Why downtown sewage capacity constraints could delay new housing on York Street

A proposed residential development that could bring more than 1,000 residential units and much-needed vibrancy to a bleak section of York Street will have to wait until a section of the city's sewer system is upgraded.

The application calls for two residential towers at 267 York St. and stands to deliver the type of building London's official planning documents say is badly needed in the downtown core.

The proposal calls for two towers connected by a six-storey podium, which would add 1,067 units to a section of downtown lacking in foot traffic. The development would also deliver much-needed population density along the Wellington Gateway bus rapid transit line currently under construction.

Another plus, it would replace the type of underused surface parking lot city staff reports have flagged as an impediment to downtown development. 

The applicant is City Plaza London, Inc., the same developer that owns Citi Plaza, an adjacent shopping mall directly across the street marked by vacant retail spaces.

The application will come to the city's planning committee on Tuesday with a staff recommendation for approval, but with a holding provision that will delay the application for at least a year. 

The holding provision is due to capacity limits in the system created by the need for a new sanitary sewer trunk line downstream near the Forks of the Thames. 

Ashley Rammeloo, the city's director of wastewater, said the trunk line is at the end of its service life and under capacity to handle higher wastewater that will come as the downtown sees intensified development 

"It's due for replacement next year," she said. "That's why staff are recommending a holding provision." 

Despite recent and ongoing infrastructure work that left York Street torn up and closed to traffic for months, 267 York St. lacks what a staff report calls "a fronting sanitary sewer." 

Rammeloo said that will be added during the work now underway on the closed section of the street. 

A representative of the developer said the delay is unfortunate given the dire need for housing in London.

"They actually can't start development for some time until that infrastructure is upgraded," said Taylor Whitney, a planner with the firm Zelinka Priamo which represents the applicant. "That's one of the challenges of developing on York Street, even though we have positive support from staff .... we can't actually start developing yet." 

Coun. David Ferreira's ward includes the downtown core and said the sewer capacity issue has been a concern, with the city seeing increased applications for multi-storey towers in the core. 

"There's still old infrastructure connected to the system," he said. "Below the surface, the capacity is showing some real constraints." 

The staff report said any more extensive updates in the downtown core could be looked at the next time the city reviews its development charges, which are the fees the city charges developers to help pay for infrastructure. But that's not set to happen until 2028. 

Ferreira said he doesn't want to see developments held up until then. 

"For me that's a no-go, we need the development now. I want to see development downtown as fast as possible there, we need it," he said. "That's the perfect spot for that kind of development."

The application for 267 York St. is coming to the city's planning committee on Tuesday.