Toronto Toronto House | 186.53m | 58s | Westbank | Hariri Pontarini

$50 million sounds like a lot. Even for all that. How would someone not involved in this process understand all of these things? Yes I did read I42's post and I even read almost all the links to documents that are shared here.
I don't know how many studies are done or how many are necessary. I do not know their costs.
I don't know how much these individuals make or the over head fees. I have no idea how many staff members there are.
Maybe you work in city planning, I do not. $50 million is a lot of money. I'm simply asking to better understand the break down.
 
The city runs 4 different community planning divisions across the city that have to spend hundreds to thousands of man hours on every single application received. The city receives 20-40 applications a month. Plans are received, reviewed point by point and compared to existing planning and legal documents, sent to multiple agencies and city divisions for further review, reports are written about these submissions for council, public meetings are held for these applications, communication and meetings are held with applicants to go over issues and list required revisions, etc. It's not a level of how many floors are there either, it's the exact dimensions of that planter box, exactly how many steps there are to the front entrance, how is bycicle parking located and configured, what is the turning radius required to ensure a garbage truck can pick up the developments trash, what is the exact servicing requirements for sewage, hydro, and water, how many children will need school facilities, where exactly are fire access routes and staircase exits, what exactly is the buildings height, width, floorplate, setback distances from streets, etc.,etc.,etc.

This all has to be done by a small army of university educated planners whose starting wage exiting university at the city is $60,000 annually plus benefits, and rises to over 6 figures.
 
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Thank you for the detailed explanation.
I apologize for the undermining of anyone's job title, or hard work.
In all fairness $60,000 a year is very hefty though and above many other university exiting career salaries. I am not saying that is not well deserved. No doubt it is.
 
Depending upon ones lifestyle $60,000 is not 'hefty' by any means in this city. Plus these folks have to work with 'the public' and any job that works with 'the public' and is civil service...I'd say its a tough job.
 
This is getting admittedly too OT, but I do feel the need to stand up for our overworked planners -- they're at the frontline of the effects of the new austerity budget reality and they perform a truly thankless job, and one which extends to having (often uninformed) insults hurled at them in-person at nearly every public consultation to which they are subjected.

The other thing to consider in the "remember that our bureaucrats are real human beings" vein is that it is in our best interest as residents of the city to be attracting and retaining skilled workers who are in demand in their field. A race to the bottom in whatever the realm -- salary, benefits, work-life balance, office culture, etc. -- is simply not in the public interest in any sense even if it saves a few taxpayer dollars. Good employees in the planning department have career options beyond the city planning department and we're competing with those other parties for the same talent.
 
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I agree with what has been said above, the lowest bidder is rarely the best option, and I most certainly did not say $60,000 is not reasonable. I will not bother delving into the injustice of many other highly educated fields, as that is not where I was trying to take this conversation.

It just feels like there have been a lot of projects in limbo for a couple years now, including this one, which I like.
 
Toronto is generally the upper range of jobs in terms of planning going out of school.. but it is also the most demanding and complex. The level of issues is different in the country's largest city than it is in Whitby.
 
I am by no means an expert in planning.

That said, I recently handled a lawsuit that had to do with the construction of a single McMansion. The amount of paperwork that had to go through planning about this home was mind-boggling.

Every aspect of the planning process needs to be taken seriously not only for public policy and planning reasons, but also from a liability perspective. If the City incorrectly approves a building which does not meet the building code, that is a big problem not only for the developer, but for the City as well.

Honestly, given the volume of incredibly complex and massive projects the City of Toronto is dealing with, $50 million annually sounds low to me.
 
Caught this rendering in the Allied investor presentation, which appears to be slightly different than what's in the database here.

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I like the wood on the undersides, but the slab seems suspiciously thin for trees of those size?
 
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