Please see the enclosed…

Please see the enclosed letter from Stikeman Elliott LLP, on behalf of Kohl & Frisch Limited. The letter encloses schedules setting out the requested modifications to Vaughan Official Plan 2025, as well as a comparison of permissions.

Kohl & Frisch Limited (K&F)—owner-operator of pharmaceutical warehousing and distribution facility at 7622 Keele Street within the Keele BRT Protected Major Transit Station Area—is concerned that the proposed Vaughan Official Plan 2025 (VOP 2025) down-designates its lands by removing existing permissions for standalone office, retail, and certain institutional uses, thereby undermining the site’s strategic flexibility and economic potential in a designated growth area.

This removal of permissions mirrors blanket approaches taken elsewhere, including in Toronto and Oakville, which runs counter to Provincial direction intended to streamline employment land conversions to support housing delivery under recent legislation. VOP 2025 also imposes additional conversion criteria exceeding the policies of PPS 2024, creating unnecessary hurdles to growth. The concern is heightened by the K&F site’s adjacency to the OLT-approved mixed-use development immediately to the north (8 mixed-use towers with heights of up to 60 storeys, introducing approximately 3,000 new residential units), evidencing a clear area in transition suited to a broader mix of uses.

K&F requests that the Minister approve VOP 2025 with modifications either to: (1) reinstate the existing office, retail, and institutional permissions for the K&F site through a Site and Area Specific Policy; or (2) redesignate the K&F site to "Prestige Mixed-Use I" to align with current permissions under the 2010 Official Plan and Zoning By-law. Furthermore, modifications are needed to the employment policies in VOP 2025 to align with the PPS 2024.