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Zoning Reform Ideas

Northern Light said:
Councillor Bradford made a motion concerning the interpretation issues of the multiplex by-law by City Planning, which was adopted at Council:

View attachment 612200

If one refers to the associated letter from the Councillor, one sees something else......

View attachment 612201
View attachment 612202

I will limit my commentary here and say........... this is a good motion.
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Crazy that our multiplex bylaw caps out right below the CMHC threshold. Why don’t we just update the bylaw to 5+ units city wide to align with CMHC incentives?

The hard part of introducing the bylaw is arguably done. Updating the bylaw for more units should encounter much less public resistance.
 
goodcitywhenfinished said:
Crazy that our multiplex bylaw caps out right below the CMHC threshold. Why don’t we just update the bylaw to 5+ units city wide to align with CMHC incentives?

The hard part of introducing the bylaw is arguably done. Updating the bylaw for more units should encounter much less public resistance.
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This is exactly the point of the motion. We shall see where things go now.
 
The final report for new retail permissions in residentially zoned areas is on the agenda of the next meeting of the Planning and Housing Ctte:


There isn't anything huge here that isn't in line w/what we've seen in the past, but there are some tweaks to allow a few more things and to newly restrict one (clubs).

Follow the link for the all the gory details.
 
Aren't clubs already basically impossible to open up in Toronto? How could they possibly need more restrictions?
 
bearcat said:
Not sure if this is the right thread but I saw this on Reddit:

https://www.reddit.com/r/toronto/comments/1hhk3op/city_council_defers_the_policy_to_allow_corner

Seems like this happened after articles like this came out:


I am personally all for allowing more retail in residential areas, and I hope this eventually goes through.
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Of all the stupid things...............

This was not a move that was widely unpopular, it was also quite restrained.

But as the mayor decided not to whip the vote on this...........it wasn't going to pass.............. bizarre.

****

There are compromises that can be worked out, including allowing this, but carving out certain wards for now. Not ideal, but lets not hold the thing up because a couple of wards unlikely to see these stores have some irrational fear mongers.
 
bearcat said:
Not sure if this is the right thread but I saw this on Reddit:

https://www.reddit.com/r/toronto/comments/1hhk3op/city_council_defers_the_policy_to_allow_corner

Seems like this happened after articles like this came out:


I am personally all for allowing more retail in residential areas, and I hope this eventually goes through.
Click to expand...
First you let them open a coffeeshop. Next you'll have a strip club. Oh, won't someone please think of the children?!?
 
Northern Light said:
Of all the stupid things...............

This was not a move that was widely unpopular, it was also quite restrained.

But as the mayor decided not to whip the vote on this...........it wasn't going to pass.............. bizarre.

****

There are compromises that can be worked out, including allowing this, but carving out certain wards for now. Not ideal, but lets not hold the thing up because a couple of wards unlikely to see these stores have some irrational fear mongers.
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I wonder why they don't just propose a policy that only grants corner stores and cafes within the old boundaries of Toronto and East York? This would ease the worries of the suburban councillors.
 
christiesplits said:
I wonder why they don't just propose a policy that only grants corner stores and cafes within the old boundaries of Toronto and East York? This would ease the worries of the suburban councillors.
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There are some suburban councillors who want this; and Planning is trying, too slowly for some, to finish harmonizing rules from the pre-Amalgamation era, 26 years on....

I get why it was proposed this way; what I don't get is why someone didn't head count the votes sooner, and propose a solution/compromise to move forward.
 
No good things allowed. Only Starbucks, Tim Hortons and Shoppers.
 
MrGoose said:
No good things allowed. Only Starbucks, Tim Hortons and Shoppers.
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That's a silly comment in this context, as none of those are allowed in 'neighbourhoods' either.

Try to be more constructive.

I dislike bland, cheap-labour chains as much or more than the next person, but introducing false bogeymen to the equation adds no value.
 
Northern Light said:
That's a silly comment in this context, as none of those are allowed in 'neighbourhoods' either.

Try to be more constructive.

I dislike bland, cheap-labour chains as much or more than the next person, but introducing false bogeymen to the equation adds no value.
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Yes and no. You're right in a direct sense - that those chains are also barred from neighbourhoods under current regulations.

But in a more indirect sense: current regulations DO perpetuate the dominance of chains but artificially restricting retail real estate supply in general, making it financially unviable for anything BUT big businesses to occupy the available retail space that exists (whether it's in a neighbourhood or not).

These 2nd and 3rd order effects of restrictive zoning do indeed contribute to the hollowing out of small business in favour of soulless corporate chains writ large.
 
desperateAmbassador said:
Yes and no. You're right in a direct sense - that those chains are also barred from neighbourhoods under current regulations.

But in a more indirect sense: current regulations DO perpetuate the dominance of chains but artificially restricting retail real estate supply in general, making it financially unviable for anything BUT big businesses to occupy the available retail space that exists (whether it's in a neighbourhood or not).

These 2nd and 3rd order effects of restrictive zoning do indeed contribute to the hollowing out of small business in favour of soulless corporate chains writ large.
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There's a ton of independent retail on main streets, indeed, more of it than chain retail by a substantial margin. Again, I'm in favour of allowing retail in neighbourhoods as was proposed here, but the idea that the failure to pass that is somehow a sop to chain retail is simply not accurate.

It would be fair to say that in new developer builds independent retail has a tough time getting in; that's a choice by the builders as to who they deal with and how they shape, and scale their retail spaces. (generally, badly)

As per the ongoing discussion in this thread:

2079-2111 Yonge | 93.5m | 26s | Glen Corporation | Turner Fleischer

https://storeys.com/toronto-development-applications-provincial-timelines-problem/
urbantoronto.ca urbantoronto.ca

Many at the City are actively championing better; but many developers are resisting strongly.
 
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