RECOMMENDATION:
That application # SC.02-116176 for site plan
approval submitted by E. Manson Investments Ltd., Zureit Holdings Ltd. and
Crestglade Investments Ltd. to permit a commercial development at 9640 McCowan
Road, be approved, subject to the following conditions:
1. That prior to execution of the site plan agreement, the owner shall
submit final site plan, elevation and landscape drawings and comply with all
requirements of the Town and authorized agencies, to the satisfaction of the
Commissioner of Development Services;
2. That the owner enter into a site plan agreement with the Town, which
shall include all requirements of Town departments and public agencies, to the
satisfaction of the Commissioner of Development Services;
3. That the site plan agreement include provisions for the payment by
the owner of all applicable fees, recoveries, development charges and parkland
dediations;
4. That the site plan approval shall lapse after a period of three
years commencing February 18, 2003, in the event that the owner does not enter
into a site plan agreement with the Town during that period;
5. That the owner provide for internal refuse storage areas for each
building to the satisfaction of the Director of Environmental Services.
6. That prior to final site plan approval, the Access Study be approved
and any necessary revisions to the site plan be made, to the satisfaction of
the Commissioner of Development Services.
7. That prior to final site plan approval, a detailed evaluation of the
noise impacts be completed and the recommendations be incorporated into the
final plans to the satisfaction of the Commissioner of Development
Services;
8. That the site plan agreement include provisions for upgraded
elevations to the north face of Building ‘G’ or for additional landscaping
adjacent to Building ‘G’, should the future expansion not proceed;
9. That the site plan be redlined to remove the proposed vehicular
connection from the subject property to Street ‘L’, located in the proposed
residential subdivision to the south.
10. That the Site Plan Agreement include provisions for traffic
monitoring at various stages of build out and that the Owner be required to
complete any improvements as recommended by the monitoring to the satisfaction
of the Director of Engineering, and that sufficient security be provided to
ensure any necessary work is completed.
PURPOSE:
The purpose of this report is to provide an evaluation of the
applicant’s proposal to permit a multi-building commercial development. The report concludes that the proposed site
plan application is acceptable and should be approved, subject to the
conditions identified above.
BACKGROUND:
Property and area context
The vacant 4.38 hectare (10.8 ac.)
property is located on the southwest corner of Bur Oak Avenue and McCowan Road
(Figure 2). Surrounding the subject
property to the north, south and west is a residential plan of subdivision
previously registered by the applicant.
These houses are either built or under construction. To the east, across McCowan Road, is a
proposed residential plan of subdivision by Amber Plain Investments Ltd.
Current Zoning and Official
Plan designations
The Official Plan designates the
subject property as Community Amenity Area – Arterial, which provides for the
proposed commercial development permitting retail, personal service and related
entertainment and other uses designed to fulfil the weekly shopping needs of
the surrounding community. The property
is zoned Community Amenity One*104(Hold) [CA1*104(H)], by By-law 177-76, as
amended. An amendment to By-law 177-96,
as amended, passed by Council in July 1999, included an exception (*104) which
permits a shopping centre.
Proposal for a
multi-building commercial plaza
The applicant is proposing to
construct a multi-building commercial development consisting of 8 buildings
(Figure 4). The GFA of each of the
buildings are as follows:
Building
|
GLA
|
Proposed Tenant
|
Building A
|
464.5 m2 (5 000 ft2)
|
TBD
|
|
Building B
|
510.9 m2 (5 499 ft2)
|
TBD
|
|
Building C
|
1 300.6 m2 (14 000 ft2)
|
Shoppers Drugmart
|
|
Building D
|
399.2 m2 (4 297 ft2)
|
TD-Canada Trust
|
|
Building E
|
510.9 m2 (5 499 ft2)
|
TBD
|
|
Building F
|
1 579.3 m2 (17 000 ft2)
|
TBD
|
|
Building G
|
4 729 m2 (50 904 ft2)
|
Sobeys Supermarket
|
|
Building H
|
464.5 m2 (5 000 ft2)
|
TBD
|
Total
|
9 959.22 m2 (107 200 ft2)
|
|
POTENTIAL BENEFITS OF APPROVAL OF THE PROPOSAL:
Some of the
anticipated benefits of the proposal include:
·
Proposal
promotes the siting, massing and scale of development that contributes to and
reinforces the function of these lands as a focal point and multi-purpose
centre for the surrounding new communities.
·
New
employment.
DISCUSSION:
Access to the property is to be from
Bur Oak Ave., Emery Hill Blvd. and McCowan Rd.
In September 2000, the subject property
was draft approved as a commercial block on a plan of subdivision. As a condition of draft approval, the Region
of York required provision of a vehicular connection from the commercial block
(the subject property), connecting to Street ‘L’ in the adjacent residential
plan of subdivision to the south (Michael and Veronica Larkin’s Phase 4
lands). At the time of draft approval
of the Emery plan, the Region required the access to Street ‘L’ to ensure
appropriate access and site circulation options remained available to the commercial
block, since, at that time, no access to McCowan Road would be permitted.
In September 2002, Town and Region of
York staff met with the applicant, a representative of Monarch Construction and
representatives of Emery Investments to discuss vehicular access. Region of York staff indicated they were now
prepared to permit a full moves access onto McCowan Road from the Emery
commercial site. Therefore, Emery’s
draft plan condition requiring the southerly access from the Emery commercial
block to the adjacent residential development to the south is redundant. In addition to the McCowan Rd. access, the
commercial site will also have access to Emery Hill Blvd. and Bur Oak Ave.
Michael and Veronica Larkin submitted a
by-law amendment application to implement their Phase 4 residential plan of
subdivision to the south of the subject property. It was approved by Council in November 2002, however, Emery
Investments appealed the decision in December 2002. Emery has indicated that the appeal relates only to the
elimination of the road connection between the two properties. Emery has also indicated, in writing, the
appeal will be withdrawn, upon site plan approval. It is Emery’s desire that site plan approval include a
full-movement access into their site from McCowan Road, designed for possible
future signalization, including underground electrical services. The Region indicated that a full movement
access to McCowan Road is acceptable and the intersection should be designed
for possible future signalization.
As a condition of site plan approval,
the applicant is required to red line the site plan to delete the southerly
access (Figure 4). Emery Investments
has no objection to the red line revision once site plan approval has been
granted.
Emery Hill Blvd. and Access Study
As part of the review for Emery
Investment’s plan of subdivision, an internal transportation assessment was
completed in 1999. Staff noted that
many of the patrons exiting the commercial development onto Emery Hill Blvd.
may travel westbound through the residential neighbourhood to get to
Stonebridge Drive (a minor collector road).
To alleviate the movements through the residential area, staff
recommended restricting the east/west portion of Emery Hill Blvd., from Lane
‘K’ to the north/south portion of Emery Hill Blvd., to eastbound movements
only.
The applicant has completed an Access
Study that indicates the number of left turn movements from Emery Hill Blvd. to
Bur Oak Avenue may result in a capacity deficiency at this intersection. The applicant is investigating intersection
modifications and other external road imp
rovements to alleviate this potential deficiency. As a condition of Site Plan Approval (prior
to the submission of final plans) the applicant is required to obtain approval
of the Access Study to the satisfaction of the Commissioner of Development
Services. The study will examine both
on-site and surrounding road network improvements in order to achieve efficient
access to the site while mitigating potential impacts to the surrounding
neighbourhood.
The Site Plan Agreement will include
requirements that the applicant monitor egress and ingress of traffic from this
site at various stages of build out. As
well the applicant will be required to construct any improvements to adjacent
public roadways and intersections, as may be recommended by the traffic
monitoring, to the satisfaction of the Director of Engineering. Such improvements may include traffic
calming measures, signal installation, or other measures as determined. The Town will hold securities to ensure this
work is completed.
Noise study required
The proximity of the adjacent
residential uses to the proposed commercial development necessitates a noise
study. The applicant’s noise study
concludes that the proposal can be designed to meet the applicable sound level
limits as required by the Ministry of the Environment’s guidelines. However, a detailed evaluation of the noise
impacts is needed once the equipment is selected and the final site and grading
plan is designed.
Sufficient parking provided
The 618 parking spaces and 16
handicapped parking spaces is sufficient for the proposed commercial
development (538 parking spaces and 11 handicapped parking spaces are required
by the by-law).
Site Plan is acceptable
The Urban Design staff are generally
satisfied with the layout of the buildings, access and parking lot layout. The materials and massing of the development
are generally satisfactory, however, in November 2002, the applicant met with
Town staff to request a change to the north elevation of Building ‘G’ (Sobeys)
originally submitted with the application.
They noted that there is a possibility of future expansion to the north
face of the building and therefore, the proposed upgraded elevations are not
necessary. Staff agreed subject to the
incorporation of a condition in the site plan agreement requiring the applicant
to upgrade the north elevation or the adjacent landscaping should the expansion
not proceed.
As part of the Site Plan Agreement, the
applicant is required to provide a letter of credit for additional landscaping,
adjacent to the north elevation of Building ‘G’ should the expansion or
upgrades to the elevation not proceed within a specified time frame. The time frame will be finalized with the
owner at the site plan agreement stage.
The buildings have a continuity of
materials, colours and detailing treatment, The design incorporates a number of
special features and roof features to provide visual interest and denote
important locations such as corner and entrances.
The buildings are located close to the
street and oriented to maintain a significant street frontage. The building locations define the street
edge and create gateways into the site.
The layout of the site provides a
streetscape design that unifies the various buildings on site and enhances the
pedestrian environment and circulation.
The layout creates a linked network of pedestrian walkways along
internal circulation routes, building fronts, parking areas and connections to
adjacent streets.
The locations of the drive thoughs are
sited so that they are not visually intrusive from the street. The loading and service areas are screened
from adjacent residential lands and public view by screen walls and landscaping.
FINANCIAL CONSIDERATIONS:
None at
this time
BUSINESS UNITS CONSULTED AND AFFECTED:
The site plan application submitted by
the applicant has been circulated to various departments and external
agencies. Requirements of the Town and
external agencies have been reflected in the preparation of this report and
conditions of approval.
|
|
|
|
|
Valerie Shuttleworth, M.C.I.P., R.P.P.
Director of Planning and Urban Design
|
|
Jim
Baird, M.C.I.P., R.P.P.
Commissioner of Development Services
|
q:\development\planning\appl\siteplan\02116176
williamstowncommercialdevelopment\psk0218.doc
APPLICANT/AGENT: Emery Investments Ltd. Tel: (416) 630-6927
Attn: Mai Somermaa Fax: (416) 630-6997
620
Wilson Avenue
Suite
100
Toronto,
ON
M3K
1Z3
ATTACHMENTS: Figure 1 – Location Map
Figure
2 – Area Context/Zoning
Figure
3 – Aerial Map
Figure
4 – Site Plan
Figure
5 – Elevations
Figure
6 – Elevations
Figure
7 – Elevations
