Many of you will recall, back in 2013 City of Toronto Planning staff completed a study of restaurants and related uses along Queen Street West between Dufferin Street and Roncesvalles Avenue and the impact that these were having on other commercial uses along Queen Street West as well as on the surrounding residential uses north and south of the street.
Upon completion of the Study, City Council passed By-laws 1049-2013 and 1050-2013 placing certain restrictions on restaurants such as limiting their size and location within a building. Additionally, these By-laws placed a maximum on the number of restaurants permitted to be located in Areas A-D, limiting the concentration of restaurants to no more than 25% of the properties within each of these areas.
A City Planning report, produced in April, says the number of “eating establishments” decreased over the course of the cap, from 71 to 64. In May 2018 Toronto City Council rescinded this regulation that limited the number of restaurants permitted in Parkdale and adopted the following:
- City Council direct the City Solicitor and City staff, as appropriate, to attend at the Local Planning Appeal Tribunal to support the proposed amendment to area specific Zoning By-laws 1049-2013 and 1050-2013 to delete clause 1.(4) and 2.(1)(A) respectively, limiting the permitted concentration of eating establishments, and to amend Map 1 to remove area designations (Area A-D), for reasons set out in the report (April 16, 2018) from the Acting Director, Community Planning, Toronto and East York District.
- City Council direct City Planning staff to conduct another analysis in 2023 of the impact that eating establishments are having on the main street function of Queen Street West between Dufferin Street and Roncesvalles Avenue and of the continued land use conflicts, if any, between eating establishments and the surrounding residential neighbourhood, and assess whether there are any further concerns which would warrant another restaurant study.
Please click here for a recent article in the Toronto Star regarding the lifting of the cap.
For additional details regarding how this may or may not affect you as a business owner, contact:
Councillor Gord Perks Ward 14, Parkdale High-Park 100 Queen Street West, Suite A14 Toronto, ON M5H 2N2 (t) 416-392-7919 (f) 416-392-0398 www.gordperks.ca twitter: @gordperks Facebook: @GordPerks