Kensington Market’s Planet Traveler Hostel to expand after decade-long effort for approval
THE GREEN LINE
DOCUMENTERS NOTES
KENSINGTON MARKET's PLANET TRAVELER HOSTEL TO EXPAND AFTER A DECADE-LONG EFFORT FOR APPROVAL
Toronto and East York Committee of Adjustment resolved stalled applications in a rush by developers to get approvals before a new 2024 Ontario Building Code kicks in at the start of 2025.
Kensington Market's Planet Traveler Hotel wins approval to expand.
: Julien T/TRIPADVISOR.
Eugene Slonimerov
Belarusian-Canadian who specializes in urban and conflict studies and the arts. Cares about abandoned public spaces, community-building, mapping memories and solving the housing crisis. Kensington Market is home.
Oct. 17, 2024
These city meeting notes are part of Documenters Canada. Learn more about our program here.Â
The Committee of Adjustment approved a height increase at Tridel's Alexandra Park development and a five-storey addition to Planet Traveler Hostel in Kensington Market.
This meeting took place on Oct. 16, 2024 at City Hall’s Committee Room 2. It was a calm room at first glance with attendees expressing mixed emotions as some variances were approved or rejected. There were about 10 people in the panel and 10 people in the audience, mostly owners and agents of some of the properties discussed.
The people in attendance were:
- Sabrina Salatino, manager, deputy secretary, treasurer for Committee of Adjustment Toronto and East York
- Gary McCay, member of the Committee of Adjustment
- Paul Gogan, member of the Committee of Adjustment
- Dylan Reid, member of the Committee of Adjustment
- Peter Reed, member of the Committee of Adjustment
- Nelly Volpert, member of the Committee of Adjustment
- Vivian Tran Nguyen, development coordinator, agent for Dundas Alexandra Park Residences Inc., the owner of the building MRKT at 571 Dundas St. W.
- Anthony Aarts, owner of Planet Traveler Hostel at 357 College St.
- Stewart Adams, agent for Anthony Aarts, Ontario Association of Architects, Principal Architect at unit a architecture inc.
INCREASING THE HEIGHT OF THE TRIDEL’S MRKT BUILDING
Developer Tridel has been building the project MRKT at 571 Dundas St. W., owned by Dundas Alexandra Park Residences Inc., in partnership with Toronto Community Housing Corporation (TCHC) Atkinson since 2012.
It is slated to be completed in 2025 and will provide affordable housing units after extensive community consultations. It has been lauded by mayor Olivia Chow at the recent city council meeting on Oct. 10 as an example of public-private initiatives the City could continue to pursue.Â
Vivian Tran Nguyen, agent for Dundas Alexandra Park Residences Inc., explained the proposed variances:
The proposal is to alter the development standards for a new 15-storey-mixed-use building on Site 1 - Phase 2A (which is currently under construction), by increasing the building height by approximately 2.3 metres to accommodate machinery. There will still be a total of 188 residential dwelling units within this building.Â
- The original two-tiered roof design could not include all the machinery needed. The goal is to slightly increase the amenity height to contain all machinery.Â
- Top of Roof amenity height maximum is currently at 50 metres. New proposed height is 51.8 m (Difference of 1.81 metres).Â
- Elevator core overrun height maximum is currently at 51.5 metres. New proposed height is 51.97 metres (Difference of 0.47 metres). Â
The cover letter of the variance application showed frustration by Dundas Alexandra Park Residences Inc.Â
- They have provided five resubmissions for the application to the City and experienced several extensive approval delays and new requirements. They argue that “timely approval of the requested variances is critical.“
- The building is connected from the podium down to the underground parking with the adjacent 15-storey TCHC Atkinson affordable rental building on Site 2. The two buildings are being constructed simultaneously, with people tentatively scheduled to move into the buildings in fall 2025.Â
- The delays could result in an increase of costs and a reduction of the income for TCHC that is needed to offset the costs of replacement rent-geared-to-income (RGI) units.
What was the outcome of this discussion?
The proposed variances were approved by the committee.Â
EXPANSION OF THE PLANET TRAVELER HOSTEL
The variance application by the Planet Traveler Hostel in Kensington Market was to construct a fifth storey to the existing four-storey building on 357 College St., as well as a side five-storey addition on the east at 353-355 College St.
The five-storey addition would include a ground level rear patio, a front fourth floor roof terrace and a rear fifth floor roof terrace. A portion of the ground level will contain retail uses.
Notably, 353-355 is the site of the now demolished building that until recently housed the beloved Raggae club Thymeless and was home to Marcus Garvey’s Universal Negro Improvement Association (1925-1982).
What did attendees have to say?Â
Gary McCay, a member of the Committee of Adjustment, said that the application had heritage-related recommendations to oblige the owner to submit detailed documentation and approval conditioned on the satisfaction of the Senior Manager of Heritage Planning.Â
Stewart Adams, the agent for Anthony Aarts who owns 353-357 College St., asked the committee to not include the conditions set forth by Heritage on the grounds that the owner appeared before the same committee when he bought the building in 2010 and restored it according to heritage standards. In 2012, Heritage approved scaling up to as high as seven storeys. With the building code changes due at the end of the year, the agent stressed there was a need to streamline the process and to not add in more work.Â
Adams talked about the long history of exchanges they had with the Heritage Division. They added a floor in 2016 with the Heritage Committee’s permission. In 2018, they had to give up their back lane due to the increased density in their area.
Adams also emphasized the good relationship he has with the Kensington Market neighbourhood. He said travelers who stay in his hostel spend money in Kensington Market. He also said they have never received a single noise complaint. He shared that they are “good neighbours” and added that residents across from his hostel to the south facing Northward get the view of their courtyard which he said they “can use for light and air.”
Anthony Aarts described how he’s been operating a hostel for 24 years. The hostel has run at this particular address (357 College St) since 2011. Many of their guests are young graduates traveling for the first time. Their hostel, situated close to the airport, becomes a first destination before they go on to see the rest of Canada.Â
Aarts stressed how slow and frustrating this application process has been for him. He said it has been a nearly decade long application that started when he was 49 years old. He is 58 now. He added that he will continue to work with Heritage but “don’t want to be held in chains with them again.”
McCay concluded after listening to Aarts that he would not add the Heritage condition.Â
Dylan Reid, member of the Committee of Adjustment, said that this was a well thought out application. He added that the hostel is desirable for travelers and environmentally conscious with thermal heating and solar panels. Overall, he was supportive of the application.Â
What was the outcome of this discussion?
The motion was approved with an additional agreement to not include any additional conditions for Heritage Planning.Â
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