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Downtown Yonge

For those who care about being able to sit and enjoy the sun at Dundas Square after 5pm, take a look at these pictures I took yesterday at around 6pm. The city has allowed the building over which the sun is hovering (the Atrium on Bay) to add 5 more floors to each of its two towers. And as you can see, those floor additions would totally block out the sun at Dundas Square as early as 5pm. You can go see for yourself.
I think that concerned citizens should protest this with councillor Wong-Tam and the city. Me personally I am trying to do my part by contacting them.
 

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Remember that where the sun is in the evening changes throughout the year. It's possible that the addition would block it in spring, but not summer and fall. Urban planners tend to go with some sort of compromise based on the importance of the public amenity and the private sector's right to maximize the utilization of its property. That compromise may involve shadowing at certain times of the year. With that said, your concerning observation is important and something that city planners should address without dodging the issue. Dundas Square is one of the most important public spaces in the city. If we're going to care about sun and shadow, this square and NPS are the places to start.
 
junctionist said:
Remember that where the sun is in the evening changes throughout the year. It's possible that the addition would block it in spring, but not summer and fall. Urban planners tend to go with some sort of compromise based on the importance of the public amenity and the private sector's right to maximize the utilization of its property. That compromise may involve shadowing at certain times of the year. With that said, your concerning observation is important and something that city planners should address without dodging the issue. Dundas Square is one of the most important public spaces in the city. If we're going to care about sun and shadow, this square and NPS are the places to start.
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Last summer I went to Dundas Square after work nearly every day, and the sun would always be located in the same area as the pictures above between 5pm and 8pm (if not later). When I brought this shadow issue to the city planner last October, this is what he said by email:

"On Shadows, we have reviewed the shadow impacts as late as 7 p.m. By 7 p.m. in all instances the square is shadowed by existing development. On March 21 and September 21, the shadow of the Atrium on Bay never hits the square until 7 p.m. when it is already shadowed. The only time there is a shadow impact is on June 21 at 6 p.m. for one hour, after that the square is shadowed by existing built form."

The pictures above prove that what he said is totally false, as the pictures were taken yesterday May 6th and you can see that any additional floor would create shadow. He probably based his shadow analysis on the CURRENT height trium on Bay and did not consider the impact of the additonal floors in the analysis.
 
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Oh god. This is a city with tall buildings! Want sun go down to the waterfront or the Islands or many other huge parks and spaces where the buildings don't have an impact. So ridiculous. Many more important things to deal with in this city than shadows!
 
khristopher said:
Oh god. This is a city with tall buildings! Want sun go down to the waterfront or the Islands or many other huge parks and spaces where the buildings don't have an impact. So ridiculous. Many more important things to deal with in this city than shadows!
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First of all, You may not care about being able to catch some sun at Dundas Square, but I do care; and so do the thousands of other Toronto citizens who gather there when it's warm and move their seats around depending on where the sun is and to try to catch every last ray of sun light in the evening. As you can see in the pictures below, noboby is sitting in the shadowed area, instead, they are all sitting in the sunny area.

Secondly, one of the reasons city council approved this variance was because the city planner said that there wouldn't be any shadow effect on Dundas Square. Which obviously was not true.

Lastly, the fact that the shadow study in the city planner's report was wrong, either suggests that there are some holes in the process and/or there is something fishy going on at the Planning office. Either way, this needs to be looked at.
 

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mdrame said:
First of all, You may not care about being able to catch some sun at Dundas Square, but I do care; and so do the thousands of other Toronto citizens who gather there when it's warm and move their seats around depending on where the sun is and to try to catch every last ray of sun light in the evening. As you can see in the pictures below, noboby is sitting in the shadowed area, instead, they are all sitting in the sunny area.

Secondly, one of the reasons city council approved this variance was because the city planner said that there wouldn't be any shadow effect on Dundas Square. Which obviously was not true.

Lastly, the fact that the shadow study in the city planner's report was wrong, either suggests that there are some holes in the process and/or there is something fishy going on at the Planning office. Either way, this needs to be looked at.
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I personally find that with Toronto's very hot sometimes humid summers, I actually like the shade from the tall buildings downtown.

I find that for a large part of the summer, being in the shade made a big difference and was more comfortable than being directly in the sun. I think that's part of the reason people enjoy having large trees for shade.

Just my personal opinion though.
 
ehlow said:
I personally find that with Toronto's very hot sometimes humid summers, I actually like the shade from the tall buildings downtown.

I find that for a large part of the summer, being in the shade made a big difference and was more comfortable than being directly in the sun. I think that's part of the reason people enjoy having large trees for shade.

Just my personal opinion though.
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I respect your personal opinion. But still there are lots of people including myself who enjoy sitting under the sun at Dundas Square. But I think that the bigger outrage is the city planner's blatant lie on the report that there wouldn't be any shadow effect.
 
ehlow said:
I personally find that with Toronto's very hot sometimes humid summers, I actually like the shade from the tall buildings downtown.

I find that for a large part of the summer, being in the shade made a big difference and was more comfortable than being directly in the sun. I think that's part of the reason people enjoy having large trees for shade.

Just my personal opinion though.
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I'm the opposite, I'll find my way and walk on the sunny side of the street at whatever time of day. I don't care about shade from buildings, but I do care if they shadow parks. If I want or need shade, I'll easily find one of 10 million trees in the city. I'd rather not see Dundas Square shaded, and I think you'll find most people seeking a resting spot there are doing so to enjoy some sun.
 
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You also need plenty of sunlight if you want healthy trees. There may not be many trees there now, but one day we might decide we want a greener square. A northern city like Toronto shouldn't base its shadowing policy on the fact that 1-2 months a year it gets so hot that shade is preferrable. Most of the year, it's more comfortable to be in the sun than in the shadows of a building canyon.
 
Is the Sunrise on Yonge south of Bloor gone too? I haven't noticed.
 
It's still there as far as I know.

I did tweet this news about Sunrise Yonge & Dundas and their corporate account quickly responded that it wasn't true and that they are staying put. Not sure why it would be on a real-estate site though?!?
 
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