sunnyraytoronto
Senior Member
Because they can!
Anyone can put in a development application for whatever they want, regardless of any current site restriction on zoning, height, density, usage, etc,... and best of all, they don't even have to own the site or even have the owner's permission. And CityPlanning will still have to give it all due consideration just like any other development application in the city.
Truth is this temporary container park is likely more viable than "the local councillor is trying to rezone the land for a public park". Since, with the temporary container park scheme, it produces almost immediate public realm green/open-space in an area desperate for such infrastructure,.... and BuildToronto can still sell off the land later thus generating revenue for the City,.... and CityPlanning can later require future developer contribute a small portion (like about 10%) to on-site parkland dedication.
If the local councillor manages to rezone the land for public park, it'll never be sold off in the future (imagine the public outcry when City sells off public park space) and the City will be paying for landscaping and any environmental clean-up required here. Some folks thinking, don't worry, it'll all be paid for by Section37 CommunityBenefit money developer must pay for nearby developments - fair enough but there's an opportunity cost to that. Look at the proposed RailDeckPark, that'll cost about 1 billion dollar,... say, each 50+ storey condo tower generates $5-10 million in Section37 CommunityBenefit money, it'll take about 100-200 condo towers in the local wards to get $1 billion in Section37 CommunityBenefit money required for RailDeckPark,.... but the real issue is the opportunity cost, that $1 billion of Section37 CommunityBenefit money could have brought a whole lot of new community centres, new libraries, new non-profit child care facilities, better distributed parkspace, local park infrastructure improvements, etc,....
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