At a Planning and Housing Committee meeting today, councillors voted to adopt a zoning by-law amendment to allow for next steps in the highly anticipated Eglinton Avenue East Housing Now development — the largest co-op housing initiative in Ontario in the last 25 years. Next, the amendment will be considered at an upcoming City Council meeting.
As Senior Technical Lead at Housing Now Mark Richardson put it, an approved amendment would mean “turning 199 surface parking spaces into over 900 units of new housing.”
The proposed development would comprise 919 residential units, 612 of which will be rent-geared-to-income, affordable, and market rent controlled co-operative housing units. Residents would inhabit three towers: a 31 storey building, plus a 19 and 41 storey co-op building with a shared podium containing above grade parking and community uses. At grade would be commercial and retail space.
As a potential home for many commuters, one of the development's standout features is its proximity to Kennedy Station, a "multi-modal transit hub providing TTC subway and bus service, and GO train service," says the development's planning rationale. Plus, a new LRT stop has recently been constructed on Eglinton Avenue at Kennedy Road.
Excitement surrounding the potential development was palpable at the committee meeting with numerous deputations from supporters praising the site’s mixed-use, affordable, and transit-oriented nature.
Among the speakers was a representative from More Neighbours Now — a young individual who had grown up in a co-op housing development built by Tom Clement, the Executive Director of the Co-operative Housing Federation of Toronto. “To [Tom] and his team, I’m forever grateful,” they said. “Supporting this amendment, to me, means more than approving a project, it's about enabling more Torontonians to experience the stability and community that co-op housing provides.”
The vote in favour of adopting the zoning by-law amendment was unanimous among councillors, along with a motion from the Ward 21 councillor to have the developer partners for 2444 Eglinton work with CreateTO and the Toronto Parking Authority to “maximise public parking [...] either on site or within the surrounding area to offset the loss of the existing commuter parking lot due to this development.”
