One person’s vacant sliver of land is another’s development opportunity. Or at least that seems to be the case for the southwest corner of Yonge Street and Birch Avenue across from the Summerhill LCBO. 

Developer Frank Campoli has proposed a five-storey office building at 1190 Yonge St., adjacent to the Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) line to the south and the Hydro One Birch Junction to the west. 
Although still early in the planning process, Ward 22 councillor Josh Matlow said he has some initial concerns. 

“It’s an incredibly small footprint, and it’s right at the entrance of a residential street,” he said. “At first glance, I found it incredulous that there was even a development application for that spot in the first place.”

Lewis Reford of North Rosedale Residents’ Association (NRRA) was also surprised by the proposal. 

“It’s a classic case of how tightly our city is developing. That was a really small, useless piece of supplementary land right up next to the tracks, and I don’t think even five years ago people would’ve ever considered a building being shoehorned in there,” he said.

For Reford, safety is paramount. He said NRRA is always trying to keep people educated on CP and their cargo and said he believes the building’s small setback from the tracks could have dire consequences in the event of a derailment or accident.

“The reality is you don’t ever think safety until an accident happens,” he said. 

City of Toronto Planning has yet to prepare a preliminary report for the proposal. 

A vibration study conducted by Valcoustics Canada Ltd. found the CP train movements exceeded the Canadian National Railway guideline limits as well as the International Standards Organization (ISO) reference limits on the site. As a result, vibration mitigation measures will be required if the building is built. 

Frank Campoli declined requests for comment.