The Toronto Preservation Board voted to recommend Toronto city council should give 148, 156–158 Avenue Rd. and 224 Davenport Rd. heritage designation, which would allow council to refuse the development application for a 35-storey mixed-use building if the heritage aspects couldn’t be maintained.
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Local councillor Mike Layton said that while they are important properties to acknowledge, there is a large community push for the sidewalks at the intersection to be widened as they currently pose a safety hazard at their width of 2.1 meters. If the buildings were to be maintained through a heritage designation, that would mean the sidewalks couldn’t be widened for decades.
“We would be forever giving up the likelihood of wider sidewalks in the current road arrangement,” Layton said.
He said losing the buildings to development, which are on the border of the Annex and
Yorkville, would not be a huge loss for the area as there are others from the same time period nearby that have been protected.
ABC Residents Association president Ian Carmichael said that the stretch of sidewalk is dangerous and the association is prepared to concede the heritage buildings to widen it.
“You can’t walk with a stroller and pass someone on that section of the road,” he said. “The sidewalks are a big concern for us.”
Layton said the council consideration will likely be deferred and the developer has agreed to continue to discuss the application and not seek to demolish the buildings yet.
