Automation Gallery
Superstar
From what i understand, height restrictions have been violated over and over through out the years in this King Spadina secondary plan, here you go.....http://www.toronto.ca/planning/pdf/king_spadina_final_pt4_f.pdf
Actually, the mechanical penthouse of the 12 storey building is wrapped within the 12th storey, adjacent to the penthouse units. The elements projecting off of the roof are, or were originally, intended to be lounge / outdoor bar spaces related to the amenity area.
From what i understand, height restrictions have been violated over and over through out the years in this King Spadina secondary plan, here you go.....http://www.toronto.ca/planning/pdf/king_spadina_final_pt4_f.pdf
A sad day for me? Actually, a sad day for the city. What you obviously don't comprehend is that the city plan is being destroyed by the OMB. The secondary plan for the area is now wrecked because the OMB ruled on opinions regarding architectural merit and not on whether this building made any sense with respect to the context of the neighbourhood. It rejected the the views of the democratically elected city councillor, it rejected the recommendations of the city planning department, rejected the city plan and rejected the concerns of the local residents who expressed concerns about this project. What you don't understand - or could not care less about - is that the city plan was passed by city council through a democratic process. The OMB appointee - who is most definitely not an expert in city planning or in architecture - exceeded that process. He wasn't elected, but his own personal opinion ends up mattering more than anything or anyone else. That's a ludicrous approach to city building.
It appears that too many people get wrapped up in a skyscraper fetish that they lose the bigger picture - that the developers are getting the sole say on how the city evolves. And as a resident of that neighbourhood, I happen to dislike that a lone provincial appointee can have so much power so as to undermine the city planning efforts of the most populace city in Canada. Ontario is the only jurisdiction in North America that maintains such a body, and it is a detriment to the city. It's definitely not planning.
The constant challenges to city planning guidelines by the OMB leave the process in shambles. It's not so much that city planning is dysfunctional, it's that the OMB has made it dysfunctional. The city needs to take planning far more seriously otherwise the process will be further undermined.
If not operating on the basis of the city plan, what does the OMB work by? Opinions? Pay-offs?
Its great when those with an opinion HIDE behind the nimbyism claim. Its much easier to throw those stones than understanding what is really going on, especially in this case for Thompson Residences.
I guess Rob Ford also suffers from Nimbyism.
I doubt it, this would be an Adam Vaughan thing.