I did a deep dive on
the final Mississauga retail development report. Here are some of the key recommendations:
Seek area-specific market research and information that considers the amount, type and location of retail at a finer grain to ensure greater alignment between retail supply and more localized needs, demand and market positioning.
At the municipal level, design an incentive that can be stacked with current incentive programs in Mississauga to encourage mixed use (e.g., Vaughan, through a Community Improvement Plan (CIP), is proposing to use a mix of development charge deferrals, grants and forgivable loans to promote the development of office and non-residential uses).
Recognizing the need for flexibility for landowner and the prime objective to create mixed use communities, the City may consider creating a mechanism to transfer minimum retail requirements between sites within a specified area.
(Note: this means that when replacement retail is required as part of a development, not all retail would have to be built on-site, but could be nearby)
As identified in the Mayor’s Housing Task Force Report as a strategy to make non-residential space more affordable, explore incentives for multi-floor retail to support the OP density bonus policy, which indicates that non-residential uses above the ground floor do not count in a building's height calculation
Re-evaluate or simplify requirements for form and design elements (i.e., entrance requirements, loading areas, etc.) that could compound challenges in developing new retail space.
Through the development of a retail design or an area-specific design manual, the city should seek to encourage and promote flexible retail design (e.g., moveable fixtures and walls, reduction in the use of structural columns and permanent or fixed barriers, adjustable lighting tracks) that support more flexible interior partitioning. This will help preserve opportunity for larger unit formats, in addition to 'micro-retail' units that are more affordable and of less risk from a tenanting perspective.
Advocate support for taxation policy at the provincial level (i.e., explore mixed use retail tax class)
Here is what I would like to see that's not in the report:
- I'm a bit disappointed the tax incentives are being put off for further study. I suppose those might have to wait for that recommended more granular, neighbourhood by neighbourhood study of retail shortages, but I was hoping it would be in this report
- While there's some language about reducing red tape for developers, and ensuring that zoning by-laws allow for retail, there's no specific proposal to re-zone any areas. As a start, I'd like the city to re-zone residential apartment buildings on major streets to mixed use.
- No specific mention of reducing required amenity space in residential buildings, which might free up space for retail. (Though there is a report about amenity space coming to city council soon.)
Lastly, here are some good graphics from the report.
This is the breakdown of how much retail Mississauga needs added in net terms city-wide in the next 5 years and the next 25 years, broken down by type of retail. Note that the city already has 30.5 million square feet of retail. The chart below shows that it needs to add 2 million square feet in the near future to keep up with demand from a growing population.
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This shows how construction costs in Canada have risen, expressed as a percentage change over the previous year. Construction costs have gone up from the previous year almost every year, which makes retail construction more expensive.
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