The Ontario Land Tribunal has rejected plans to replace five seven-storey rental buildings in Toronto’s Long Branch neighbourhood with seven towers containing 2,180 homes.

The ruling represents a rare setback for a developer at the tribunal. An Ontario auditor general review found the OLT allowed 90% of 116 proposed developments decided in 2023-24 to proceed, although half involved settlements.

The nine-acre property, at 220, 230 and 240 Lake Promenade and 21 and 31 Park Blvd., contains 548 rental apartments in buildings constructed in the 1960s. Towers ranged from 12 to 29 storeys and included 548 replacement rental units and about 1,632 condominiums.

The Lake Promenade Co-Tenancy is behind the project. The tribunal dismissed its three appeals in an Aug. 19 decision, refusing the requested official plan and zoning amendments.

It found the site, despite its Apartment Neighbourhoods designation, is not within a strategic growth area. A roughly fourfold increase in units represented significant intensification beyond what Toronto’s official plan contemplated there, the decision said.

The tribunal also found the project’s height and massing would create unacceptable shadow impacts. Its study showed shadows reaching neighbouring properties throughout the day and affecting at least four times as many properties as the existing buildings. A 27-storey tower would cast shadows as far as Birch Park, more than 200 metres east, by late afternoon in September.

The city and Long Branch Neighbourhood Association opposed the plan. The tribunal ruled it was incompatible with Long Branch and inconsistent with provincial and municipal planning policy.