Tag: 730 Hillsdale

Brown Group meeting filled to overflowing, some leave

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Peeking into meeting room from hallway. Others stood behind photographer

A meeting scheduled for Wedneday evening to discuss plans for the proposed Brown Group development on Bayview Ave. seems to have planned for a few less members of the public than actually wanted to get in. The meeting was set to begin at 7 p.m. in a small room on the second floor at the rear of the Mt. Pleasant Public Library. The room was full to standing and members of the public spilled down a narrow hallway to the stairs.

In its early going the meeting heard from the Chief City Planner and the planner for the developer, Brown Group.  Both stressed their professional duty to make recommendations which they believed would be best for the community. The plan, as stated by the City, stands where it was last year: that is, a mixed use building (including retail on Bayview) of nine storeys in height. The space to be used is nearly an acre in size and runs from Soudan Ave to Hillsdale Ave on the west side (Ward 22) of Bayview. What has changed, it was announced, is the developers desire to legalize the plan by obtaining a rezoning of the land from neighborhood (limited height) to mixed use. The latter would permit much higher heights, it was said. It was also stressed that this meeting will not  be the only one at which the public may be heard. That would be good because people were leaving because they were essentially excluded from participating from the narrow hall outside the door to the room.

This meeting is said to have been organized by City staff although this is sidewalk talk. In fact, there are many very large spaces in Ward 22 much closer to Bayview Ave. Meetings may be held at Manor Road United and Hodgson Senior Public School on Davisville Ave.  A Previous meeting in December was a tip off to the interest. People filled a room at Leaside Public Library which was twice the size of that used tonight. Councillor Josh Matlow (Ward 22) said he made it clear to the developer that if they come back with a more reasonable proposal, residents would work with them. Otherwise, he said  they will the development. Meeting of December 3, 2014

Meeting for Bayview Ave development April 22, 2015

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Retail and residential plan has 243 parking spaces underneath

City officials and members of the Brown Group of property owners will be back before the public next week to take questions about a proposed development for the west side of Bayview between Soudan Ave and Hillsdale Ave. There was a meeting held in December at which residents voiced a lot of opposition to the height of the building. The notice sent out yesterday by the City indicates Brown Group is sticking with the nine-storey size of the building. Nine storeys exceed by close to double the neighborhood height permitted on Bayview. The building across Hillsdale at 1670 is five storeys. This meeting will be held at the Mt. Pleasant Public Library, 599 Mt. Pleasant on Wednesday, April 22, 2015. starting at 7 p.m. There was a favorable response among many who were present in December to the mixed use concept, retail spaces on Bayview and on a short turn at both Soudan and Hillsdale. Earlier story 

Residents oppose 9 storey proposal for Bayview

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Residents from Ward 22 and Ward 26 jammed the little meeting room in the Leaside Library on McRae Drive tonight for an information session on the proposed nine-storey development on the west side of Bayview Ave between Soudan and Hillsdale Ave (inset top). Many people stood all evening. The Brown Group has yet to make an application of any kind to the city and the company’s moderator Adam Brown offered this as evidence of the firm’s sincerity. Design features and setbacks notwithstanding, the meeting was deeply opposed to the idea of a nine-storey building on Bayview. Josh Matlow (Ward 22) took the floor briefly and said nine storeys is the maximum that will be permitted in the new world of an LRT-equipped Eglinton Ave. “It is only reasonable that we would wish to build down from there as we move away from Eglinton,” he said. There was brief uncertainty as to present zoning until Geoff Kettel said the land was “neighborhood” — a designation that would permit no more than three, perhaps four storeys. Mr. Brown was insistent on the company’s desire to have peace with residents. He seemed to modify his opening assertion that the Brown Group did not intend to negotiate on the height of nine storeys. The building plan as it sits calls for stores on Bayview with as many as 30 residential rental units overlaid by as many as 170 “sales units” that would be sold. The most expensive of these units would be in a three-story box of glass sitting atop the six floors below. It was these three glass floors that drew the most criticism. An underground parking garage would contain 240 spaces for cars and 190 racks for bicycles. The building would be graded in the form of steps on the west side. At present, it rises at an angle of 45 degrees. At the front, the angle is more like 80 degrees. Brown Group proposes to build a block-long service lane behind the structure with a wall-like fence separating the property from residences to the west. In addition, the developer has purchased two homes, one each on Hillsdale and Soudan, on the outside of the fence as a barrier to the disruption caused by construction. Commercial store fronts would extend along Bayview and around each corner onto Hillsdale and Soudan, a characteristic that Brown said would provide “an animated retail space.” A number of residents spoke in favour of retail space on the west side to complement the stores on the east side of Bayview. Also present at the meeting were Jon Burnside (Ward 26), Vanessa Rose of Mr. Burnside’s office and Patrick Rocca. The meeting heard that there are many steps and many more meetings before a plan could be approved.  

High interest in Brown Group meeting tonight

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There is considerable interest across South Bayview Wednesday morning in a meeting scheduled for this evening at the Leaside Library. It is convened by a company called the Brown Group to explain its proposal for a nine-storey so-called mixed use building on South Bayview between Soudan and Hillsdale Aves. The development would sit in Ward 22 (Josh Matlow) and require the demolition of four old brick bungalows on Bayview, a townhome complex plus two other homes on Soudan and the aging building known as the Hillsdale Apartments at the corner of Bayview and Hillsdale. There is much to know about this proposal and one can be sure there will be fierce resistance to revisions that would allow a building of this height. Councillor Matlow tweeted tartly that the developer is proposing the wrong building for Davisville and is holding the meeting in Leaside. The development would take out the properties between 1674 Bayview (the Hillsdale Apartments) and 1684 Bayview. As well, it would remove 720 Hillsdale and 701 to to 713 Soudan. The map shows residential buildings in green, commercial properties in purple. The single commercial site is a former physicians office in a converted bungalow. The meeting is scheduled for tonight, Wednesday, December 3, 2015 at 7 p.m. in the Leaside Library on McRae Drive. A phone number and contact names are provided in the notice: Laura MacCormick or Sherman Brown at (416) 222-0344 extension 122.  Previous 

9-storey “mixed use” bid for South Bayview Ave.

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A company known as the Brown Group has consolidated property on the west side of Bayview Ave. between Soudan Ave. and Hillsdale Ave and is proposing to build what it says would be a nine-storey mixed use structure there. A notice was circulated in the neighborhood in recent hours. It states that a meeting is scheduled to tell residents about “the rationale for the proposed design” of the building. It says the developer is looking for feedback. A building of nine storeys would require changes to the official plan and the residential nature of the block between the two side streets. The development would take out the properties between 1674 Bayview (the Hillsdale Apartments) and 1684 Bayview. As well, it would remove 720 Hillsdale and 701 to to 713 Soudan. The meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, December 3, 2015 at 7 p.m. in the Leaside Library on McRae Drive. A phone number and contact names are provided in the notice: Laura MacCormick or Sherman Brown at (416) 222-0344 extension 122.