Report to: Development
Services Committee Report
Date:
SUBJECT: RECOMMENDATION REPORT
Dougson Investments Inc. (Village Nissan)
Application for site plan approval for an automobile dealership
File
No. SC 09 111655
PREPARED BY: Scott Heaslip, Senor Project Coordinator, Central District
RECOMMENDATION:
- That
the staff report entitled “Dougson Investments Inc. (Village Nissan); 25
South Unionville Avenue (south side of future South Unionville Avenue, east of
Kennedy Road); Application for site plan approval for an automobile
dealership,” be received.
- That the application be endorsed, in
principle.
- That site plan approval be delegated to
the Director of Planning or her designate, to be issued following execution
of a site plan agreement (Site Plan Approval is issued only when the
Director has signed the site plan “approved”), when the following
conditions have been met:
· The Owner has entered into a site plan agreement with the Town containing all standard and special provisions and requirements of the Town and public agencies and the provisions outlined in Appendix ‘A’ to the June 23, 2009 staff report.
· The trustee for the South Unionville Landowners Group has advised the Town in writing that the Owner is in good standing with the Group.
· The holding provision has been removed from the zoning of the subject lands in accordance with the provisions of By-law 2008-202.
- That Staff be authorized and directed to do all things necessary to give effect to
this resolution.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
Not applicable.
1. Purpose 2. Background 3. Discussion 4. Financial
5. Others (Strategic, Affected Units) 6. Attachment(s)
PURPOSE:
The purpose of this report is to
discuss and recommend that Committee endorse an application for site plan
approval for a proposed automobile dealership on the south side of future
BACKGROUND:
The subject lands have an area of
1.13 hectares (2.8 acres) and are located east of the existing Town and Country
BMW on the north side of
Official Plan and Zoning
The subject lands are designated “Community Amenity Area” by site specific Official Plan Amendment No. 176, which was adopted by Council in September, 2008. OPA 176 permits the subject lands to be used for an automobile dealership, notwithstanding the “Community Amenity Area” designation.
The lands are zoned Community Amenity Area One (Hold) under By-law 177-96, as amended by site specific By-law 2008-202, which was approved concurrently with OPA 176. This by-law permits one motor vehicle sales establishment, including associated outside storage, and incorporates site specific development standards for the use. The by-law provides for the removal of the hold provision, upon application by the owner, after the rights-of way-of the adjoining roads (South Unionville Avenue and Unity Gardens Drive) have been conveyed to the Town and satisfactory arrangements have been made for the construction of these roads, and after the Owner has entered into a site plan agreement with the Town.
Proposal (Figures 4 – 8)
The
applicant is proposing to relocate the existing Village Nissan dealership,
currently located on the north side of Highway 7 west of
The
proposed building will be sited close to the south-west corner of the
intersection of future
The building will have a floor area of 2318 square metres (24,950 square feet), including a partial mezzanine for office and storage uses. (Figures 5 and 6)
The front portion of the building will be faced with a combination of glazing and silver metallic panels. The remainder of the building will be faced with silver metallic panels. (Figure 7)
A total of 171 parking spaces are proposed, 23 for customers and the remainder for vehicle display and storage. The Towns’ by-laws require 87 parking spaces for this development.
The
area between the building and the streets will be primarily hard surfaced
(concrete pavers) to reinforce the urban relationship of the building to the
streets. Four designated car display
areas will be incorporated into the landscaped area adjoining
Intensive
landscaping, including decorative fencing, will be provided along the
OPTIONS/ DISCUSSION:
Proposed development complies with design guidelines of OPA 176
OPA 176 includes site specific
design guidelines for the proposed automobile dealership, as follows:
The automobile sales
establishment shall be subject to the following specific design guidelines:
·
All vehicular access should be from
·
Vehicular access should be located and
designed to not compromise the safety of pedestrian movements along abutting
residential streets and to the nearby public park.
·
The building should be located in close
proximity to the public sidewalk along
·
A prominent building entry should be provided
from
·
There should be no display of vehicles in the
area between the sidewalk along
·
Any drive through facilities should be
located to the rear or side of the building(s) where they are not visible from
surrounding streets or can be screened from view by elements of the
building(s).
·
All service areas and activities should be
oriented away from the residential community to the east and south of the
subject lands, and enclosed within the building or mitigated adequately by
screening walls and landscaping.
·
Intensive high and low level landscaping
incorporating large scale trees should be provided adjoining all street
frontages to screen the surface parking and reduce the impact of car headlights
on nearby residential properties.
·
Extensive surface parking/car storage areas
should incorporate landscaping to reduce the “heat island” effect.
·
If any fencing is proposed for the surface
parking, the fence design should take into account the emerging urban character
of the area.
·
The site development must allow for a future
public street with sidewalks and street trees along its east boundary.
The proposed development complies with the guidelines, subject to minor refinements as discussed below.
Environmental and Sustainability Initiatives
The sustainable design initiatives under consideration by the applicant are outlined on Appendix ‘B’, attached. Staff will work with the applicant to incorporate additional sustainability features into the development, as appropriate.
Town staff will review the final plans to ensure that the project incorporates appropriate Fatal Light Awareness Program (FLAP) measures.
Project
plans are acceptable subject to minor refinements
The
building will have a strong street edge relationship to
Minor
refinements to address outstanding issues related to environment and urban
design will be incorporated into the final site and landscape plans, as
follows:
1. The design guidelines included in OPA 176
provide that “extensive surface parking/car storage areas should incorporate
landscaping to reduce the “heat island” effect.” The back portion of the parcel contains a
number of significant trees. Among them, specifically, are a rare 0.9
metre diameter Red Maple, 0.6-metre Basswood and 1.2-metre Silver Maple
specimens. (see Figure 4) These
mature trees are all in good health. The trees rank high as shade trees,
and, if all or some of them are preserved in a landscaped island, will
substantially reduce the heat island effect, will contribute greatly to site’s
urban ecology and will facilitate evapotranspiration. The tree(s) are
relatively closely spaced and can be incorporated into one landscaped island of
sufficient size to maintain the health of the trees, within the vehicle
inventory storage area. Currently, no landscaped islands are proposed for
this large paved area. The introduction of the landscaped island in this
location not have a significant impact on the capacity of the vehicle storage area.
2.
The
grading and landscaping strategy for the buffer between the vehicle storage
area and the abutting expansion to the BMW vehicle storage area to the west
should be coordinated to enhance visual screening and ensure good tree planting
conditions.
3.
Perimeter
landscaping of the vehicle storage area and the service areas should
incorporate continuous planting consisting of one row of evenly spaced shade
trees, a low decorative fence and a continuous row of low shrubs to achieve a
coordinated streetscape character along public streets.
Construction cannot commence until required infrastructure is in place
On
A temporary stormwater management
pond is currently located directly east of the subject lands and outfalls
across the subject lands to the roadside ditch on the east side of
The permanent stormwater
management facility,
The owner, Dougson Investments,
currently owns portions of the future roads and the Jade-Kennedy site, and
advises that it has an agreement with Jade-Kennedy for the required land
conveyances and construction of the required infrastructure. The owner is required to convey the property
to the Town for the construction of
The holding provision will not be removed from the zoning until the required infrastructure has been secured, the outfall ditch across the property has been decommissioned, and the owner has entered into a site plan agreement with the Town.
FINANCIAL TEMPLATE
Not applicable.
ALIGNMENT WITH STRATEGIC PRIORITIES:
The proposed development supports the Town’s Strategic Priorities, as follows:
Infrastructure Management - Approval of the proposed development will
facilitate construction of an important missing section of
DEPARTMENTS CONSULTED AND AFFECTED:
The proposed development has been circulated to internal Town departments and external agencies. All comments/requirements of these departments and agencies are or will be reflected in the final project plans, or will be secured in the site plan/development agreement.
RECOMMENDED BY:
_____________________________ ________________________
Biju Karumanchery, M.C.I.P.,
R.P.P. James Baird, M.C.I.P.,
R.P.P
Senior Development Manager Commissioner, Development
Services
ATTACHMENTS:
Figure 1 - Location Map
Figure 2 - Area Context/zoning
Figure 3 - Air Photo
Figure 4 - Site plan
Figure 5 - Ground Floor Plan
Figure 6 - Second Floor Plan
Figure 7 - Elevations
Figure 8 - Landscape Plan
Figure 9 - External Conveyances and Works
Appendix ‘A’ - Conditions of Site Plan Approval
Appendix ‘B’ - Sustainable Design Considerations
Applicant:
Gatzios
Planning + Development Consultants Inc.
P - 905.475.9191
F - 905.475.8346
maria@gatziosplanning.com
APPENDIX A
Conditions of Site
Plan Approval
Dougson Investments Inc. (Village Nissan)
South side of future
Prior to the execution of the site plan agreement, the Owner shall submit:
- site plans, grading, servicing and engineering drawings that comply with all requirements of the Town and authorized public agencies.
- elevation drawings which incorporate appropriate Fatal Light Awareness Program (FLAP) components to ensure more bird-friendly buildings.
- landscape Plans, including streetscape details, prepared by a Landscape Architect having membership with the Ontario Association of Landscape Architects.
- a storm water management report and a functional servicing report.
- a geotechnical report.
- an environmental site assessment report, phase 1/2.
for endorsement or approval by the Town.
- Written confirmation to the Town regarding the private arrangement with Jade-Kennedy for the required land conveyances and construction of the required infrastructure.
The Owner shall enter into a Site Plan Agreement with the Town, containing all standard and special provisions and requirements of the Town and other public agencies including, but not limited to, the following:
1. Provisions for the payment by the Owner of
all applicable fees, recoveries, development charges, parkland dedications
(including cash-in-lieu) and financial obligations related to applicable
Developers Group Agreements.
2. Provisions to ensure implementation of the recommendations of the approved reports.
3. Provisions for satisfying all requirements of Town departments and public agencies, including York Region and the TRCA.
4. Provisions to secure the Owner’s commitment to implement the proposed environmental and sustainability initiatives.
5. Provisions to prohibit the use of audible and
visual annoyances such as outdoor paging systems, car alarms, promotional
banners, flags, etc., that would negatively impact upon the adjoining
residential community;
6. Provisions to prohibit the obstruction of Kennedy Road, South Unionville Avenue East and Unity Gardens Drive for the purposes of the loading or unloading of vehicles, by requiring all delivery trucks to load or off-load on-site only, and not on public roads. Alternatively vehicles can be stored in an off-site compound and driven individually to the site.
7. That the Owner shall covenant and agree in the site plan agreement not to park any display vehicles on the landscaped areas, or within any sight triangles.
8. That
the owner shall indemnify the Town from claims if infrastructure (
9. That
the Owner shall convey the lands to the Town required for the construction of
This endorsement shall lapse and
site plan approval will not be issued, after a period of three years commencing
on
File path: Amanda\File 09 111925\Documents\Recommendation Report