The Update #78 goes on to explain that: “Despite the pandemic, construction planning for this exciting next phase has continued. Project Manager David Kalm has already submitted the application for a building permit to the City of Toronto, is finalizing the Site Plan Agreement and continuing with submissions to the TTC.”
To verify the status of the project, EWR contacted the City Planning Department for the City of Toronto as well as the Property, Planning & Development Division of the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) during the month of September.
According to Ms. Sipo Maphangoh, Senior Planner, Midtown Section, Toronto and East York District, there are major steps that remain to be completed before a building permit can be granted. When asked to provide a general status Ms. Maphangoh explained: “While the applicant has formally submitted an application for a building permit, the Site Plan application is still being reviewed and has not been approved. A full building permit will not be issued until the Site Plan is approved and a Site Plan Agreement is registered on title. Comments were provided to the applicant in June of 2020 and they are likely working on requested revisions and information for a final resubmission and staff review.” Aside from the fact that the IEC’s project team still has to respond to the City’s notations made in June, Ms. Maphangoh went on to say that since the property involves TTC infrastructure: “The TTC requires that the applicant go through a TTC technical review and enter into a Construction Agreement. That is a process separate from City Planning's Site Plan review, however Planning staff will require confirmation that the applicant has satisfied these requirements prior to final Site Plan Approval.”
Since any potential Site Plan Agreement, or building permit, between the City of Toronto and the IEC is contingent on the TTC’s Technical Review as well as a Construction Agreement executed between IEC and the TTC, EWR contacted the TTC’s Property, Planning and Development Division. When asked what the timeline might be for a Technical review to be completed, Vincenza Guzzo , Property Director at the TTC said: “it is very difficult to ascertain how long a Technical Review will take or, while a Technical Review is in progress, when the Technical Review will be completed. The Technical Review is a process involving the applicant making submissions to TTC, addressing TTC’s comments on the submissions, and demonstrating the protection of TTC’s infrastructure from the proposed development. In regard to the IEC project, the Technical Review is in progress.”
As it pertains to what follows a successful Technical Review, Ms. Guzzo explained: “Generally, a construction agreement is settled and executed following the completion of the Technical Review. However, depending on the complexity of the project overall, the negotiation, settlement, and execution of a construction agreement could take several months or years.“
These processes are complex and lengthy. Yet Update #78 continues by suggesting: “David Kalm anticipates that construction will start before the end of 2020.” Both Community Planning and the TTC admit that in the days of COVID-19 all approval processes are even more complex to execute and can be stretched longer than usual because of remote staffing and social distancing.
The IEC has to have a Technical Review completed with the TTC before negotiations on a Construction Agreement can begin. As the TTC suggests, those negotiations themselves can take “several months.” Only after that agreement with the TTC is in hand, will City Planning sit down to consider final approval a Site Plan Agreement. The contention that construction of the IEC could start before the end of 2020 seems overtly optimistic as does the suggestion that a move into the new IEC could be anticipated in 2022. Even if proceeds from a potential sale of St. Peter’s Church (Peetri Kirik) flood into the coffers of the IEC relatively soon, the fact remains, there are four tunnels of infrastructure and a host of engineering and construction elements that need to be attended to before building can begin. Even cutting down or planting a certain species of trees on a property can slow a process down. (See attached). What may be more likely is that the only shovels hitting the ground at 9 and 11 Madison Avenue before the end of 2020 are snow shovels.
Allan Meiusi, EWR
