A Hotel in Wonderland 

Weston Consulting was integral in obtaining planning permissions for the construction of a hotel on the Canada’s Wonderland property located within the City of Vaughan.

Weston Consulting organized a complete Site Development Application on behalf of Canada’s Wonderland Company in order to facilitate the development of an eight-storey hotel containing 203 hotel suites for use by a variety of clientele, including visitors to the park, business travelers and locals. The Site Development Application was submitted on April 4, 2018 and subsequently approved by City of Vaughan Council, in record time, with no amendments on June 19, 2018.

The project team is in the process of clearing Conditions of Site Plan Approval, and an application for Minor Variance is forthcoming. This application will address site specific variances from the City of Vaughan Zoning By-law 1-88, in particular related to maximum building height, loading space requirements and uses permitted on site. Construction of the hotel is anticipated to be completed in 2020. 

Weston Secures 80 Additional Units for Seniors Building 

On November 22, 2018, Weston Consulting secured approvals at the Committee of Adjustment for a 12-storey Seniors Assisted Living Apartment Building on the property located at 591 Finch Avenue West, in the City of Toronto. The building will contain 158 rental units ranging from studios to one-bedroom units.

The need for the variances emerged out of the landowner’s desire to construct a quality seniors residence; whereas the site-specific Zoning By-law permitted a market condominium building for 78 units consisting of one-, two- and three-bedroom units. 

The variances sought and approved facilitated permissions for 80 additional units, an increase in building height for the mechanical penthouse, and relief from the By-law’s vehicular and bicycle parking requirements to better reflect the nature of the intended use.

Through extensive discussions and meetings with City Planning and City Legal staff, Weston Consulting was successful in securing support for the variances by demonstrating that, while the internal function of the building would change, the building footprint was maintained and therefore, the variances were appropriate and minor in nature.

Weston Gains Caledon's Approval for Airport Road Development

In July 2018, the Town of Caledon Council approved a site specific Official Plan and Zoning By-law Amendment, along with a Plan of Subdivision to facilitate the development of 21 single detached dwellings and a single residential estate lot in Caledon East.

The applications were subject to a rigorous review process by the Region, Town and Conservation Authority over a five-year timeframe that began in 2013. The final design considers many environmental features including the establishment and protection of significant valleylands, significant woodlands and hydrologically sensitive wetland features.

Weston facilitated several stakeholder and community meetings, including site walks with the community trails group to establish a comprehensive trail system through the site, which will be dedicated to public ownership to benefit the community at large.

Weston is still involved in the ongoing planning approvals process for the site including clearance of conditions associated with these approvals.

President's Message

This past year has seen many interesting and exciting events and activity in virtually all aspects of the planning and land development world in which we operate. If I had to sum up the year in one brief headline, it would be this: 2018 – A Year of Substantive Change.

As a professional planner in Ontario, the biggest change that occurred in our industry was the official reform of the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) to the Local Planning Appeal Tribunal (LPAT). On April 3^rd, Bill 139 – known as the “Building Better Communities and Conserving Watersheds Act” –officially took full effect.

While it is impossible to sum up the complexities of the bill in one thought, what I can say for sure is that Bill 139 will, and already has, changed the way in which land use planning occurs in the Province of Ontario. At a high level, the most notable change is the limited rights for appeal following municipal decisions on Official Plan and Zoning By-law amendments, as well as the appeals process procedure, and what is considered to be appropriate grounds for an appeal.

Shifting gears to the political realm, we had a new Provincial government elected in May of this year and municipal elections took place a couple of months ago. The new Provincial government has a significant change in focus and, while much of this new view has yet to hit the planning and development process, as of the end of the year, we have already seen indications of a new direction to shorten the current approval process with the introduction of Bill 66 – Restoring Ontario’s Competitiveness Act. This is new as of last week and, among other things, permits municipalities to create a new type of Zoning By-law called an “Open-For-Business Planning By-law”, which would allow for a truncated planning approval process for major employment-generating projects. I know that there is more to come from the Province which will impact our industry. 

At the municipal level, the City of Toronto already knew it was in for a major change, following the Province’s announcement and eventual ruling (following a legal battle) to reduce its City wards from 47 to 25. A consequence of the new, amalgamated boundaries pitted previous incumbent councillors directly against each other. While John Tory has returned for his second term as Toronto’s Mayor, residents of Oshawa, Brampton, Burlington, Aurora, Newmarket (to be fair, the list goes on, but I’ll stop here) all elected new mayors this past October. We wish them all well.

For Weston Consulting, 2018 was a year of growth in many ways. For the first time ever, our firm reached the 50-employee plateau – a feat that has been a conscious, feasible goal for the last few years – “conscious,” due to our lofty yet attainable ambitions; and “feasible” due to the fundamental systems and approaches our firm carries out as professionals on a daily basis.

Following the purchase and renovation of an older building in the South Cabbagetown area of Toronto, Weston Consulting officially opened its doors to our new, much larger Toronto Office – approximately four-times the size of our previous downtown location – in the first week of March. The office relocation was a direct result of our steady growth in the number of employees and projects we are involved in, specifically within the City of Toronto.

There’s no telling how much change is in store for 2019, but we are ready!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all of our clients, friends, associates and supporters.