Toronto 699 Lawrence West | 128.56m | 38s | Midtown West Residences | Core Architects

This one was the subject of a Settlement offer at last week's meeting of City Council.

The substance of that offer is now public.

To my surprise, this one got only a very small trim, to 38s.


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3 elevators to 390 units = 0.77 elevators per 100 units, well less than ideal.

** Note **

The approval will come with an *H* (holding by-law) pending verification of sufficient municipal services.

@Paclo is duly notified.
 
Weird. Turns out that the project actually was "reasonable by any objective standard, as currently contemplated, in light of the supporting infrastructure in place." I wonder if that will cause someone to reconsider their assumptions and avoid magical thinking.

It's positive to see an increase, even if slight, for the two and three bedroom units. I guess it's achieved by the average decrease in size through many more studios.

I also still think that there's too many parking spots and too few bicycle spots. It does feel like a missed opportunity but at least probably close to a thousand people will be able to have transit oriented housing within walking distance to many amenities.
 
A common theme in the thread seems to be concerns over traffic in the area, and I have never been to the neighborhood other than flying thru on the allen/subway so i'll assume it to be true. I'm curious what people feel could be done to address the congestion with the understanding drastic changes (allen removal, Lawrence widening/bus lanes, removal of parking at mall) are not happening any time soon.
 
I think concerns about traffic are "reasonable" in the sense that they aren't coming out of nowhere. The Lawrence/Allen and the Eglinton/Allen intersections are generally clogged with cars and, I would say, flat out dangerous at all times to pedestrians and cyclists as car drivers are often very fixated on getting onto the Allen. Cars also use parallel streets, particularly Marlee, as an alternative to the Allen leading to lots of congestion on nearby streets at peak times.

But there's a surprising amount of active transit infrastructure in the area and also good transit. If there isn't going to be near-term changes from the city, the next best thing is private developments like this not worsening the problem by building excessive parking spots. Sadly I think this one is a missed opportunity on that fron but there's nearby developments with very little parking being built and that needs to be encouraged. Essentially, a constituency needs to be created and supported to encourage further modal shift.
 
jmi22 said:
A common theme in the thread seems to be concerns over traffic in the area, and I have never been to the neighborhood other than flying thru on the allen/subway so i'll assume it to be true.
Click to expand...

LOL, its true. Not limited to weekdays either, though weekday rush is really bad. I live in East York, and haven't spent that much time up in this hood, but I've been caught in a jam on Lawrence more than once.

jmi22 said:
I'm curious what people feel could be done to address the congestion with the understanding drastic changes (allen removal, Lawrence widening/bus lanes, removal of parking at mall) are not happening any time soon.
Click to expand...

There isn't much to be done without major investment.

The biggest problem by far is Eastbound approaching the Allen, and this has to do w/traffic going north and there being insufficient queue room, so this backs up traffic well past Marlee.

The easiest, but not a particularly desirable choice would be a double-left lane EB; but even that can't be done w/o big infrastructure change.

1) If you want to do this and retain 2 through lanes, you're going to need to remove the current bus layby in front of Lawrence West Station.

But the station is not large enough for buses to layover, so you'd have to enlarge the bus terminal deck to the south.

2) The configuration of the NB on ramp is absolutely terrible and single-lane from the EB on Lawrence position, so you'd have to reconstruct the ramp, and realign it as well.

Hugely costly.

WB issues aren't nearly as bad, but can still be an issue, here you would need to encroach on the Lawrence Mall parking lot to extend an additional lane at least as far as Bolingbroke.

****

A partial Allen interchange removal is probably a better near-term option. Leave the ramps to/from Allen North but eliminate them SB (really your taking a highway from Lawrence to Eglinton? )

Its a less costly intervention which can even be done w/simply jersey barriers to start.

Eliminating those 2 movements would simplify traffic and intersection organization at lower cost. It also works with the future removal of Allen Road.
 
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