Province overrules Toronto on plans for midtown, downtown to allow taller, denser towers

Thestar.com
June 6, 2019
Jennifer Pagliaro

City leaders say the province is creating a “Wild West” for developers in Toronto while showing “outright contempt” for residents as Premier Doug Ford’s government significantly changed plans governing development in midtown and the downtown core.

The news that the province had substantially amended both the city’s “Midtown in Focus” and “TOcore” plans without consultation came as a blow to members of council, city planners and residents who spent years working on those plans which will shape those communities for decades to come.

The changes --which were dumped on the city late Wednesday afternoon with little explanation and which city planners hadn’t yet had time to assess --appear to strip both plans of strongly-worded language setting out the principle that development should not outpace available infrastructure like community centres, parks and sewer capacity while at the same time allowing vastly taller and denser development than previously considered or consulted on.

In the case of midtown --which includes the Yonge-Eglinton area, one of the most densely populated places in the country --the maximum building heights now anticipated under the provincial decision are in some areas more than double what was set out by the city.

“These changes reflect our government’s strong commitment to increase the supply and mix of homes, particularly near transit,” read a letter from Minister Steve Clark to Mayor John Tory, saying the plans for midtown and downtown “provide an opportunity to create much needed housing.”

The changes made by the province are final and not subject to appeal.

Municipal Affairs Minister Steve Clark gets a standing ovation from colleagues during morning Question Period in this 2018 file photo. Clark insists that there has been consultation on housing and in previous months on the updated growth plan for the greater Golden Horseshoe.

The city’s chief planner Gregg Lintern said Wednesday they were still reviewing the changes and would provide comment once that review was complete.

“The city remains committed to creating and sustaining liveable and complete communities; the principle that growth pays for growth and that infrastructure development and population growth must progress in sync; and the knowledge that good planning practices lead to good planning outcomes,” he said in an emailed statement.

On Wednesday, city councillors worried about what additional height and density would mean for neighbourhoods already stressed for services and accused the premier and his government of ripping up carefully-crafted plans.

Councillor Joe Cressy, who represents the downtown Ward 10 (Spadina--Fort York), said at a news conference organized by both midtown and downtown councillors Wednesday, that Ford wants to trade a plan with lots of new homes but also parks, guaranteed school spaces and child care, for condos so close together that residents are “looking at each other’s TVs.”

The provincial government changes appear to loosen rules around sunlight, shadowing and building setbacks from streets and other rules meant to create more livable neighbourhoods --what Clark called, in the Globe and Mail, “prescriptive process requirements.”

A joint statement from Cressy and colleagues Mike Layton (Ward 11 University-Rosedale) and Kristyn Wong-Tam (Ward 13 Toronto Centre) said the TOcore plan “provided clear guidelines to ensure growth doesn’t compromise liveability.”

“The province is on the cusp of throwing all of this out in favour of a few well-connected developers,” the statement said.

“This provincial decision would fundamentally reshape downtown for the next century. Instead of planned and sustainable growth, it’s the Wild West for developers. This government’s disrespect and outright contempt for the city of Toronto and Torontonians is unlike anything we have ever seen. It is not acceptable. We will not stand for it.”

The TOcore and Midtown in Focus strategies were designed to help build communities for a growing number of residents living in increasingly vertical areas. They would ensure there is an appropriate amount of “hard” infrastructure --like pipes and wires --to sustain the anticipated growth, as well as “soft” infrastructure like community centres, parks and other amenities.

Both are what are known as official plan amendments, and were submitted to the Ministry of Municipal Affairs for review after they were adopted by council in July 2018.

Councillor Josh Matlow (Ward 12 Toronto--St. Paul’s), who represents the fastest-growing part of the Yonge-Eglinton area, said the plans were about far more than building heights.

“Our neighbourhoods shouldn’t just be a bunch of luxury buildings to make developers rich. They should be communities where people have a great quality of life,” Matlow said. “The city’s plans for midtown and downtown recognize that there will be growth but plan that growth to support the quality of life of those communities with affordable child care and schools and parks, recreation and necessary infrastructure.”

The changes to these plans, as well as sweeping reforms to planning rules under provincial legislation expected to pass this week, will “hurt generations of communities here in Toronto,” Matlow said. What that looks like, he predicted, is more people left on crowded transit platforms, more difficulty finding affordable child care and maybe even not enough water coming out of taps.

While the city’s midtown plan said “development will not be permitted to outpace the provision of infrastructure, and will not proceed until such a time as the necessary infrastructure to support development is provided,” the province’s version strips out that language, instead saying “planning for infrastructure will occur in an integrated manner” which the city will be expected to provide.

Sections in the TOcore plan about building “complete communities” have also been substantially changed.

Both the core and midtown have undergone unprecedented development in the past decade.

City staff reported in May 2018 that Yonge-Eglinton centre, which is made up of the intersection and some areas immediately surrounding it, is the most densely populated urban growth centre in the entire Greater Golden Horseshoe. The population of 19,000 people and 18,000 employees is set to double, staff reported, based on already approved and proposed developments.

The current density amounts to 600 people and jobs per hectare, city staff say, making it one of the densest places in Canada. The Yonge-Eglinton centre exceeded the province’s density target of 400 people and jobs per hectare by 2031 set out in the province’s growth plan in 1991 --well before that plan came into force in 2006.

The downtown urban growth area is expected to meet its provincial growth target 10 years ahead of schedule as it too experiences a squeeze on available services like transit.

The TTC’s Line 1 subway, the main transit route serving Toronto’s midtown and downtown neighbourhoods, is already the busiest rapid transit line in the country, carrying more than 730,000 people every weekday. It has a capacity of about 28,000 passengers per hour, but regularly exceeds that with more than 31,000 travelling at the busiest times. Earlier this year, the TTC reported that ridership demand is forecast to increase by about 30 per cent over the next decade, fuelled by projected population and employment growth as well as new transit projects that will funnel more passengers onto the line.

Yonge-Eglinton Official Plan Amendment 405 by torontostar on Scribd

The province plans to take pressure off the overcrowded subway by building the Ontario Line, a transit service that would provide an alternate route downtown. The government says it will complete the project by 2027, although experts have questioned whether that timeline is realistic. A city report released Monday also stressed the capacity of the Ontario Line, which is at very early stages of design, has not yet been proven, and it’s yet to be determined whether the service would meet projected ridership growth in the heart of the city.

Tory, talking to reporters after a morning event Wednesday and before the changes were published, said the province had been “disrespectful” of the city’s process. He said Clark texted him Tuesday night to notify him changes were coming, and he’d be receiving a letter.

“There was no consultation about this,” Tory said, noting the staff time and amount of public consultation that went into the plans. “The least they could do, if they’re going to send those back, is to have a proper consultation including, I would have said, a phone call to the mayor just saying we’re going to send it back and here’s why and we’re willing to sit down and talk to you about it.”

He lamented the ongoing strain between the province and city.

Decision: Downtown Plan Off, by on Scribd

“If we’re going to have a partnership in building out a great city, the city that is the economic engine of this province --the prosperity of which and the success of which is going to determine in large part the success of Ontario itself --then we are going to have to form quite a different partnership than we have today where we’re getting notified of things by letters that do or do not arrive, or texts that come late at night, or by newspaper articles.”

At Queen’s Park, Clark defended the more than 90 pages of changes which were not made public until late Wednesday.

“We indicated that we would be intensifying around major transit station areas,” he said. “There’s been lots of consultation. Now we’re working (on) implementation.”

Opposition parties scoffed at the claim of consultation, saying it appears Toronto is once again having provincial priorities foisted upon it.

The override of the city’s plan is another example of Ford’s “my way or the highway approach,” said NDP Leader Andrea Horwath.

“It is the wrong thing to do and we’ve seen this government do it over and over again.”

Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner said the Ford government must stop treating the city like a “punching bag.”

Schreiner said the proposed highrise development is too intense, and that more medium-density buildings are needed in the 10-storey range to give the city a more “human scale.”