Quarry: Details on the retail

NW corner of The Quarry, Gerrard St. and Victoria Park Ave.

Build Toronto plans to construct either a department store or a home improvement store at the corner of Gerrard St. and Victoria Park Ave. at the former site of the Beach Fairway golf range.

At a community meeting Tuesday night, Build officials said the store would be larger than the Loblaws (85,000 sq. ft.) but smaller than the new Target store at Shopper’s World (135,000 sq. ft.).

Senior Vice President of Development, Prakash David, said Build Toronto is in talks with a number of retailers but doesn’t have a tenant yet, in part because the land needs to be rezoned first.

“I can’t tell you that today,” David said when pressed about his negotiations with retailers.  “I can tell you that as soon as we have a tenant we’ll let you know.”

Canadian Tire at Lakeshore Avenue E. and Leslie Street

What kind of department store?

When asked by a member of the community to define “department store”, a retail consultant hired by Build Toronto, James Tate, referred to the Statistics Canada definition and said the list included The Bay, Sears, Target, Walmart and Marshall’s.

Build Toronto’s consultants described the proposed big box store as a two-storey building with good street frontage and parking either underground or at the side of the building.

The community was told the store will have an urban feel similar to the Canadian Tire store at Lakeshore and Leslie St., as opposed to traditional “old school” developments, like Loblaws and FreshCo, that sit at the back of the property with a parking lot out front.

Quarry meeting drew 110 people on same night as Game 7 in the Leafs/Boston series

Do residents want big box retail?

During the question and answer period it was clear that many residents in the community don’t want a department store or home improvement store in the Quarry.

One man asked why Build Toronto can’t construct something nice like the Shops of Don Mills, where stores look out over a shared space.

When Birch Cliff News tried to gauge public opinion through an informal show of hands of the 110 people in attendance, dozens raised their hands in opposition only to be shouted down by a man at the front who was the only person to vocalize his support for the plan.

Traffic problems cited

During the Q & A, several residents expressed concern that a big box store will take traffic in the neighbourhood from bad to worse.

Southbound traffic on Victoria Park at Musgrave, which will be extended into the new development

They included a woman who described turning off Blantyre as “a nightmare”, a woman on Clonmore who said it takes her five minutes to exit her driveway, and another woman who said during the holidays it took her ten minutes to get from Gerrard St. to the entrance of Shopper’s World.

Transportation consultant Tim Arnott said a study conducted for Build Toronto indicated the existing street network will function with the proposed development, subject to a number of technical upgrades and improvements.

Those include the addition of a “signalized intersection” at Kingston Road and Dengate, a northbound advanced turn from Victoria Park to Danforth during weekday afternoons and weekends, as well as “optimized signal timing and phasing at intersections”.

A resident from the Blantyre area expressed concern that even more traffic will flow on Blantyre, despite the fact that a new north/south road in the development will be offset to the east.

“I can say with confidence that they’re not all going to be going down Blantyre,” said  Arnott. They don’t want to go down Blantyre.  Most of the traffic wants to go east, west and north in terms of where people want to go.”

Build Toronto Sr. VP Prakash David (left) with City Planner Rod Hines

Prakash David said that Build Toronto will do further study on the Blantyre shortcut and take other traffic comments under advisement.

“At the end of the day there is a certain road network of a certain size and capacity .  Our job is to not make it worse.  We will look at your concerns.”

Will house 600 new residents

The big box store is part of a larger development plan for Build Toronto’s 19-acre irregularly shaped parcel of land in the western part of the Quarry.

View: Looking west from Gerrard at the proposed Build Toronto development in the Quarry

The rest of the development includes 200 low-rise dwellings in the form of townhouses and stacked townhouses, as well a four-storey building with 800 – 1,300 sq. ft. units that will be sold as condominiums.

It’s anticipated the development will add 600 people to the neighbourhood.

In the middle will be a T-shaped park framed by trees, which Architect Mark Sterling described as “…a central park kind of space, much smaller than the one in New York, of course”.

The four-storey building was designed to provide a screen between the residential neighbourhood and the retail store.

Impact on proposed high-rise towers

Concern was raised at the meeting about “New Street #2”, which can be seen on the concept plan below, out of fear that it may facilitate the development of high-rise towers planned for the western part of the Quarry.

That highly unpopular development, based on 1968 zoning reaffirmed last year by the OMB, is being planned by The Conservatory Group and is opposed by almost everyone in the neighbourhood as well as elected representatives serving at all three levels of government.

Concept plan for Build Toronto development in Quarry

“I want to be crystal clear about it. This is not being done to promote or provide connectivity to the Conservatory lands,” said David.  “When we designed these roads it was not to try and accommodate the GCD development.  From the Build Toronto perspective, we would prefer to have a one foot reserve. That means we’re holding back one foot on the side of the boulevard all the way around.  And Build Toronto would not agree to provide road access to the network with the current plan on the table.”

“Not your last kick at the can”

Tuesday’s formal community consultation was organized by the City Planning Department because Build Toronto’s vision for the Quarry requires an amendment to the Official Plan as well as rezoning.

The role of city planners is to make recommendations to Scarborough Community Council.

It’s the first step in the public consultation process and Ward 36 Councillor Gary Crawford said there will likely be another meeting in the fall.

After that, there will be a statutory Public Meeting at Scarborough Community Council where residents will be able to submit statements and make deputations.