Toronto West Don Lands: Blocks 17 & 26 | 141m | 43s | Aspen Ridge | Core Architects

Amare said:
The policy isnt formally in place, but the procedures are in motion and this Con government is positioning themselves to use MZO's in the greenbelt. Of course they wont do it it one full sweep (unless they are stupid enough which is fully possible), so it's being done in a piecemeal manner so it wont stir a massive controversy:

www.theglobeandmail.com

Globe editorial: The Ford government is harming Ontario’s environmental future

The defanging of Ontario’s conservation authorities could open the door to more projects in the Greenbelt – two million largely undeveloped acres that ring the Greater Toronto Area
www.theglobeandmail.com www.theglobeandmail.com
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Did you read my post? What moves have they actually made towards that? The one I can see is them amending the planning act to explicitly ban MZOs in the Greenbelt. Which is the dead exact opposite you are claiming. What are those positions you claim they are forming? What procedures? I’m aware that they have significantly weakened conservation authorities by permitting LPAT appeals of their policies and made changes to other environmental policies - but what exactly have they done to loosen development regulations in the greenbelt?
 
innsertnamehere said:
Did you read my post? What moves have they actually made towards that? The one I can see is them amending the planning act to explicitly ban MZOs in the Greenbelt. Which is the dead exact opposite you are claiming. What are those positions you claim they are forming? What procedures? I’m aware that they have significantly weakened conservation authorities by permitting LPAT appeals of their policies and made changes to other environmental policies - but what exactly have they done to loosen development regulations in the greenbelt?
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Since you dont like reading articles here's the gist:

It’s not clear yet what the full impact of the changes (via the proposed rules the government has made in Bill 229) could be because the province has said they are also writing a new set of regulations, which have not yet been released, to go with the rules. Thus the reason why I said the procedures are in motion.
 
Seems pretty weird to start developing a site without proposing what's to be built. Is it shadiness, or they want to clean the earth below hastily (so as to actually forward a real proposal)?

As for heritage, surely they'd incorporate one or two facades. There's gotta be some kind of math out there showing that century old brick in/around a development = higher property values.
 
innsertnamehere said:
The largest land use change the PCs have made is placing minimum densities around transit stations that are extremely aggressive and allowing for no real exceptions.
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I think you can apply for exceptions, and I thought TO Planning was thinking of doing so for many stations along the line?
 
Here's the Press Release from the West Don Lands Committee etc.

For Immediate Release

January 15, 2021

Province flouts Emergency Declaration to start covert demolition of significant heritage site.
Thursday morning, the day of the Provincial Emergency Declaration took effect, provincial contractors quietly moved into a heritage site on the West Don Lands to start demolition.

The site is the Dominion Wheels and Foundry building on Eastern Avenue. A municipally listed heritage site since 2004, its work was significant enough that the Smithsonian in Washington carries one of it catalogues in its collection. In 2012, the Province used the monumental production hall to welcome the Prince of Wales to the PanAm Para/PanAm Athletes’ Village.

In October 2020 the site was subject of a widely criticized Ministerial Zoning Order which will permit up to a 40-storey residential tower on the site. This came out of the blue with zero consultation with City, community or heritage experts.

Today, the Province has once again used secrecy and cover of a provincial emergency to take the insult to another level – demolition without consultation, disclosure of a disposition plan, consideration of adaptive reuse or even a courtesy call to the City and community leaders.

Heavy equipment has been moved into the site. Workers from Quantum Murray, a demolition and decommissioning firm, say they have been retained to complete demolition of the site by March 2021.

As in October, the community is left scrambling to get information from province. Ministry officials have not responded to requests for information. No information has been provided about the rationale for demolition or the justification for initiating seemingly non-essential work during the beginning of what is supposed to be a serious shutdown in the GTA.

The Dominion Wheel and Foundry buildings were part of a massive complex devoted to the manufacture of rolling stock for the growing railways during the first half of the 20thc. The remaining warehouse, foundry building, office building and machine shop are among the few surviving remnants of the rich industrial heritage of the West Don Lands – the first industrial area in Toronto’s history.

The West Don Lands, Corktown and St. Lawrence Neighbourhoods are where Toronto began and flourished. Our communities have fought to ensure that important heritage resources like the Foundry are conserved and repurposed as a connection to that history. This is our heritage and, as provincial planning policies provide, we should be involved in any decisions about its future.

Many groups and individuals have come together to form Friends of the Foundry . We are calling on Ministers Clark, MacLeod and Premier Ford to call off the plans for demolition and instead, work with the community to fashion a better and more respectful alternative.

Friends of the Foundry

Contact:

Suzanne Kavanagh, Chair St. Lawrence, Heritage Conservation District
Cindy Wilkey, Co-Chair West Don Lands Committee

suzkav123@gmail.com
wilkeycj@gmail.com
 
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abovetoronto said:
May I just say, not every warehouse needs saving, especially when sitting derelict and unused.
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Yes, even heritage folk like me agree that everything should not and cannot be preserved but this complex is quite special and was listed by the City. It shows VERY bad faith from the Province that they think they can just show up one day and demolish it. At the very least, they need to discuss what they are planning - it is POSSIBLE that the plans for the site (which nobody has seen) are so amazing that the demolition may be justified (but I somehow doubt it!)
 
abovetoronto said:
May I just say, not every warehouse needs saving, especially when sitting derelict and unused.
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Sure, but not every warehouse has heritage value. This one actually does, and can be repurposed and/or integrated into a future development. What's the rush in demolishing it (on the same day that emergency stay-at-home orders take into effect)? At least show us a plan for the site.
 
At the very least, worst case scenario, because the other two MZO issued sites are with Dream and being designed by either Cobe Architects or Henning Larsen Architects respectively, there can be a hope that one of those parties are also working on this site and will bring the same considerably thoughtful approach to the site that they have for the other sites. Perhaps some optimism that they will only be demolishing the office building components while leaving the south and west warehouse buildings?
 
everydayhim said:
At the very least, worst case scenario, because the other two MZO issued sites are with Dream and being designed by either Cobe Architects or Henning Larsen Architects respectively, there can be a hope that one of those parties are also working on this site and will bring the same considerably thoughtful approach to the site that they have for the other sites. Perhaps some optimism that they will only be demolishing the office building components while leaving the south and west warehouse buildings?
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The point is we do not know what the hell they are planning for either the demolition or the development.
 
DSC said:
The point is we do not know what the hell they are planning for either the demolition or the development.
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Exactly the point. This is what happens when the government uses MZOs and operates by way of regulation instead of being transparent. The community is left to scramble and beg for information about decisions that have already been made in secret, even where it affects them directly. It's profoundly anti-democratic.

If you are concerned about this, here is a backgrounder on the Foundry and a step-by-step of what can be done to prevent the demolition: https://sites.google.com/view/block1726/home
 
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I honestly just don't get it.

These heritage buildings could be incorporated into a development. This site has the potential to be something beautiful that adds to the community.

How can this be anything other than blatant corruption? Why the secrecy? Why the rush to destroy the buildings on the site? Why the skirting of normal development procedures with an MZO? It's not like the city was holding back a good project here, nothing has been proposed to the public.
 
This looks to be shocking behaviour. If you were desperate to earn money off the site, rent it out while you do design and engineering on your proposal!
Makes a mockery of the democratic planning process...
 
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