What to know
- East Toronto residents are pushing back after an Ontario Land Tribunal settlement hearing approved changes to a proposed condo development near the Glen Stewart Ravine.
- The revised plan increases the building’s height to 13 storeys while reducing its footprint, with residents arguing it still sits too close to the ravine.
- Community group Protect Our Ravine Initiative says residents were not properly consulted and were denied standing as a party at the hearing despite submitting dozens of participation letters.
- The city says final approval is still pending and the developer must meet environmental, infrastructure and planning requirements before the project can move forward.
Toronto residents in the Beaches community are raising concerns, following an Ontario Land Tribunal (OLT) settlement hearing over a condo development near the Glen Stewart Ravine.
On Tuesday, the OLT held a settlement hearing about a development application at 847-855 Kingson Rd., after the City Council approved a deal proposed by the developer, which included a few changes to the original project.
The development project has been a topic of concern for local residents for over a decade, as they say the condo would be placed too close to the Glen Stewart Ravine, requiring significant structural changes in the area.
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In 2015, developer Gabriele Homes Ltd. first proposed a seven-storey condo at 847-853 Kingston Rd. Although the project didn’t go forward, in 2022, the same developer also acquired a lot at 855 Kingston Rd. and re-submitted the project proposal for city approval.
The new proposal ramped up the original seven storeys to an 11-storey condo for mixed residential and retail purposes. The proposed condo would only be six metres away from the south side of the ravine, and right next to it on the west side.
The developer then took the decision to the OLT after the Toronto city council failed to make a decision about the proposal by the deadline. The court hearing, originally scheduled for April 2026, was cancelled after the parties decided to accept a settlement offer proposed in October 2025, which included several changes to the original project.
These changes include ramping up the development’s height another two floors to a 13-storey building, while also reducing its footprint to increase the setback from the Glen Stewart Ravine to 10 metres on the south side and 3.8 metres from the west side.
The settlement also determines that part of the land would be administered by the city, designated as “parks and open space.” In addition, the developer is also required to submit a series of revised documents and studies related to:
- Environmental and ravine protection;
- Infrastructure, services, and utilities;
- Climate and sustainability;
- Legal requirements;
- Other studies.
Settlement approval still pending
Carly Bowman, the director of community planning for Toronto and the East York District, confirmed to Now Toronto that City Council has approved the settlement, and city staff worked with Gabriele Homes Ltd. to finalize evidence for the court hearing on Tuesday.
However, the developer and the city have asked the OLT to withhold its final approval until all settlement conditions imposed by the city have been met.
“Every application is evaluated and determined based on its own merits. Through this settlement, the applicant will be required to fulfill these existing requirements by completing and submitting all the necessary environmental, servicing, and built-form reports and studies for staff review before any approval can take effect,” Bowman said in an email statement.
Residents still concerned
Despite the changes, a group of local residents, known as Protect Our Ravine Initiative, say many are still concerned about the project.
One of the group’s organizers, Sheila Dunn, says one of the biggest concerns is that the new project is still not compliant with the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (TRCA’s) standards regarding distance between the construction and the ravine, as it usually requires a 10-metre distance from “any contiguous natural features or areas.”
In addition, the group also feels that the building is excessively high for the area, and would take away from the nature of the beloved local site.
“It is a big disappointment in terms of what has been going forward,” Dunn told Now Toronto. “The issues that continue to come up were issues around environmental impact, issues around the height and the massing and the inappropriate placement of this kind of development. It’s a very narrow site, it’s a little strip of land.”
Meanwhile, the organizer says the community has not been appropriately consulted about the project.
According to her, community members have long been mobilizing to voice their concerns about the development, including submitting 65 participation letters to the court, in hopes of becoming a party in the case.
However, submissions were not accepted as the OLT member said their voice could be represented by the city and TRCA.
“Our voice has not been heard loud enough, and our concerns were not heard well enough, and we had no standing in what went on at this [hearing],” she said.
“The OLT member at that time said that our issues aligned and could be represented by the city and the TRCA. Our issues may have aligned, but I don’t believe that we would have been agreeable to what the outcome was,” she said.
Moreover, the group is concerned that the approval of the project will set a precedent for other construction in the area, taking away from the community space.
“The community feels this is a really important area… It’s a rare, still fairly wild space in a city, and the city and the TRCA really didn’t do enough to protect it,” she said.
“We don’t want a wall of condos along that ravine border…We’re worried this is just the start of something larger, and we want to make sure that that never happens.”
City says processes to be followed for similar cases
In response to concerns, Bowman said the same review process required for this development will still be followed for similar proposals moving forward.
In addition, she said city staff will engage with Indigenous communities and stakeholders, regarding the Glen Stewart Ravine, as part of the process.
“Future proposals in this area or adjacent to similar Natural Heritage Systems and/or Environmentally Significant Area will undergo the same review process with similar requirements, such as demonstrating appropriate setbacks, buffers, and mitigation measures to protect natural features and effectively manage risk from associated natural hazards,” she said.
TRCA also tells Now Toronto that approving the development wouldn’t set any precedents and added it was an improvement from the existing project.
“The building remains outside the erosion hazard and maintains a 10-metre setback along the majority of the site,” the TRCA said in an email.
“Overall, it improves the existing condition by setting back the proposed building further from the erosion hazard than what currently exists on site.”
