Approved
from insidetoronto.ca, looks like it was approved...also, note there is a proposal for the Valhalla Inn site on the other side of the 427 as well....
Hotel building falls to condos
Development will set precedent for others along Hwy. 427 corridor, including Valhalla Inn: planner
February 14, 2008 06:31 PM
TAMARA SHEPHARD
Toronto's first Holiday Inn, as well an historic landmark off Hwy. 427, is coming down to make way for a four-tower condominium - setting a precedent for other sites along the 427 corridor, says a city planner.
The Etobicoke York Community Council voted Tuesday night to approve the 19- to 24-tower project after the item was delayed more than two hours because of tight scheduling with an earlier agenda item.
"The density is appropriate," said Brian Gallaugher, west district senior planner. "What happens at 2 Holiday Dr. will set a precedent for other sites along the Hwy. 427 corridor, but I don't feel it sets a bad precedent. Each (development application) has to be evaluated on its own merits."
A similar development is proposed to turn the Valhalla Inn on the other side of Hwy. 427 into three, 20-odd storey condos. A second community consultation meeting on that proposal is expected in late spring.
Last June, many of the 90 residents who attended that initial Valhalla meeting argued the proposed condos are too tall, with too many units and will wreak havoc on traffic in their neighbourhood of The East Mall between Bloor Street West and Burnhamthorpe Road.
The Holiday Inn development proposal calls for 887 units, split evenly between one- and two-bedroom suites, on land currently occupied by the former Ramada Inn on Holiday Drive, just south of Rathburn Road and Hwy. 427.
"Originally, it was a Holiday Inn in the '50s - the first in Toronto - but now it's hard for hotels to compete against airport-area hotels," said Ward 3 (Etobicoke Centre) Councillor Doug Holyday, who represents the area. "It's a fair development, and it's probably as good a development as we're going to get."
Carol Higgins disagreed. She was one of only four residents to address the committee.
"It's an eyesore. It's too big. It's too high," she said. "We can't get across the damn street to get a bus, and you're going to put more traffic there?"
New traffic lights will be installed at Holiday Drive and The West Mall as part of the project, as well as a pedestrian-priority system applied to three traffic lights on The West Mall, Gallaugher said.
All three of the abutting landowners - a 16-storey rental apartment building, a 19-storey condo, and a 94-unit low-rise condo townhouse development - support the project.
Community benefits include $700,000 to expand the day care for 31 children at Broadacres Junior School. Council voted to approve any leftover day care funds be given to the Etobicoke Civic Centre day care.
Another $475,000 will fund a new playground and water play area in Broadacres Park.
