City approves plans for four-storey apartment building on Benlamond Avenue
By AMARACHI AMADIKE
A development proposal at 9 Benlamond Avenue in the Main Street and Gerrard Street East area is now one step closer to construction after the City of Toronto passed a zoning bylaw recently that allows for the construction of a four-storey low-rise apartment building on the property.
The proposed building site is on the south side of Benlamond Avenue just west of Main Street.
With the neighbourhood comprising a mixed typology of buildings, the developer, 12850938 ONTARIO INC, said that its aim with this project is to add to Toronto’s stock of “missing middle” apartments.
“This project is representative of a missing middle typology development and definitely carries out the intent of the Expanding Housing Options in Neighbourhoods initiative and study,” said 12850938 ONTARIO INC.’s land use planner, Christian Chan, at a Toronto and East York Community Council hearing on June 11.
The building will provide 16 residential units comprising eight two-bedroom units and eight three-bedroom units.
There will be six underground residential parking spaces with two additional spaces for visitors. With Toronto putting more emphasis on a sustainable approach to living, the developers have opted to focus on bike parking spaces with 20 spots available to residents.
However, the site is in close proximity to transit with bus line availability to Main Street subway station as well as streetcars that run along Kingston Road and Gerrard Street East.
The builders also said they are keeping environmental impacts in mind with the preservation of 20 trees during construction. With nine trees proposed to be removed in order to give way for additions to the site, Chan said that replacement trees are in the works.
At the final public meeting on the proposal, there were nine written, and one oral, submissions taken into consideration by city councillors before they made their decision.
For more information about the development at 9 Benlamond Ave., please contact City Planner Sean Guenther at sean.guenther@toronto.ca
