Towers, traffic headaches and one politician’s concerns over ‘bad infill’

Towers traffic headaches and one politicians concerns over bad infill

Two new towers and more worry about the traffic woes they may exacerbate – both drew the attention on Wednesday of city politicians mulling the future of the west-end intersection of Oxford Street and Wonderland Road.

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The already-congested cross-street came up twice Wednesday in both council’s civic works committee in the morning, and the planning committee in the afternoon. During the latter, politicians voted unanimously to endorse the 33-storey twin towers by York Developments at 530 Oxford St., the site of a mall that once housed Sears.

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The plan calls for 408 apartments between the two towers with a six-storey commercial podium connection, and more than 800 parking spaces. The application comes on the heels of city council approving a nearby 25-storey tower at 735 Wonderland Rd. last month, and the 3,817-unit Esam Group subdivision proposal between Proudfoot Lane and Cherry Hill Mall headed to politicians in June.

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Coun. Skylar Franke commended the infill project, saying it would be preferable to urban sprawl, but said the “ideal” would include “building a better transportation network out in this area” to ease congestion.

A rendering shows two 33-storey highrises proposed for the London Mall site at 530 Oxford St. at Wonderland Road. (Supplied)

A bus rapid transit line that would have run between Oxford/Wonderland and downtown was scrapped by city council in 2019, though the looser “transit village” rules remain – allowing for taller buildings with more apartments.

Neighboring Ward 6 Coun. Sam Trosow called the project “bad infill,” saying buildings like this need studies on potential consequences, like traffic.

A traffic impact report, done for York by the planning firm Paradigm Transportation Solutions in Cambridge, is part of the application. It concludes much of the intersection will see delays, lineups of traffic and “poor levels of service” during morning and evening peak hours and peak times on Saturdays.

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The towers will add 202 morning trips to the intersection, 317 in the evening and 436 on Saturdays, the report states.

Trosow spoke out during the meeting of council’s planning committee, though he’s not a voting member. But he also raised his Oxford/Wonderland congestion concerns with council’s civic works committee, where he can vote.

He submitted a motion calling for city staff to report back on future transit and road projects planned for west London, but also to study traffic mitigation efforts for Beaverbrook Avenue and Westfield Drive when they’re extended to accommodate the Esam mega-development.

“We need to have a coherent, uniform, organic, study of the cumulative effects of the different projects that are all before the planning committee being evaluated individually,” he said during the earlier committee meeting.

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City staff, already drafting a transportation master plan for the next 25 years based on the goal of 32.5 per cent of Londoners taking their trips by transit, cycling, or walking, said the motion would complement the work they’re doing.

As the city booms – bringing pressures like traffic, NIMBYism and urban design concerns – northwest London remains a particularly hot spot amid a lengthy period of high-density development around what were once neighborhoods like Oakridge and Hyde Park filled almost exclusively with single-family homes .

Ward 7 Coun. Corrine Rahman says the looming traffic troubles aren’t lost on her constituents.

“We’re recognizing that the community wants to have a separate discussion around how things are developing in the area, and what consideration needs to be given to the way that we’re moving around,” Rahman said.

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