Attachment 2: Letter from Canadian Tire REIT regarding DVP Application

Property & Background Information

The Subject Property comprises of 2 separate buildings - a Canadian Tire store (located at 1519 Admirals Road), and a Commercial Retail Unit (“CRU1”) with several retail and restaurant tenants (located at 1517 Admirals Road), and the associated parking area for the Canadian Tire store and CRU1.

Last year, on November 15, 2022, we received conditional approval from Council Members for a Development Variance Permit Application (File DP 2022-05) for the expansion of the Canadian Tire Store at the Subject Property. Several variances, including a “variance to Section 5.10 of Zoning Bylaw No. 900, 2014 to reduce the total number of parking spaces from 283 spaces to 247 spaces”, was included as part of this conditional approval. However, the parking reduction at that time was from the existing 208 spaces to the proposed 205 parking spaces, with additional 42 parking spaces being provided via cash-in-lieu (for a total of 247 parking spaces as per the conditional approval). A Parking Demand Study was also submitted that showed that the 205 parking spaces provided on-site would sufficiently meet existing and projected demand for the Subject Property. Further, as part of the proposed expansion, two electric vehicle parking spaces and 30 bicycle parking spaces were added to align with Mount Royal’s Official Community Plan sustainability and active transportation objectives.

**In recent discussions with City Staff, it was determined that there was a miscalculation in rounding of the required parking at the time of Development Permit last year. The required parking at that time was 285, not 283. This discrepancy is being incorporated in this variance application.

Reason for Current Application

We recently re-assigned the lease for CRU1 – Unit 102 at the Subject Property to a new restaurant tenant; the previous tenant was also a restaurant, and this Unit has been used as a restaurant continuously for more than 15 years. Accordingly, we submitted a Building License Application on June 9, 2023, for our new tenant; and a subsequent Building Permit Application for tenant improvements was submitted June 19th, 2023, to the Town of View Royal.

Following the review of our submissions, we were informed by Community Planning that our site was deficient 5 parking spaces, as per the higher parking requirement for a ‘restaurant use’ in Zoning Bylaw No. 900, 2014. Consequently, Community Planning requested that we submit a Development Permit Variance Application before they can move forward in reviewing our Building License and Building Permit Application.

**Thus, with this Application, we are trying to rectify an existing situation as it is our understanding that back in November 15, 2022, Unit 102 was mistakenly counted as a ‘retail use’ with a lower parking ratio. Further, as discussed above, this application also incorporates the rounding error from last year’s development permit.

Justification for Variance Approval

This Development Variance Permit Application is meant to rectify an existing situation, with no changes proposed to the use of Unit 102 and the number of parking spaces provided on-site. Considering this is an existing situation, the approval of our Development Variance Permit will not have any negative impacts on the local neighbourhood and nearby neighbours.

Further, the re-assignment of the lease to a new restaurant tenant aligns with the Official Community Plan and contributes to the Town’s vitality in the following ways:

• Providing job opportunities suited to residents.
• Providing goods and services that meet the local needs.
• Strengthening the municipal tax base.
• Can be placed near housing; and,
• Does not adversely impact the natural environment.

Thank you for considering our Submission.

Please let us know if you require further information or have any questions.

Eva Freudman Development Manager, CT REIT 2180 Yonge Street, 15th Floor. Toronto, ON M4P 2V8 Mobile: 416-433-8679 eva.freudman@ctreit.com