A scheme to redevelop the vast parking surrounding Fairview Mall hit a snag this month when the City of Toronto recommended refusal of an application that would permit the plan to move forward.

A February 5 report addressed to North York Community Council from the North York Director of Community Planning slaps down Cadillac Fairview (CF) and development partner SHAPE's plans to build a new community surrounding the mall.

The development application was first submitted to Toronto city planners back in April 2022, outlining plans to surround CF Fairview Mall with a new community with thousands of units replacing existing surface parking, driveways and an above-ground parking garage.

A revised plan was presented in September 2023, incorporating several refinements to the Hariri Pontarini Architects-designed redevelopment plan in response to comments from the City.

The current proposal calls for 12 buildings ranging in height from 18 to 52 storeys across the 18.8-hectare site, along with 7,830 square metres of parkland dedication, a multi-use trail, and a mix of new public and private streets.

Approximately 4,500 residential units are proposed across the dozen buildings, which would be anchored by new ground-floor retail spaces.

However, despite the 2023 revisions, there are still apparent issues with the development proposal, all outlined in the February report to North York Community Council.

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— blogTO (@blogTO) September 19, 2023

The report cites a plethora of reasons for refusal, including "phasing of the proposed development, failure to establish an appropriate planned context which may prevent the orderly development of the various proposed phases, including the ability to plan for adequate parkland, adequate vehicular and pedestrian connections to support site circulation."

Also cited is a lack of "appropriate municipal services being available to support the development, including municipal infrastructure and community services and facilities across the site over the long term."

Among the several departments where the City wants the design team to go back to the drawing board, staff deemed the proposed inner-ring road serving the community as "not appropriate" and criticized the "undesirable pedestrian environment" it would create, with added comments questioning the overall public realm design.

The City is asking the developer to design a grid of new roads with finer-grained block spacing, as well as improved connectivity to existing public streets and the existing subway station on-site.

Further criticisms covered the towers themselves, with issues related to sightlines, tower floorplate sizes, buildings' interactions with the street and vehicular access.

Most notably, staff take issue with tower heights along Sheppard Avenue, and are asking for mid-rise components to bring a softer edge to the community's main frontage.

In addition, the City takes issue with the proposed parkland dedication, or lack thereof. The proposal's plan to pay cash in lieu of parkland requirements for the proposed first phase of the community has been deemed "not acceptable" according to Toronto's Official Plan.

City staff state that the proposal will not be supported until "policies for the entire site are resolved."