Residents celebrating after towering LIUNA Gardens development rejected at tribunal

The plan included towers of 22 and 26 storeys that were to be bookended by 12-storey buildings on the now-vacant 3.4-hectare lakeshore lot between Winona Road and East Street.

The proposed 1,160 housing units also included 25 three-storey townhouses by the lake and 64 stacked townhouses on the property’s southern boundary, as well as a two-storey amenity building. All 1,420 parking spaces were to be in an underground garage.

Fengate appealed to the Ontario Land Tribunal in June 2020, arguing it needed help “to ensure a timely approval” of the development, which had yet to be reviewed by the city.

Back then, the plan proposed two 24-storey and two 15-storey buildings, for a total of 1,212 units on the property, where a banquet hall and union training centre had been demolished prior to the applications.

Braun ruled the revised development would still be “an abrupt transformation” from surrounding single-family homes in an area without public transit or adequate sidewalks and bike lanes.

That would make residents in the 1,160 units “reliant upon automobiles for work, school, accessing facilities and services and meeting their daily needs, just like the current residents,” she said in her 36-page ruling.

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• Dec 31, 1969
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• Dec 31, 1969
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“Notwithstanding the reduced unit count, the Tribunal considers the proposal overly ambitious, attempting to maximize, rather than optimize development and introducing too great a change in built form and an inappropriate level of intensification into the heart of (the neighbourhood).”

Dawn Simpson, one of the three residents who formally opposed the plan at an eight-day hearing in December, said she’s thrilled and relieved that “common sense” prevailed, especially given the tribunal’s record of mostly siding with developers.

“It feels amazing that we were heard,” said the Winona Road resident, who lives across the street from the LIUNA property and worried about the impact on pedestrian safety for children in an area with limited sidewalks.

“I had people tell me that I should drop out, I’m fighting a losing battle, there’s no point,” she said, adding she realizes LIUNA will still want to develop the site but hopes any new plan fits the neighbourhood.

Wendakee Drive resident Charles Puma, who also formally opposed the plan, likened the proposed residential towers to “a giant sore thumb sticking out of the ground into the sky” that would have overwhelmed the neighbourhood and invaded people’s privacy.

“It was sheerly pure greed,” he said, praising the city, Simpson and Winona Road resident Robert Morash for their hard work in fighting the plan. “This was a very ill-conceived development. Hopefully it will be downscaled a lot.”

Lawyer David Bronskill, who represented Fengate at the hearing, didn’t respond to a request for comment by the filing of this story.

Coun. Jeff Beattie, who represents the area, said he’s “elated” the ruling acknowledged the development was incompatible with the neighbourhood, commending residents and the city’s legal staff for a successful team effort.

He said the decision “sets the bar on what is not acceptable” and he hopes any future proposal is more appropriately scaled.

“I hope that this restores faith in the process because the sentiment leading into this was somewhat pessimistic,” he said. “At the end of the day, good planning practices prevailed and the community can have at least a momentary sigh of relief.”