Toronto | 220 Lake Promenade | 97.28m | 30s | The Lake Promenade Co-Tenancy | BDP Quadrangle

Northern Light · Apr 20, 2023

A large application here coming to us from the Long Branch neighbourhood of southern Etobicoke.

Demolition of 5 existing 7-storey rental buildings with the intend to build 5 new buildings ranging in height from 12s-30s, two rental, and three condo.

The full name of the applicant is: The Lake Promenade Co-Tenancy. I opted to create an acronym for the title.

The site sits immediately north of Etobicoke's Longbranch Park. and carries a Lake view.

Site as-is:

Opposite direction view:

The App:

Application Details

app.toronto.ca

From the Docs:

Looking east along along the north line of the property

Looking south along the west property line

Looking south through the site along the Thirty Third Street extension.

View of the site from @ADRM 's boat. (Long Branch Park in foreground)

Comments: This one will draw hackles from the locals; I think there's a lot to like here, and there are already apartments on site, but the 30s number has no immediate precedents, this one will be a bit of a battle I expect.

I find the architecture broadly appealing.

The parking ratio is too high. Given the area, I would expect a higher ratio that what we see in new downtown apps, but 0.64 is just too much. More emphasis on carsharing required here.

The parkland dedication is greater than statutory minimum, has some utility at the top corner of the site building off an existing public block and creating a view corridor to the Lake, it also preserves some nice mature trees.

However, it's also not a terribly easy to program (mostly long and narrow); and in general, the greater priority should be enlarging Long Branch Park to eventually connect the publicly owned waterfront park system.

A Torontonian Now · Apr 20, 2023

To me, the obvious parkland dedication here would be at the south end of the site, allowing the City to then straighten Lake Promenade to increase Long Branch Park and eliminate the choke point where that park meets Len Ford Park. There are so few opportunities to increase parkland on the waterfront, we need to take them when available.

Northern Light · Apr 20, 2023

A Torontonian Now said:
To me, the obvious parkland dedication here would be at the south end of the site, allowing the City to then straighten Lake Promenade to increase Long Branch Park and eliminate the choke point where that park meets Len Ford Park. There are so few opportunities to increase parkland on the waterfront, we need to take them when available.

I thought of that myself. I concur w/your thinking.

***

As a side note to that, when looking at the lot lines next to the park, as I also weighing the virtues of suggesting the developer pick up an additional property next to the park as their dedication, in whole or in part.......

I saw something odd.......

TO Maps says the property next door to the park's pool is part of the park. Either that is material mapping error, or something more serious needs straightening out!

Amare · Apr 21, 2023

As has been mentioned in previous comments the parkland dedication for this proposal is useless as is, and would be much better placed at the south end with a straightened Lake Promenade. This would also allow the POPS space in between the buildings to be expanded.

While the overall design looks pretty sharp, the 30 story proposal is just outright laughable for this immediate neighborhood and it sticks out in a very bad way. There will be nothing built anywhere close to that height anywhere around this area. Heck there's not even a 30 story building fronting Lake Shore between Long Branch and 1st Street, or within a 300 metre radius of that same stretch. I wouldnt blame locals for going full NIMBY on it because it's outlandish and i'd actually never be able to envision something that tall on some random stretch of Lake Promenade.

The car parking is ridiculously high as well.

Overall, the design is nice but this proposal is outlandish and wild.

christiesplits · Apr 21, 2023

The Long Branch Neighbourhood Association is going to bring out their pitchforks. This is a community that ran a lawn sign campaign for simple lot splitting.

Lot severance requests divide neighbours in Long Branch

Rob Thompson’s 1939 bungalow has a sweet, cottagey facade befitting its position across the street from Lake Ontario.

www.toronto.com

I'm fine with decreasing the height of the tower a bit, but I doubt it will appease the locals.

junctionist · Apr 21, 2023

I think this project has too few three-bedroom units and could use some four-bedroom units as well. The neighbourhood sees a lot of demand from families versus singles. The proposed density of three-bedroom condos appears to be lower than what would be built if this block were developed as townhouses or potentially even detached houses.

Family-sized condos are typically an afterthought in the local development industry. But there's a reason why houses are worth so much money in the GTA. There's simply too little supply of family-sized housing in the 416. Nowadays, parents with Toronto-based jobs who want a walkable neighbourhood are often moving to Hamilton and St. Catharines. That shouldn't be happening.

We shouldn't be paving over the Greenbelt or building subdivisions in random farming towns along the QEW and Highway 400. We simply need to accept that we've reached the stage where more and more families will be living in condos. It's important to ensure that there's a supply of comfortable, spacious, and attainable condos for families.

interchange42 · Apr 26, 2023

Northern Light said:
I saw something odd.......

TO Maps says the property next door to the park's pool is part of the park. Either that is material mapping error, or something more serious needs straightening out!

View attachment 470851

Public access stops where a fence extends all the way to the lake in a straight line down the side of the yard there. You can sort of make out where the fence is in amongst the trees. I'd say the TO Map lines do not reflect reality there.

42

Northern Light · Apr 26, 2023

interchange42 said:
Public access stops where a fence extends all the way to the lake in a straight line down the side of the yard there. You can sort of make out where the fence is in amongst the trees. I'd say the TO Map lines do not reflect reality there.

42

TO Maps has been notified of the issue.