We had a follow up meeting with the working group on Tuesday March 29, 2022.  In attendance were Councillor Wong-Tam, city staff, Stafford Homes, members from the HCD Advisory Committee, the CSRA and residential representatives. Highlights of our meeting.

• It was a productive and meeting
• Senior staff from The Beer Store – including Ted Moroz, President of TBS and Ozzie Ahmed, VP of Retail Operations
• Stafford made a number of modifications to the design based on community feedback.  I’ve attached the latest rendering.
• The size of The Beer Store has been reduced from 6,964 sq ft. to 6,356 sq. ft.
• Preliminary renderings of The Beer Store has a number of the windows blocked.  We’ve asked for them to revisit this to ensure the streetscape is animated and more inviting.  Having more open windows also increases safety.  The Beer Store was receptive to this idea.
• It was also proposed to The Beer Store that they create two separate, purpose built spaces.  One for returns (with indoor space for sorting and garbage collection) and another that is just for retail.  This is different that the current model where both occur in the same space.  They were also open to considering this idea.
• The next step is for the plans to go back to City staff for approval, pending a few final modifications that were requested.
• HCD Advisory Committee and Heritage Staff requested additional work on the exterior design, specifically with respect to improving the cornice line as it relates to heritage properties along Gerrard Street East and Seaton and Ontario Street.
• Precast concrete was removed and the building is now all masonry.  It was suggested the application of red masonry be dropped by 1 storey on all sides to reduce the perceived scale of the building’s base.