Ed Sonshine, chief executive of RioCan, the country’s largest real estate investment trust, declined to discuss in detail his reaction to city council passing a one-year freeze on new retail on that stretch of Bathurst.
“We will have plenty to say about it as it unfolds,” Sonshine said in a voicemail. “I don’t think the process is finished, that’s for sure. But I’ll let the politicians speak publicly for now.”
RioCan, and possibly Walmart Canada itself, could appeal the city’s one-year freeze on new retail in the area to the province’s Ontario Municipal Board. The 60-day deadline for an OMB appeal expires Sept. 17.
Susan Schutta, Walmart Canada’s senior director of corporate affairs, said in a statement: “We are reviewing the interim control bylaw and considering next steps.”
The city planning department has received no notice of an OMB appeal.
The battle is brewing as big-box discount retailers expand their suburban footprint into downtown neighbourhoods full of mom-and-pop retailers.
While Canadian Tire and Best Buy opened at Dundas St. W. and Bay St. with no fuss, and Riverdale residents seem unfazed by a new Walmart at Gerrard Square mall, the Bathurst-Kensington area is another kettle of fish.
RioCan has submitted to rezoning and site plan applications to place, in the former Kromer Radio site south of College St., a 125,000-square-foot retail building with a Walmart store on the second and third floors.
Residents, including a group called the Friends of Kensington Market, have mobilized to protect the area’s funky vibe and independent retailers.
Anticipating a likely OMB battle, Friends of Kensington Market announced Monday it has joined with web startup Projexity to crowdsource $120,000 in funding for “objective third party traffic and market impact planning studies,” as well as legal support to fight the RioCan proposal.
The group said in a news release the studies will “demonstrate that RioCan’s mall is out-of-scale, congestion-inducing and will crush surrounding neighbourhoods.”
Last Friday, the fourth and final day of the last council meeting until October, Councillor Mike Layton introduced a “motion without notice” for a “Bathurst St. interim control bylaw” that passed 36-1 with no debate.
The bylaw bans new retail on the west downtown street between the Dupont St. rail tracks to the north and Queen St. W. to the south while the city planning department takes time to study the area and recommend appropriate limits on development, including maximum size for retailers.
Original Article
Source: thestar.com
Author: David Rider
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