The MRA recently sent several questions regarding the rezoning and development application process to Matthew Premru in Toronto City Planning. We would like to share these with residents, to better understand the timing and procedure we can expect for future development, and specifically for Wesley Mimico United Church’s development application.
Q: Is a City-hosted Public Consultation Meeting required regarding WMUC’s application?
M. Premru: Yes. Once Planning puts forward a Preliminary Report to Council to introduce the Application, we also recommend that Council directs us to hold an initial community consultation meeting. I am aiming to bring the Preliminary Report to the June 18th EYCC agenda. The instruction to staff usually is to determine a community meeting date in consultation with the local Councillor – once that is set, public notice will go out (note: typically we do not hold community meetings in the summer). Then there is the Community Council ‘Public Meeting’ that is required by the Planning Act. That meeting happens on the day the Final Report is brought forward to Etobicoke York Community Council.
Q: The application is listed on the City Planning website as “under review”. What does this mean? How long will this take?
M. Premru: The application is now being circulated to the relevant internal and external commenting departments and agencies. This process (rounds of circulation) continues until staff are prepared to complete a Final Report with recommendations. At this point, it is too early to predict how long the process will take, it will depend on the extent of issues to be identified through the circulation process and the applicant’s ability to address those. In my experience, an application like this would typically not take less than 9 months to complete – again, I’ll have a better idea once the issues are identified.
Q: Will nearby residents be informed of the application – if so when and how?
M. Premru: Residents within 200 metres of the subject property will automatically be notified of the community consultation meeting and we also add names to the interested parties list for automatic notification as well.
Note: Residents can submit comments on the Wesley application and request updates on the Development Application Webpage here.
Q: Is Heritage Designation considered as part of the rezoning application? Can the decision be deferred based Heritage review?
M.Premru: This application has been circulated to Heritage Preservation Services staff. I am relying on them to identify the best process going forward as part of their comments on the first round of circulation. These, and all other agency/dept comments are available on file for public inspection.
Q: It says on the Planning Applications website that “detailed project data” will be provided for rezoning applications, but I don’t see anything other than storeys and number of units. Will more information be posted?
M.Premru: The Application information is not posted on the City website, however the public can access the files at Planning office by contacting us (Matthew Premru: mpremru@toronto.ca). The public can inspect/copy either the paper copies on file or digital versions if available. More details will be available as we continue to process this application and by the time we prepare a Preliminary Report (which of course will be available to the public).
Note: The MRA has copied the relevant application files and they are available for download on the MRA website here.
Pingback: Wesley Mimico United Church development application process – information from MRA website | Preserved Stories