alklay
Senior Member
This is an interesting article on the importance of employment v. residential uses of land, job growth and the impact of the subway and zoning instruments. Enjoy:
Subway presents jobs dilemma
TheStar.com - News - Subway presents jobs dilemma
Consultants suggest that York U extension may open doors to homes, not employment, if developers put pressure on city
May 09, 2007
John Spears
City Hall Bureau
Extending the Spadina subway line to York University and Vaughan could promote job growth along the route – or it could lower employment levels.
That's one of the dilemmas facing the city if it hopes to reach its ambitious job-growth targets, according to a consultants' report that suggests Toronto can't afford to see much more of its office and industrial space replaced by housing.
Pressure to build housing on commercial and industrial land along the line is likely to grow once the extension gets final approval, says the report by Hemson Consulting, which goes to the city's economic development committee today.
According to March employment figures, Toronto has 1.34 million jobs, many of them in its prime "employment lands" – 16 areas with industrial or commercial zoning, mostly in the city's old suburbs.
To meet the goal set out in its Official Plan – 1.84 million jobs by 2031 – the city must find places to put workspace for about 500,000 more jobs.
But it also faces a steady stream of proposals from developers to build houses, apartments and condominiums in the very areas that now supply jobs.
The Spadina subway represents both an opportunity and a potential pitfall, the report says. The route runs along the edge of one of the city's biggest employment areas, running north from Sheppard Ave. W. between Dufferin and Keele Sts.
The subway will provide an ideal chance to grow more jobs, the Hemson report says. But it will also appeal to residential developers, who will find the subway an attractive selling point. They'll pressure the city to convert industrial land to housing, the report warns.
"One of the most common arguments in support of applications to convert employment land to residential is that it would support transit use," Hemson notes.
"A new subway line along the edge of the employment district would therefore provide many opportunities for landowners to argue for conversions to residential."
Property owners' main motivation for converting their land won't be concern for the subway's welfare, but the fact that residential land is "quite a bit" more valuable than industrial-zoned land, said study co-author Russell Matthews.
Giving in would put the city on a slippery slope: "Once the first conversion is approved, it would be very difficult to refuse others."
Hemson says the belief that it takes densely populated areas to support transit isn't necessarily true.
"Transit actually works best where destinations include concentrated employment opportunities, such as central Toronto and other nodes along the Yonge St. corridor."
The report says the city has to do more than simply protect employment lands from conversion to housing.
And Toronto will also need to provide tax incentives to spur new construction in the employment districts because developers can make more money building office and industrial projects outside the city.
These are interesting problems in light of the fact that the city has not grown either its residential or working population during the last decade.
Subway presents jobs dilemma
TheStar.com - News - Subway presents jobs dilemma
Consultants suggest that York U extension may open doors to homes, not employment, if developers put pressure on city
May 09, 2007
John Spears
City Hall Bureau
Extending the Spadina subway line to York University and Vaughan could promote job growth along the route – or it could lower employment levels.
That's one of the dilemmas facing the city if it hopes to reach its ambitious job-growth targets, according to a consultants' report that suggests Toronto can't afford to see much more of its office and industrial space replaced by housing.
Pressure to build housing on commercial and industrial land along the line is likely to grow once the extension gets final approval, says the report by Hemson Consulting, which goes to the city's economic development committee today.
According to March employment figures, Toronto has 1.34 million jobs, many of them in its prime "employment lands" – 16 areas with industrial or commercial zoning, mostly in the city's old suburbs.
To meet the goal set out in its Official Plan – 1.84 million jobs by 2031 – the city must find places to put workspace for about 500,000 more jobs.
But it also faces a steady stream of proposals from developers to build houses, apartments and condominiums in the very areas that now supply jobs.
The Spadina subway represents both an opportunity and a potential pitfall, the report says. The route runs along the edge of one of the city's biggest employment areas, running north from Sheppard Ave. W. between Dufferin and Keele Sts.
The subway will provide an ideal chance to grow more jobs, the Hemson report says. But it will also appeal to residential developers, who will find the subway an attractive selling point. They'll pressure the city to convert industrial land to housing, the report warns.
"One of the most common arguments in support of applications to convert employment land to residential is that it would support transit use," Hemson notes.
"A new subway line along the edge of the employment district would therefore provide many opportunities for landowners to argue for conversions to residential."
Property owners' main motivation for converting their land won't be concern for the subway's welfare, but the fact that residential land is "quite a bit" more valuable than industrial-zoned land, said study co-author Russell Matthews.
Giving in would put the city on a slippery slope: "Once the first conversion is approved, it would be very difficult to refuse others."
Hemson says the belief that it takes densely populated areas to support transit isn't necessarily true.
"Transit actually works best where destinations include concentrated employment opportunities, such as central Toronto and other nodes along the Yonge St. corridor."
The report says the city has to do more than simply protect employment lands from conversion to housing.
And Toronto will also need to provide tax incentives to spur new construction in the employment districts because developers can make more money building office and industrial projects outside the city.
These are interesting problems in light of the fact that the city has not grown either its residential or working population during the last decade.