July 2023 – HCA Statement
The Hintonburg community is about to witness a massive development at 979 Wellington St W, at the scale of a city block, resulting in a 12 storey building comprising 252 residential market-rate units, commercial/retail uses at grade and 141 underground parking spaces. HCA opposed certain elements of this project and eventually appealed the City’s approval to the Ontario Land Tribunal. We thank the community for the strong support through this difficult process.
This is a useful case for the Hintonburg community to ponder. The experience raises questions about power dynamics and imbalances, about operating within the guardrails of development, about the City not having our backs and more. HCA wants to hear from you on this.
We’ll start with the “guardrails” under which the 979 Wellington St W proposal should have been “governed”, namely, i) the Wellington West and Scott Street Secondary Plans and ii) the Wellington Street West Community Design Plan (CDP). These Plans were developed by City staff and years of volunteer time and work by HCA and other residents.
One of the key outcomes of the Plans was the emergence of the Traditional Mainstreet zoning height limit along Wellington St West, set at 6 storeys with a 9 storey exception for “gateway” locations. Following an initial development proposal in 2018, Official Plan and Zoning amendments were approved enabling only the 979 Wellington St W address to be rezoned to 9 storeys.
Traditional Mainstreet zoning was created to accommodate a broad range of uses; foster and promote compact, mixed-use, pedestrian-oriented development; recognize the function of Business Improvement Areas as primary business or shopping areas; and impose development standards to ensure that street continuity, scale and character is maintained. In other words, it was the “15 minute neighbourhood” concept before the branding.
The 979 Wellington St W saga began on November 2020, when ML Devco Inc. submitted to the City Official Plan Amendment and Zoning By-law Amendment applications for the proposed development of a 23 storey mixed-use residential rental building at 979 Wellington Street W, which also included 961, 967, 969, 973 Wellington Street West and 26-32, 36 and 40 Armstrong Street. The proposal amounted to 14 storeys above the zoning at 979 Wellington, 17 storeys above the permitted zoning at the other Wellington St W addresses and 19 storeys above the zoning for the Armstrong St addresses.
The HCA and some residents pushed back on the ML Devco Inc. proposal, carefully showing it to be non-compliant with the Plans, in contravention of the vision and community consensus embedded in the Plans coupled with a weak planning rationale that did not hold up to close scrutiny.
In April 2021, ML Devco Inc. submitted a new proposal comprised of a 13-storey mixed-use building with a change in form from a podium-tower format to a U-shaped building. And again, HCA and other residents pushed back with the consistent theme of the proposal being non-compliant with the Plan guardrails.
Sadly, City staff supported the revised proposal, and it was ultimately approved by Planning Committee and Council, October 13 2021. The HCA appealed the City’s approval to the Ontario Land Tribunal and took it as far as the Association could. We won some improvements to the Wellington St. Right of Way (the closed off roadway) and to Somerset Square. Further community consultation on these improvements will happen over the next four years as the project is built.
What did we learn? Well, perhaps Secondary and Community Design plans don’t mean much as guardrails to development. Developers see these Plans as the starting rather than the end point, to be played in the ritual of proposals and planning rationales designed to exceed the boundaries. Meanwhile, the City staff seem to be in lock step with this gaming ritual. We can look at this as a power dynamic with well heeled developers and their consultants versus, virtually zero heeled communities operating through their “sweat equity”. In this dynamic, wouldn’t we expect the City to at least try and level the field? Well, they didn’t.
Hintonburg has been left with a development that will add needed market-rate rental apartments. On the other hand, we’re left with no non-market affordable housing, very little in family sized units, increased vehicular traffic and emissions and a built form incongruent with the surrounding neighbourhood. In terms of the zoning amendments on height, the City maintains these are one off exceptions, not precedents. We don’t believe them.
Taking account existing, approved and planned levels of development, it’s clear that Hintonburg is exceeding its intensity targets. Yet the development onslaught continues. Through the summer and into the early Fall, the HCA Board will be considering new strategies and best practices to ensure responsible development. We know this is going to be all the more difficult as provincial legislation has further eroded community tools and levers to manage development within the guardrails of existing Plans. Stay tuned to further actions on this front. In the meantime, we welcome any comments and suggestions you wish to share with us and the community.
