. 02-112285) located east of Kennedy Road on the north and south
side of Helen Avenue, proposed by Swallow’s Nest Development, be draft approved
subject to the conditions outlined in Appendix ‘A’;
That the zoning application (ZA.
02-112249) to amend By-law 304-87, as amended, and By-law 177-96, as amended,
submitted by Swallow’s Nest Development, to implement draft plan of subdivision
19TM-02005 (SU. 02-112285) located east of Kennedy Road on the north and south
side of Helen Avenue, be approved and the implementing Zoning By-laws attached
as Appendix ‘B’ be enacted;
That the applicant provide the Town
with the required payment of 30% subdivision processing fees in accordance with
the Town’s Fee By-law (By-law 17-2000);
That a water allocation for up to 145 units be granted
for draft plan of subdivision 19TM-02005;
That the Town reserve the right to revoke or
reallocate water supply at its sole discretion.
PURPOSE:
The purpose of this report is to recommend
approval of the proposed draft plan of subdivision (19TM-02005) and
implementing zoning by-laws.
BACKGROUND:
The subject lands consist of two
separate parcels located within the South Unionville Planning District (Figure
1).
The first parcel is located east of
Kennedy Road, on the north side of Helen Avenue, and has a total area of 0.54
ha (1.33 acres) (Figure 4). The parcel
is bounded to the north by three residential lots previously approved for
development through the severance process.
One of these lots to the north contains a relatively new single detached
dwelling. To the east and west are
lands draft approved for single detached, semi-detached, and townhouse
units. The majority of the lands for
the West Central Parkette are also located to the west, adjoining proposed
parkland within the subject plan. To
the south, across Helen Avenue, are existing older single detached dwellings
intended to be retained, as well as other lands owned by the applicant.
The second parcel is located east
of Kennedy Road, south of Helen Avenue, and consists of 6.16 ha (15.2 acres)
(Figure 4). This parcel is bounded to
the north by seven existing single detached houses, which are to be retained,
and across Helen Avenue by three single detached houses to be retained, as well
as draft approved plans, and lands which form part of this application. To the east and west are existing rural
residential lots, and to the south is Highway 407.
Application has been modified from its original submission
The original application included
additional lands owned by the applicant, and proposed a total of 271
units. The application has been
modified and two areas have been excluded from the proposed draft plan (Figure 6). Specifically, these include a 1.95 ha (4.8
acre) parcel of land located south of Caboto Trail, which was intended for a
medium density block consisting of 109 units, and a 1.08 ha (2.66 acre) parcel
of land located on the east side of Harry Cook Drive, which was proposed to be developed
as 24 single detached units. Separate
applications for these lands will be brought forward when issues involving
density, built form and acceptability of residential land use have been
addressed.
The applicant is now proposing to
construct a total of 145 units: 87 singles detached units, 48 semi-detached
units, and 10 townhouse units. The
townhouse block will be developed with lane based units, and will front onto a
future park (West Central Parkette).
The proposed lotting pattern is illustrated in Figure 4.
There is also a 0.293 ha (0.72 acre)
park block (Block 115), on the north side of Helen Avenue, which is intended to
be combined with an adjoining park block from the draft approved plan of
subdivision to the west, to generally complete the West Central Parkette. A small portion of this parkette still
remains to be acquired from two non-participating properties in the area with
no current development plans.
Proposed
draft plan of subdivision complies with overall density calculation for South
Unionville
The Secondary Plan states that the “net
site density of all units in the Medium Density I Housing Category shall not
exceed 35 units per hectare (14 units per acre).” The proposed townhouses have a density of 31 uph (12.5 upa) which
complies with the Secondary Plan.
With respect to low density housing, the
Secondary Plan states that “the gross residential density of all units in the
Low Density Housing Category shall not exceed 14.8 units per hectare (6 units
per acre)” and that “Gross residential area for the purpose of calculating
density shall include residential lands, parks, school sites, church sites,
neighbourhood commercial centres and local and collector roads, but exclude
valleylands and arterial roads.” If calculations are limited to the subject
subdivision then the proposed single and semi-detached units would result in a
gross residential density of 16.45 uph (6.6 upa.) which would exceed the
density permitted by the Secondary Plan by 1.65 uph (0.6 upa).
The applicant, however, has argued that
the Secondary Plan provisions allow for density calculations for the Low
Density Housing Category to be carried out on a district wide basis and that it
is a more equitable approach. Although the locations of community facilities
such as roads, schools and parks in South Unionville, established through a
Master Plan, only impact a few properties, all properties within the District
are expected to contribute on a proportional basis, through the Developers
Group Agreement, to the cost of land for accommodating these facilities. Under
these circumstances the applicant argues that it is reasonable to claim that
even if there are no community facilities within a specific property, the
proportionate share of the community lands for that property should be included
in the calculation of density permitted for that property.
The provisions of the Secondary Plan can
be interpreted to allow for density calculations for the Low Density Housing
Category to be performed on a district wide basis (this approach of “density
averaging” has been applied in other parts of the Town). During the initial stages of development
within the District it would have been extremely difficult to determine the
appropriate number of units within a subdivision based on District wide
calculations, primarily due to the difficulty of determining ahead of time, the
number of units that would be generated on other properties, and the delivery
of institutional and other uses included in the gross residential area
calculations. However, now that the
majority of the low density land within the District has either been developed,
draft approved or lotted out through the subject plan of subdivision, it is
possible to calculate densities on a District wide basis.
The applicant undertook a density
calculation exercise for the entire South Unionville area and has demonstrated
that the overall unit count and densities (assuming logical development
patterns and maximum permitted densities for lands with no current development
plans), inclusive of the proposed draft plan, would be within the density
limits outlined in the Secondary Plan (See table below). Staff agree that calculating density for
areas designated for Low Density development on a district wide basis is a
valid interpretation of the Secondary Plan, and find the proposed densities for
the plan of subdivision to be acceptable.
|
Land Use &
Unit Type
|
Frontage
|
No of
Units
|
Density
|
|
Metres
|
Feet
|
Permitted in Secondary
Plan
|
Proposed for subject
Plan
|
Overall for
District*
|
|
Single detached Conventional
|
9 – 11.5
|
29.5 – 37.7
|
64
|
14.8 uph
(6 upa)
|
16.45 uph
(6.6 upa)**
|
13.27 uph
(5.4 upa)
|
|
Single detached
Conventional
|
+ 11.6
|
+38
|
23
|
|
Semi-detached
|
7.5
|
24.6
|
48
|
|
Townhouses
Lane-based
|
6.5-8
|
21.3 – 26.2
|
10
|
35 uph
(14 upa)
|
31 uph (12.5 upa)
|
27.65 uph
(11.2 upa)
|
|
TOTAL UNITS
|
|
|
145
|
|
|
|
* Including subject Plan of Subdivision.
** 0.6 upa over the maximum 6 upa permitted in the Secondary Plan is
equivalent to 13 additional units.
Conformity
with Secondary Plan and Community Design Plan
The lands comprising the draft plan are
designated in both the Secondary Plan and the Community Design Plan for Low
Density Housing, Medium Density Housing, and Open Space. The distribution of low and medium density
housing and open space area within the proposed draft plan is generally
consistent with the land use designation in the Secondary Plan and Community
Design Plan.
The Community Design Plan established a
conceptual street pattern for the District, and it proposes two north-south
streets through the subject lands as shown in Figure 5. The applicant originally proposed to
eliminate the more westerly street and to relocate, into the west end of the
draft plan, another north-south street which is shown in the Community Design
Plan (Figure 5) as being outside and slightly to the west of the draft
plan. This would have resulted in a
very large residential block within the draft plan and a relatively small one
within the lands to the east. The
applicant’s initial proposal is shown in Figure 6.
Based on discussions with staff, the
proposed draft plan (Figure 4) has eliminated the most easterly street and has
slightly relocated Street ‘C’ while relocating Street ‘A’ into the Plan. The current proposal would create two residential
blocks on the south side of Helen Avenue which, in terms of size, are more or
less consistent with the size of other residential blocks in South Unionville.
Staff considered approving the most
westerly street (Street ‘A’) as a temporary road, until a road could eventually
be built further west, as intended in the Community Design Plan, but saw no
significant advantage in doing so.
Staff also had some initial concerns with the fact that the north-south
streets proposed on the south side of Helen Avenue were not aligned with the
locations of streets either approved or expected on the north side of Helen
Avenue. However, through discussions
with the Engineering Department it was determined that the lack of street
alignments was not problematic given that vehicular traffic from the south side
of Helen Avenue would have access to the signalised intersection at Helen and
Kennedy and would not
need to go north of Helen Avenue in
order to access Kennedy Road. While
there is some deviation from the Community Design Plan on the south side of
Helen Avenue, the roads and lanes within the draft plan are considered
acceptable.
Certain
site-specific technical studies remain to be completed
The District wide technical studies such
as Environmental Drainage Plan, Master Servicing Plan, Road Function and
Streetscape Plan, Transportation Study, etc. have been completed. However, prior to final approval of the
draft plan of subdivision, the applicant will be required to complete an
archaeological survey/assessment of the subject lands and a noise feasibility
study.
Key
requirements of the Development Phasing Plan have been modified over time
The Development Phasing Plan (DPP) is a
mechanism established as part of a larger program for growth management by the
Town. The DPP’s primary function is to
ensure that infrastructure and public facilities keep pace with
development. The DPP prepared for this
Secondary Plan area is designed to identify “development blocks” and establish
infrastructure requirements for each block.
The DPP also outlines infrastructure requirements that do not relate to
any specific block, but rather are elements required at various population and
unit count thresholds in the development of this District. The DPP for the South Unionville Planning
District was approved by Council on June 18, 1996.
The proposed plan of subdivision forms
parts of Blocks 4, 8 and 9 identified in the DPP (Figure 7). Some of the established infrastructure
requirements as they relate to the subject plan of subdivision have been
satisfied. However, there are a number
of key infrastructure requirements that are still outstanding. These include the construction of the
westerly stormwater management pond, connection to the existing sanitary sewer
to the west, reconstruction of Helen Avenue, and construction of the westerly
portion of South Unionville Avenue, including the signalization of that road at
Kennedy Road. The Phasing Plan had also
established requirements for the delivery of parkland when certain population thresholds
were reached but the population has exceeded the established thresholds without
the delivery of the required parkland. These issues are discussed in detail
below.
Servicing and road requirements.
While the applicant has consolidated
many properties on the north and south sides of Helen Avenue for development
purposes, they do not own or control certain properties at key locations, which
are necessary for the construction of the westerly stormwater management pond
and the construction and re-construction of South Unionville Avenue and Helen
Avenue respectively. The lack of a
consolidated group of landowners/developers has made it difficult to coordinate
the completion of servicing and reconstruction of Helen Avenue as well as the
construction of portions of South Unionville Avenue that are required before
development of this plan of subdivision can proceed.
Recently the applicant, in consultation
with staff, prepared a new phasing plan for the development of the lands on the
north and south sides of Helen Avenue and it, together with certain
recommendations from staff, was
generally endorsed by Committee in March of this year. According to this new ‘Phasing Plan’ for the
Helen Avenue area the majority of the subject subdivision (approximately 88
units to be serviced from the east), located primarily on the south side of
Helen Avenue, could proceed subject to the following:
·
Reconstruction of the eastern portion
of Helen Avenue with full municipal services; and
·
Road extension (South Unionville Avenue)
and realignment (Castan Avenue) across the two non-participating landowner
properties (Kunzel, Filice) to the east;
·
If the extension of South Unionville
Avenue to the east, which is required to accommodate servicing for these lands,
cannot be achieved in a timely manner then utilization of an alternate
servicing opportunity, through an unopened right-of-way, which has been found
to be technically acceptable may proceed; and
·
If property is not available for the
road extension and realignment noted above then the Town could consider
expropriating the necessary properties, at the developer’s cost. To this end, prior to the development
proceeding, it is recommended that the developer enter into an agreement with
the Town agreeing to bear the costs of expropriation (any decision to
expropriate would be subject to a further staff report and discussion with
Council).
The development of the remainder of this
subdivision (approximately 57 units to be
serviced from the west), located on the north and south sides of Helen
Avenue, could proceed subject to the following:
·
Construction of the necessary
stormwater management facility with the preferred location being on the east
side of Kennedy Road, north of South Unionville Avenue (Construction of this
stormwater management facility is dependent on land acquisition and
finalization of the environmental assessment study, which is expected latter
this spring.)
·
Reconstruction of the western portion
of Helen Avenue with full municipal services (sanitary sewer to be extended
from the northeast corner of Kennedy Road and Helen Avenue and storm sewers to
drain to a stormwater management facility.
Reconstruction of the west portion of Helen Avenue is not likely to
occur prior to the completion of the storm sewer outfall and pond);
·
Completion of the remaining portion of
South Unionville Avenue to Kennedy Road and signalization of the intersection;
·
Expropriation, if required, of the
necessary rights-of-way for South Unionville Avenue, the stormwater management
facility and storm outfalls, at developer’s cost (again, any decision to
expropriate would be subject to further staff report and discussion with
Council).
Provision of parkland.
The Phasing Plan for South Unionville
requires that when 25% of the Planning District population is approved for plan
registration, the large centrally located parks within the district (Central
Green Park and the Central Campus Park) should be constructed and
delivered. While the Developer’s Group
is still obligated under the Phasing Plan to acquire and convey parkland to the
Town, the construction of these parks will now be carried out by the Town using
money collected from the Developers through Development Charges.
As noted above, the population threshold
target for the delivery of the parkland has been exceeded (approximately 60% of
the population has been registered) but the Developers Group has been unable to
deliver the parklands which are, for the most part, located within properties
owned by non participating landowners.
Staff will continue to work with the Developers Group and individual
property owners to resolve parkland issues.
However, as part of previous draft plan
approvals in the area, Council has accepted staff’s view that it is not
appropriate to hold up draft approvals where applicants are prepared to satisfy
the Town’s parkland requirements by either dedicating designated parkland
within their own properties or providing cash-in-lieu of parkland through the
Developers Group Agreement. Monies
collected through the Developers Group Agreement will be used to acquire
parkland on a priority basis.
With respect to the subject subdivision,
the applicant will be conveying to the Town a 0.293 ha (0.72 acre) park block
(Block 115), on the north side of Helen Avenue, and also providing cash-in-lieu
of parkland.
Sidewalk and transit route
requirements
In recent times the location of
sidewalks within residential subdivisions have become an issue for
purchasers/new residents and the Town.
The Town will require the developer to advise all prospective purchasers
of future sidewalk locations, transit routes and bus stop locations by
providing a Sidewalk and Transit Route Plan in the sales trailer. The Sidewalk and Transit Route Plan will
have to be approved by the Town and the Region of York prior to the Director of
Planning stamping and signing the draft approved plan.
Applicant
is a signatory to the Developers Group Agreement
There is an established
Developers/Landowners Group Agreement for the South Unionville Secondary Plan
area to secure community facilities including parkland and schools, and to
compensate the landowners on whose properties the community facilities are
located. The applicants are a signatory
to the Developers Group Agreement. The
conditions of draft approval will include a provision requiring the applicants
to provide a letter from the Trustee advising that the applicants have made
arrangements to satisfy all obligations related to this plan, financial or
otherwise, as set out in the Landowners Agreement.
Development
Charge By-law for the area has been passed
The Area Specific Development Charge
By-law for the South Unionville Secondary Plan Area was approved by Council on
August 31, 1999, and upheld by the Ontario Municipal Board on appeal, and the by-law
is in effect.
Further
Area Specific Development Charge By-law proposed for Helen Avenue
Helen Avenue is a local road with rural
characteristics, which is signalized at Kennedy Road. The design and reconstruction of Helen Avenue, to upgrade it to
urban standards (including all underground municipal services) remains to be
carried out. Engineering staff have
prepared an Area Specific Development Charge By-law for Helen Avenue. It is anticipated that the by-law will be
approved by Council by the end of May 2003.
A condition of draft plan approval will require the applicant to pay all
applicable development charges, upon execution of the subdivision agreement and
at building permit stage as appropriate.
Sanitary,
storm and water availability
This plan of subdivision will have
permanent sanitary servicing via the existing York-Durham Sanitary
Sewer(YDSS). The sanitary drainage from
this site, for the majority of the lands, is intended to drain to the east
while the remainder of the lands will drain west. Both areas will require extension of sanitary sewers along Helen
Avenue, to the east and to the west respectively, and they will connect to
different sections of the York Durham sanitary trunk sewer.
With respect to stormwater, the majority
of the lands are intended to drain to the east into the existing South
Unionville stormwater management pond.
As noted above, a portion of the proposed plan of subdivision is
intended to drain to the west to a future stormwater management pond, the
location of which is to be finalized through an Environmental Assessment
process to be completed later this spring.
In December 1998, Council approved a
water allocation for a total of 1070 units in the South Unionville Secondary
Plan area. Due to a Town wide limit in
water supply, the allocation for South Unionville has been reduced to 943
units. Of this, allocation has already
been granted for 515 units. Approval of this draft plan, containing 145
units, will leave sufficient water supply from the existing system to
accommodate an additional 283 units for future development within South
Unionville.
Public
Meeting was held to consider the application
On Tuesday, February 18, 2003 a public
meeting was held to consider these applications. One objection letter was received from an area resident. The following summarizes the concerns raised
in the letter and how each issue has been addressed:
1.
Street name ‘Unity Gardens’ is on street name reserve list
An area resident, Mr. Glenn Baron,
objected to the street name Caboto Trail, and suggested that the name be
changed to ‘Unity Gardens’. Staff noted
that the street named Caboto Trail within this Plan is in fact an extension of
the existing Caboto Trail further east and that it would be inappropriate to
change the name of the subject street.
Members of Council suggested that the name Unity Gardens could be used
for another road in the South Unionville area.
The street name ‘Unity Gardens Drive’ is currently on the Town’s street
name reserve list for the South Unionville area and will be considered when
other streets in the area are to be named.
2. Lot line angles
Mr. Baron has suggested that the
proposed lots within this plan follow the slight angle of the existing
properties in the area and that instead these lots should be perpendicular to
the east west streets in order to be consistent with lot layout in the east
part of South Unionville. The proposed
north-south streets within this Plan also follow the slight angles of the
existing property lines. Mr. Baron also
seems to suggest that there is traffic calming benefits to be gained by
creating a slight angle in the north-south streets by making those streets
perpendicular to the east-west Street ‘B’, on the south side of Street ‘B’.
The traffic calming matter has been
discussed with the Engineering Department and they have advised that given the
short length of the street no traffic calming benefits would be gained by
re-alignment of the streets. The angles
in the lot layout are consistent with the layouts of the majority of the new
residential lots on the north side of Helen Avenue.
3. Insufficient parkland
Mr. Baron has raised issues with respect
to the acquisition and delivery of parkland in South Unionville. These matters have been discussed in detail
earlier in this report. It should,
however, be noted that the applicant is currently working with the Town and
property owners on the south side of Helen Avenue to acquire designated
parkland (approximately half of the ‘Central Campus Park’) within their properties.
Mr. Baron has also raised a question
regarding the cost of acquiring parkland.
Negotiations with the relevant property owners have not progressed to a
stage that would allow such questions to be answered at this time.
4.
How is developer on Deviation Road contributing to supply of school
sites in South Unionville
Mr. Baron has questioned how the Quintil
Group, a developer on Deviation Road, is contributing to school sites in South
Unionville. This question is not
related to the subject Plan of subdivision.
This question was raised by Mr. Baron in connection with the application
by the Quintil Group and was addressed in the staff report dated January 7,
2003, which dealt with that application.
(An Education Development Charge is paid at the building permit stage;
the School Boards use these funds for capital costs to construct new schools in
the Region).
5.
Application of Community Improvement Area policies to improve Helen
Avenue
Mr. Baron raised the possibility of
applying Community Improvement Area policies under Section 28 of the Planning
Act to improve/reconstruct Helen Avenue, instead of the proposed Area Specific
Development Charge by-law.
Community Improvement Area policies
generally have been used to provide municipalities with a range of potential
tools to help stimulate investment and revitalization in declining areas of
Ontario municipalities. Although in
November 2002, the Planning Act was amended to broaden the scope of Section 28,
Area Specific Development Charge is still considered the appropriate tool for
local servicing (hard infrastructure) such as that proposed on Helen
Avenue.
6.
Added cost of alternative servicing proposal on Helen Avenue
Mr. Baron expressed concern regarding
the alternative servicing strategy, noted earlier in this report, to service
the east portion of Helen Avenue in the event the necessary right-of-ways
cannot be acquired from non-participating property owners in a timely
manner. Mr. Baron’s concern is that the
alternative strategy would be more costly and he would have to share in that
additional cost when he develops his property in the area. Staff have confirmed that any additional
costs that may be involved in an alternate servicing strategy would not be
included in Area Specific Development Charges. The applicant has also advised that any additional cost
resulting from the alternate servicing strategy would be absorbed by the
applicant and would not be passed onto other developers in the area through the
Developers Group.
Proposed
zoning by-law amendment
In accordance with the Secondary Plan
requirements, the applicant has applied for a zoning by-law amendment to
implement the proposed draft plan of subdivision. The subject lands are currently zoned Rural Residential One (RR1)
under By-law 304-87, as amended.
A draft amending by-law for the subject
Plan of subdivision is attached as Appendix ‘B’. The proposed zoning by-law includes the following:
·
An ‘R2’ zoning on the semi and single
detached units with development standards consistent with those in place for
other plans of subdivision is South Unionville Planning District;
·
An R2-LA zoning on the townhouse units
with development standards consistent with those in place for other plans of
subdivision within the South Unionville Planning District; and
·
An OS1 zoning on the park lands.
Specific exceptions have also been
incorporated in the implementing by-law governing maximum garage projections,
and minimum rear yard depths for lots accessed by rear lanes.
FINANCIAL CONSIDERATIONS:
No financial
implications are to be considered in this report.
BUSINESS UNITS CONSULTED AND AFFECTED:
The draft plan and conditions of draft
approval in Appendix ‘A’ have been prepared in consultation with other
municipal departments and public agencies, and their respective requirements
have been incorporated.
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|
|
|
|
Valerie Shuttleworth, M.C.I.P., R.P.P.
Director of Planning & Urban Design
|
|
Jim
Baird, M.C.I.P., R.P.P.
Commissioner of Development Services
|
FIGURE 1
DOCUMENT: Q/Development/Planning/Appl/Subdivision/02112285/DSC_May20
ATTACHMENTS:
Figure 1: Location Map
Figure 2: Zoning/Area
Context Map
Figure 3: Air
Photo Map
Figure 4: Proposed
Plan of Subdivision
Figure 5: Area
Context: South Unionville
Figure 6: Original
Draft Plan
Figure 7: Plan
of subdivision as it relates to Development Phasing Plan
