yyzer
Senior Member
from today's Daily Commercial News....
February 19, 2009
Toronto moves to expedite approvals for office and industrial projects
PETER KENTER
correspondent
In December, Gary Wright, Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning, with the City of Toronto promised an audience at a breakfast meeting of the Canadian Urban Institute that the city would become more development-friendly in 2009. Two recent initiatives by the city have offered to streamline the planning and approval process and make it more transparent.
Toronto Mayor David Miller has announced that the city will launch the Gold Star Service program, designed to facilitate municipal approvals for strategic industrial and office developments.
“The program is an upgraded version of our previous Concierge Service, which was available on a divisional level,†says Eve Pyatt, Director of the Economic Development, Culture & Tourism Division of the City of Toronto.
While the previous service assigned case workers to help shepherd large projects through the approvals process, the new program will offer the same enhanced service to any industrial, commercial office and institutional (ICI) project that offers to create long-term jobs. Each project will be assigned to a team led by a planning director and an economic development officer who will work with the proponent and staff to identify approval requirements, help resolve issues, and ensure that the client receives prompt service.
The program is currently working on 10 projects worth $2.3 billion in investment, and designed to retain or generate 20,000 jobs. Three additional projects are anticipated in 2009. “Most of the current projects on the roster were rolled over from the divisional program,†says Pyatt. Some of these projects include Woodbine Live!, the new office development on the former Canadian Tire site on Sheppard Avenue and the ProLogis development at McNicoll and Tapscott Road.
“By bringing an enhanced focus to the development applications themselves, we can achieve a better level of communication between ourselves and the applicant,†says Wright. “Will we save four weeks over the development process? I don’t know. But by paying more attention to the process, we hope to resolve potential problems quicker.â€
Last week, the city also launched its new Development Application Status website, which allows Internet access to detailed information on active development projects and planning applications backdated to Jan. 1, 2006. Open to the public as well as the development sector, the site will provide project data, approval process status, public meeting dates and the assigned planner’s name and phone number. A second phase of the site will allow users to search applications and developments using dynamic maps.
“This will be a useful tool for residents and the development industry,†says Wright. “It’s only been in operation for a few days, so it will take us a little while to measure how much use it’s getting.â€
The department is also working to harmonize various Toronto zoning bylaws through 2009, with a goal of completing the process some time in 2010.
The department is also undergoing an internal review process to look for greater efficiencies inside the organization.
“We expect to see some results by the second quarter of 2009, and a larger implementation in 2010,†says Wright. “We’re looking for improved service delivery, we’re looking at how we align ourselves with the work we have to do, what kind of partnerships we need, and better use of existing resources. It’s time to look at the things we need to do internally as a division to respond to the needs of the next five to 10 years.â€
While Wright predicts that applications will decline through 2009, once current projects have cleared he says he sees an opportunity to focus on delivering projects of greater quality.
“We’ve been in an intense development activity cycle for the last eight or nine years and in many ways that put us in a reactive situation,†says Wright. “Serendipitously, this may bethe time to be a little bit more proactive about our planning.â€
February 19, 2009
Toronto moves to expedite approvals for office and industrial projects
PETER KENTER
correspondent
In December, Gary Wright, Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning, with the City of Toronto promised an audience at a breakfast meeting of the Canadian Urban Institute that the city would become more development-friendly in 2009. Two recent initiatives by the city have offered to streamline the planning and approval process and make it more transparent.
Toronto Mayor David Miller has announced that the city will launch the Gold Star Service program, designed to facilitate municipal approvals for strategic industrial and office developments.
“The program is an upgraded version of our previous Concierge Service, which was available on a divisional level,†says Eve Pyatt, Director of the Economic Development, Culture & Tourism Division of the City of Toronto.
While the previous service assigned case workers to help shepherd large projects through the approvals process, the new program will offer the same enhanced service to any industrial, commercial office and institutional (ICI) project that offers to create long-term jobs. Each project will be assigned to a team led by a planning director and an economic development officer who will work with the proponent and staff to identify approval requirements, help resolve issues, and ensure that the client receives prompt service.
The program is currently working on 10 projects worth $2.3 billion in investment, and designed to retain or generate 20,000 jobs. Three additional projects are anticipated in 2009. “Most of the current projects on the roster were rolled over from the divisional program,†says Pyatt. Some of these projects include Woodbine Live!, the new office development on the former Canadian Tire site on Sheppard Avenue and the ProLogis development at McNicoll and Tapscott Road.
“By bringing an enhanced focus to the development applications themselves, we can achieve a better level of communication between ourselves and the applicant,†says Wright. “Will we save four weeks over the development process? I don’t know. But by paying more attention to the process, we hope to resolve potential problems quicker.â€
Last week, the city also launched its new Development Application Status website, which allows Internet access to detailed information on active development projects and planning applications backdated to Jan. 1, 2006. Open to the public as well as the development sector, the site will provide project data, approval process status, public meeting dates and the assigned planner’s name and phone number. A second phase of the site will allow users to search applications and developments using dynamic maps.
“This will be a useful tool for residents and the development industry,†says Wright. “It’s only been in operation for a few days, so it will take us a little while to measure how much use it’s getting.â€
The department is also working to harmonize various Toronto zoning bylaws through 2009, with a goal of completing the process some time in 2010.
The department is also undergoing an internal review process to look for greater efficiencies inside the organization.
“We expect to see some results by the second quarter of 2009, and a larger implementation in 2010,†says Wright. “We’re looking for improved service delivery, we’re looking at how we align ourselves with the work we have to do, what kind of partnerships we need, and better use of existing resources. It’s time to look at the things we need to do internally as a division to respond to the needs of the next five to 10 years.â€
While Wright predicts that applications will decline through 2009, once current projects have cleared he says he sees an opportunity to focus on delivering projects of greater quality.
“We’ve been in an intense development activity cycle for the last eight or nine years and in many ways that put us in a reactive situation,†says Wright. “Serendipitously, this may bethe time to be a little bit more proactive about our planning.â€
