The city has a lot to do with the down sizing since they have been doing this since day one when Pinnacle presented the first plan for the whole site and this was when Hazel was still mayor. The 2nd presentation saw the site reduce almost 50% and council still said it too large.
Other than a few councilors, council is long in the tooth that think tall is to tall when it reaches 35s. If absolute wasn't done as a world competition and the public city wide voting for it, it would never go built as one tall tower, let alone 2.
As for too many developments to cause the cutting, one only has to look at the number of developments that have surface over the decades and gone no where. How long has the Enfield site been around waiting for the next tower to be built there?? Then there is 2 towers at Hurontario & Mathew Gates that been on the books for over a decade.
The city talk tall, but walks with a saw cutting it down if it too tall or too much density. Talk is cheap, but action shows results.