A Toronto-East York Committee of Adjustment (CoA) virtual hearing on plans to alter a duplex building on Queen Street East in the Beach is slated to take place on Wednesday, Oct. 6.
The CoA public meeting will hear arguments for and against the plan for a change and addition to the building at 2273-2275 Queen St. E. The meeting will start at 3:30 p.m.
Applying to make the change to the west side is Rabbi Sholom Lezell of the synagogue and Hebrew school on the site. The changes are being sought to provide more room and accessibility for the school and its daycare.
However, neighbour Ed Wilson, who lives in the east side of the building, is concerned by the plan for a number of reasons.
Among them are the changes which will be done to the front of the building which is one of the Price Brothers homes built in the Beach in the early part of the last century. The proposal calls for a four-storey addition to the building, and it will significantly alter the roofline and appearance.
In an earlier story, Lezell told Beach Metro News the majority of the changes will be at the back of the building.
Wilson is especially concerned about the changes to the front of the building and the proposed height.
According to the plan that will be reviewed by the CoA on Oct. 6, the proposal calls for a two-storey addition with roof deck and a four-storey addition at the front and a four-storey addition at the rear of the building.
In order to be allowed, the proposal will have to be granted a number of variances by the CoA to existing zoning bylaws.
According to the CoA, these variances include increasing the allowed combined gross floor area from two times the size of the lot to 2.89 times the size of the lot; increasing the non-residential gross floor area from 0.5 times the size of the lot to 1.35 times the size of the lot; and increasing the maximum allowable height from 12 metres to 14.01 metres.
In a letter of objection sent to the CoA earlier this month regarding the planned variance changes, Beach resident Brian Graff said that the changes being sought are not “minor” and the proposal requires an amendment to the City of Toronto’s Official Plan.
“This application (as currently designed) clearly requires an Official Plan Amendment, so it should not be before this Committee (of Adjustment),” he wrote.
“The problems with this application go well beyond the three variances identified,” added Graff.
In his letter to the CoA, he also said that plan violates the Queen Street East Urban Design Guidelines established for the Beach area a number of years ago with the intent of maintaining the “small town ambience” of the area.
Wilson is urging local residents who have an opinion on the proposal to send their comments to the CoA as soon as possible.
Written submissions must be sent no later than 4:30 p.m. on Sept. 29. They should be in pdf format and emailed to coa.tey@toronto.ca.
People can also participate in the Oct. 6 virtual meeting, but must register in advance in order to be able to speak. Registration to speak must be made no later than 4:30 p.m. on Oct. 4. To register, email coa.tey@toronto.ca or call 416-392-7565.
For more info on the proposal, go to http://app.toronto.ca/AIC/index.do?folderRsn=zlCHXX2g2t0SSoBUn1i9Ag%3D%3D
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Please keep some historical buildings in the beaches and in Toronto. The council gets greedy when they see those big developers dollars all the while they tear down our historic buildings. At least keep the facade so generations from now can have a glimpse of the past.
Sounds ver nice, I appreciate everything this woman stands for, so a building like this standing a little higher than the rest actually adds to the area in beauty, because it will be the only one of its kind hopefully
Why does the proposed change have to be so darned ugly? We’re going to have to look at that ugliness for decades to come. and yes, urban landscape matters: it has a big impact on community health. Come on, Chabad, you can do better for the community than that. You say you’re all about community, prove it.