Non-profit housing tower in Etobicoke stalled over ‘employment lands' conflict

A planning application proposing one of the largest privately owned affordable-housing developments in Toronto has been stalled amid differences between provincial and city policies on converting land once zoned for industrial and commercial use to residential.
The proposal filed in late 2024 seeks to turn a plot of land in Etobicoke into four condo towers containing 1,819 apartments. If approval is given, one of those towers, with 342 apartments, would be conveyed to the not-for-profit Community Affordable Housing Solutions (CAHS) group, which combines members from affordable housing organizations such as Habitat for Humanity GTA and St. Clare's Multifaith Housing Society.
'We would own it and those units would be affordable in perpetuity. It's exactly the type of housing the city wants,' said Joshua Bénard, a board member with CAHS and vice-president for real estate development for Habitat for Humanity GTA.
The city has 120 days to make a decision after an application is complete on the request to convert the property, which the city deems to be 'employment land' to residential use. That should have meant a decision in early May, but there has been silence from a department of city planning said to be reviewing the matter. 'We've been kinda stonewalled. … I don't know what to make of it, I'm very frustrated by it,' said Mr. Bénard.
According to advocates for the proposal and land-use experts, the source of the tension appears to be Toronto's long-standing desire to protect hundreds of hectares of employment-zoned land from residential redevelopment, and a provincial government that, since 2023, has been making it easier for landowners to apply for conversions of that same land.
New builds drive rent decreases, but also leave tenants vulnerable to steep hikes, experts say
In 2023's Helping Homebuyers, Protecting Tenants Act, Ontario narrowed the definition of 'employment area' so that lands used for retail and commercial office space would no longer be covered (with some exceptions, such as attachments to larger warehousing or manufacturing facilities). In 2024, the Provincial Policy Statement kicked away other bureaucratic hurdles that allowed cities to avoid considering conversions of employment land.
Despite this new landscape, the CAHS team said the only objection to its proposal seems to be related to an outdated view of employment lands.
'They refused to recognize that this is not an area of employment. They somehow thought it should regenerate for employment uses,' said David Charezenko an urban planner and principal at Bousfields Inc. who made the application on behalf of CAHS and the landowners. He said that, early on, he knew there was opposition from some parts of the planning department but believed the merits of the application would win out. 'It's a little bit frustrating. It really has been like we're caught in a bigger conversation on employment areas, and we're not getting to the point of what this proposal is about: affordable housing,' Mr. Charezenko said.
The city didn't make anyone from the Planning Department available for an interview, but provided a statement that reflected that tension: 'Affordable housing is a major priority for the City of Toronto, and the City must weigh that against the need to protect stable employment areas that provide thousands of local jobs and ensure long-term economic viability, while creating complete communities for Torontonians,' it read.
Corporate property owners fueling housing rent increases in Toronto
According to background documents provided by city staff, as of 2023, employment areas hosted 21,900 enterprises that provided 26 per cent of all the jobs in the city (almost 400,000 people), and were responsible for almost 27 per cent of the city's $195-billion GDP. The area around the CAHS site, the 'South Etobicoke Employment Area,' is the second largest cluster of employment land in the city, responsible for 40,900 jobs in 2024.
For Mr. Bénard, it's not a matter of disagreeing with those goals but of recognizing that not all employment lands are the same.
'It's not Triple-A employment lands: It's a parking lot next to a Golf Town [retail store] and the adjacent lots are single-family homes,' said Mr. Bénard. 'We do need to protect the right employment lands – this site isn't one of them.'
'The city does exist in a bit of a period of limbo with some of its employment areas,' said David Bronskill, partner in the municipal and land development group at Goodmans LLP, who on June 3 filed an appeal with the Ontario Land Tribunal to break the logjam and get the application moving. In an interview, he noted that, in part, the city's planning policies have yet to catch up to the new provincial direction after its first attempts to update its official plan were rejected by Ontario's Minister of Municipalities and Housing.
'For better or for worse, the lands they designated employment permitted office and general employment permitted large-format retail,' Mr. Bronskill said. 'That's a significant portion of the lands in Toronto that wouldn't meet the new provincial definition.'
Even the appeal is somewhat unusual, given that a key protection in Ontario's Planning Act says that land owners can't appeal decisions related to employment area conversion applications. According to Daniel Artenosi, a lawyer with Overland LLP, there is a view among land-use experts that the city's most recent attempt to bring its official plan into alignment with the new provincial definitions on employment land (which is currently awaiting approval at the provincial legislature) is an attempt to preserve that appeal-denying power for most of its existing employment areas.
'The Planning Act allows cities to keep employment areas providing the use was 'lawfully established' prior to October, 2024,' he said. Toronto staff, according to Mr. Artenosi, have hinted at various times that they will interpret even nonconforming employment areas – with historical office or retail use permissions, in opposition to provincial definitions – as 'lawfully established' and side-step all the province's redefinitions. 'We think they are saying: 'We used to permit these, therefore they were lawfully established' … this exercise is trying to revive the status quo,' he said. There's also the possibility that the city could limit its own options if it succeeds in preserving all its current employment lands, since it could no longer approve office or retail uses in those areas if they didn't meet provincial definitions.
The city's statement on the CAHS application offered more nuance.
'City Planning balances the provincial direction to protect economically vital employment areas with the City's housing objectives,' the statement said. 'Over the last few years ... staff reviewed over 150 requests for conversion on employment lands and recommended 64 conversions to allow residential uses to Council, which typically have affordable housing requirements.'

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Learn with AIFact CheckingText to SpeechAI Summary

Related Articles

CBC

31 minutes ago

• CBC

Retail sales inched up in April from sales gains at car dealers, but likely dropped in May

Retail sales rose 0.3 per cent to $70.1 billion in April, helped by gains in sales at new and used car dealers, says Statistics Canada. However, the agency says its preliminary figures for May point to a drop of 1.1 per cent for that month. For April, six of nine sub-sectors were up, as sales at motor vehicle and parts dealers gained 1.9 per cent, boosted by a 2.9 per cent increase at new car dealers and a 2.1 per cent rise at used car dealers. Sales at sporting goods, hobby, musical instrument, book and miscellaneous retailers rose one per cent, while furniture, home furnishings, electronics and appliances retailers gained 0.8 per cent. Sales at clothing, clothing accessories, shoes, jewelry, luggage and leather goods retailers fell 2.2 per cent. Core retail sales, which exclude gasoline stations and fuel vendors and motor vehicle and parts dealers, gained 0.1 per cent in April. In volume terms, overall retail sales rose 0.5 per cent in April.

CTV News

36 minutes ago

• CTV News

City of Ottawa spending $10 million for land to build new Barrhaven community facility

The City of Ottawa is spending $10 million to purchase land for a new cultural and civic hub in Barrhaven and a future LRT station for the O-Train. A report for the finance and corporate services committee meeting on June 30 recommends the city purchase a 4.18-acre parcel of land at the north-west corner of the future intersection of Chapman Mills Drive and Riocan Avenue. The land will be purchased from the South Nepean Development Corporation. Staff with Parks and Facilities Planning Services, the Recreation, Cultural and Facility Services Department, and the Ottawa Public Library are planning to design and build a new facility in the Barrhaven Town Centre. The project will include a 15,000 sq. ft. cultural centre with performance and event space, a 3,000 sq. ft. seniors' space, a library branch, a councillor ward office and an urban plaza with a possible water and ice feature. Barrhaven land The City of Ottawa is buying a 4.18-acre parcel of vacant land at the north-west corner of the future intersection at Chapman Mills Drive and Riocan Avenue. (City of Ottawa report) The land could also be a future site for an LRT station if the city expands the O-Train into Barrhaven. 'The new civic hub will become a valued community asset, focal point and destination that will resonate with the people of Barrhaven and instill a sense of civic and cultural pride,' staff said in the report. 'The district library branch will serve residents in the South Nepean communities of Riverside South and Barrhaven.' Staff say the proposed civic complex is in the preliminary design stages and the LRT design will 'follow in the coming years.' There is no word on when construction will begin on the new complex. The City of Ottawa received funding under the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program for the new facility.

CBC

36 minutes ago

• CBC

Bedford beer garden on hold due to lack of parking

Social Sharing After several months of construction and a single weekend of slinging pints, a new beer garden along the Bedford Highway has had to shut off its taps indefinitely after failing to meet permit requirements. Tony Makhoul, co-owner of the Bedford Beer Garden, said the business obtained a special occasion licence for its opening this past weekend, which he described as a success. But a Halifax Regional Municipality bylaw states the beer garden — located in a largely empty gravel lot along the highway — doesn't have enough parking for the number of seats at the location to continue to operate. "It's been a process," said Makhoul. "Over four weeks, I'd say, we've been going back and forth with the city, reconfiguring the site plan to accommodate more parking spaces or enough parking spaces to accommodate the seating." He said according to HRM standards, only about five parking spaces can be created around the 80-seat beer garden, well shy of the required 20 spots. It was Makhoul's understanding that certain building permits were only needed if the business was permanent in a space, which the beer garden is not, he said. Initial visits from municipal staff back in March first brought up concerns about a site survey and property lines. He added it was only in the last six weeks or so, after several site changes, that staff flagged parking as an issue. He estimates that around 90 per cent of the people who attended the opening weekend took alternative means of transportation, including walking and public transit, and he's not sure why the city is pressing the parking issue. Makhoul took to social media Wednesday in response to the latest rejection to ask that residents reach out to the local councillor to voice their support for the business. Councillor response Jean St-Amand, the councillor for Bedford-Wentworth, told reporters Thursday that he's received a number of messages since Makhoul's call to action asking what the Bedford Beer Garden can do to continue operating. "I had a nice meeting with [the owners] myself just to better understand what their setup was and what they were looking to be to the community," St-Amand said. The councillor's understanding is that the problem is with the proportion of parking spaces relative to the square footage the beer garden occupies, he said, and that there's not enough of an entry and exit point for people who have parked their vehicles. St-Amand said his hands are tied. The solution will likely come with reducing the square footage of the beer garden, he said. "It's a delicate balance because they'd be giving up space in order to make room for parking spaces," St-Amand added. Municipal response In an email, HRM spokesperson Brynn Budden said it's up to the business owner to show a beer garden meets requirements, including providing off-street parking in accordance with the land-use bylaw. Makhoul said the business has has asked about using a parking lot across the street after office hours and on the weekend. He said the parking bylaw states that offsite parking, along with street parking and proximity to transit stops, can be used to decrease the number of onsite parking spots needed for a business.