Toronto Clear Spirit | 131.36m | 40s | Cityscape | a—A

Urban Shocker said:
Riverdale is actually very well defined as an existing lowrise residential neighbourhood and is protected under the official plan from highrise development.
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So because the Distillery wasn't protected under the official plan, anything goes? That's your argument? A technicality?
 
At that rate, then why not just tear the whole place up for condo development?
 
Let's time travel. Given all this, I sort of wonder what the whole political scene and debate around the future of the Distillery would have been like were the 90s more like now--perhaps like an amplified version of the 48 Abell controversy, with a touch of Riverdale half-round for good measure? Unfortunately back then, the naysayers were more likely to be same-olds such as Jane Beecroft than anything, uh, proto-Spacing-esque...
 
Hardly, dear.

There is no connection that any sane person would make between aA and ERA's work on the revival of an abandoned former industrial site that's surrounded by vacant land, and syn's proposal for a 60 storey tower in an established residential neighbourhood like Riverdale that is protected from such development by the official plan, so no point can be made by suggesting there is a connection - other than in syn's fevered brow.

Setting aside such alarmist rhetoric, the beautifully designed Distillery additions are hardly a case of "anything goes" since the normal dance between a developer and the city has taken place prior to their construction. Clewes accepts this process, which entails redesign, and refers to it in the interview he gave to John Bentley Mays in April.
 
The more people that live in the DD, the more reasons I have to visit the locale more than once a decade! Instead of a mere 3 condo buildings, why not build another 10,000 units down here? It's so close to King Street--possibly a five minute walk by yours truly, so bring the peeps down here and get them to buy Mill St ale by the tankful! Sure, tall structures look out of place in the DD, but so do tall silos in farm country! Yet no one bitches about 300 ft silos in Grey County: they brag about them!

Translation: Milk the suckers for every penny!
 
^Why build 10,000 more units in the DD when the West Don Lands is going to be right next door, among many of the thousands of units going to be built within a 5-10 minute walk
 
Urban Shocker said:
There is no connection that any sane person would make between aA and ERA's work on the revival of an abandoned former industrial site that's surrounded by vacant land, and syn's proposal for a 60 storey tower in an established residential neighbourhood like Riverdale that is protected from such development by the official plan, so no point can be made by suggesting there is a connection - other than in syn's fevered brow.
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Riverdale isn't just a residential neighbourhood.


Urban Shocker said:
Setting aside such alarmist rhetoric, the beautifully designed Distillery additions are hardly a case of "anything goes" since the normal dance between a developer and the city has taken place prior to their construction. Clewes accepts this process, which entails redesign, and refers to it in the interview he gave to John Bentley Mays in April.
Click to expand...

Such a "dance" occurs with every development. Does that mean all developments work out for the best?
 
The vast majority of the streets in Riverdale are entirely residential.

Not all developments work out for the best, but this one has.
 
Don't we want more walkable neighborhoods in the city? The streets of the distillery have one major element missing from them: cars.

This is a highly walkable area and having the density of the towers within the Distillery and the other mid-rise buildings surrounding creates a permanent population to sustain it. The walking area is small enough to avoid the "towers in the park" catastrophe but diverse enough (retail, offices, arts groups, housing) and large enough to create a very vibrant area for the city. Hopefully the parking lots along Parliament south of King will create a proper gateway to the Distillery.

I agree - this development works and has worked out really well.
 
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