Woodbine and Danforth development approved by city with provision more affordable units will be sought
By ALAN SHACKLETON
Toronto Council has officially approved the proposal for the development of residential buildings of 35 and 10 stories in height at the northeast corner of Woodbine and Danforth avenues.
The final approval at council’s November meeting was not unexpected since the proposal had already been given the green light by Toronto and East York Community Council in late October.
The 35-storey building will be located at 985 Woodbine Ave. and the 10-storey building will be located at 2078, 2086, 2100, 2102 and 2106 Danforth Ave. (east of Woodbine and west of Cedarvale Avenue). The northern boundary of the development site is Strathmore Boulevard.
However, one amendment was made to the plan approved last week by Toronto Council. That amendment, moved by Beaches-East York Councillor Brad Bradford, called for city staff to work with the developer to “either increase the total Affordable Rental Housing Units” in the proposal, or to extend the amount of time that designated affordable units in the building will remain so.
The developer of these two buildings is Choice Properties REIT (Real Estate Investment Trust) which is the development arm of Loblaws.
The rental residential buildings are expected to have 646 units between them, including 14 of them previously designated as “rental replacement units” as they had existed in buildings already on the development site and 12 “new” affordable units.
It was those replacement rental units, at which the price is fixed as affordable under the city’s definition of the word, that were part of the amendment to Toronto Council’s approval of the development.
If Choice Properties are not able to find funding from the federal or provincial governments for more affordable units in the Woodbine and Danforth buildings, then the city will be looking for the leases on the 12 new units designated as “affordable” to remain so for 99 years.
The amendment reads:
“City Council request the Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning and the Executive Director, Housing Secretariat to work with the applicant to either increase the total Affordable Rental Housing Units as part of the City’s Rental Housing Supply Program or other federal or provincial programs, or where they are not able to achieve financial incentives, work to extend the affordability period of the 12 affordable rental housing units secured in Part 2 for a ninety-nine (99) year period.”
Councillor Bradford said he was pleased Choice Properties will be working with city staff on the issue of securing more affordable rental units for the buildings.
“I’m proud of the benefits that the community and I were able to secure from the developer of the 985 Woodbine site,” he told Beach Metro Community News.
“I’ve made it clear that I would like to see even more affordable units on site. Discussions are ongoing between city staff, the developer and my office to explore how to increase the number of affordable units by leveraging grants and incentives from either city-run or federal programs. I will continue pushing to achieve as many affordable homes as we can.
“These units will be affordable based on the city’s income-based definition, which measures what people can afford instead of basing on the average market rent.”
The City of Toronto’s definition of an affordable rental unit is based on a person’s salary and deems that rental costs not be more that 30 per cent of their monthly salary. The amount obviously varies depending on the salary of the person or family renting the unit.
“Affordable rental housing means housing where the total monthly shelter cost (gross monthly rent, inclusive of utilities for heat, hydro, hot water and water) is at or below the lesser of one times the average City of Toronto rent, by dwelling unit type, as reported annually by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, or 30 percent of the before-tax monthly income of renter households,” said the City of Toronto’s website. (For more details see https://www.toronto.ca/city-government/planning-development/official-plan-guidelines/housing/#:~:text=2024%20Affordable%20Rents,below%20the%2060th%20percentile%20income )
A number of other community improvements have also come with this development including space for a local theatre and an expanded sidewalk area near the entrance to the Woodbine Subway Station.
“These (improvements) include wider sidewalks, a new daycare, a purpose-built space designed for the Coal Mine Theatre with guaranteed community access hours, a larger grocery store, 14 rental replacement units, and 12 new affordable units that are secured for at least 40 years – a 60 per cent increase in affordable housing years from the original staff recommendation,” said Bradford.
“At Community Council, my motion directed staff to ensure that the theatre was available for rent by the community for nominal fees for 10 hours per month,” he said. “This fills a much-needed gap for bookable space for larger meetings and consultations in the neighbourhood.”
