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That letter gives a perfect rationale as to why we have professional planners and expert witnesses at the OMB to ensure decisions are based on evidence, the public interest, provincial policy and long-term planning rationale rather then short-term political and local interests. The letter...

Re weather: sites are not pouring concrete on days when it is below minus 15. There have been a lot of very significant (and expensive) delays over the last few weeks. With this many days lost it will be very difficult to play catch-up and a number of sites will have delayed closings as a result.

Toronto recently had arguably the hottest residential real estate market on the entire planet due to the strength of the market and the relative safety of foreign investors parking their money in Canadian dollars (I.e. a key reason why Toronto and Vancouver took off). The Toronto condo market...

Hey Rivercity, I agree completely about the Tarion awards in terms of measuring quality of the product, lack of deficiencies and after-sales service - that is the award consumers should be paying a lot more attention to (Tridel won high-rise category in 2013 and Daniels in 2012). I was speaking...

Hi Spire, I guess I will chime in as the OHBA guy here on UT. I completely disagree with your suggestion that the awards are meaningless - in fact I would suggest the complete opposite is true and that within the industry the OHBA and BILD (and for that matter nationally the CHBA or...

There is a massive back log of cases at the OMB which is currently under-staffed and under-resourced. Unfortunately hearing dates can often take months to set.

Atodaso, this may surprise you, but Wall Street, the heart of the Manhattan CBD is undergoing a significant residential expansion right now. The trend of residential growth in CBDs is not simply a Toronto phenomenon, it is happening in some of the most affluent and business-centric cities around...

'' Toronto does not lose 99% of the time at OMB appeals... between 2000 & 2006 23.5% of OMB decisions favoured the city, 6.3% were withdrawn and settlements were reached in 42.8% of the appeals. This notion perpetuated by the media & ratepayers associations that the OMB consistently rules in...

Peepers, you may not want to jump to conclusions based on one little mathematical equation and one media article... the deal reported in the Toronto Star is not the only part of the considerations for the project. Tridel & Hines had to enter a competitive bid from Waterfront Toronto on the East...

There are a lot of myths and false claims being tossed around regarding the factors driving smaller units sizes in the Toronto market. Profitability on a unit-by-unit basis is not one of those factors no matter how many times some individuals utilize loaded terms such as "Greed" (question, if I...

Most of Toronto's zoning hasn't really been updated since the mid 1970s... there are areas of North York that still have 1950s era zoning. There is a major disconnect in the planning system with provincial policy attempting to reduce sprawl and promote intensification, yet municipal planning...

From a city building perspective design should be of paramount concern... I also don't understand the NIMBY KWT comment - she has more development and planning applications occurring in her ward than any other ward in the city - she has a difficult role to strike an appropriate balance between...

Not possible in a democratic system - courts would have a field day with that idea.

Khristopher - I meant attractive to potential rental development proponents.

There has been a small uptick in purpose built rental construction and there is a lot of interest within the industry right now - we could see more projects in the next few years as rental rates are more attractive today and the condo side of the market has slowed.

Because no one would ever construct any new rental units if that were the case.

The appeal to the OMB is not with respect to the project itself, but related to the if the city acted properly in the application an Interim Control By-Law to freeze development for a year. It is basically a question of whether or not the city is acting in good faith in the application of the...

How do you "know" they are "unethical"? A pretty strong accusation against a property owner that simply doesn't share your view of the world... I also don't share the view that walmart is an appropriate tenant for this location - but I'm not going to call someone unethical based on the...

Regardless of whether or not Gehry/Mirvish consider any input from the local councilor, community or the planning department, there is a regulatory process that the project must proceed through. Being a world renowned architect does not exempt one from the Planning Act, Provincial Policy...

Renderings have nothing to do with the planning approvals process.