Ridiculous Zoning

[Whoaccio]

This is so bloody dumb. What kind of idiot councilor would intentionally reduce the capacity of daycare spaces in a family area? For all the downtown councilors like to paint downtown as a great place to raise kids, its this kind of idiotic crap that makes people move to the 'burbs or outer 416. What is the point of forcing developers to provide family units if you then just block daycare because a few NIMBYs bust out the "traffic will increase part" (has it ever occured to these Neanderthals that living in an urban area which is growing by about 250,000p/year may entail more people?). On the whole, this is the dumbest zoning decision I have heard since that case way out in the boonies where the town went after a single mother for providing her autistic son with a pony to ride on as per their therapy on the grounds that their house wasn't zoned for that.

Tenille Bonoguore

From Saturday's Globe and Mail, Saturday, May. 30, 2009 03:50AM EDT
The man behind a High Park Avenue daycare centre will prepare to open it next month despite Toronto City Council dropping “the nuclear bomb of municipal regulations†to stop him.
Ward 13 Councillor Bill Saundercook introduced a one-year interim control bylaw in council on Wednesday, slapping a moratorium on new daycare centres along a three-block stretch of the residential street from Glenlake Avenue to Dundas Street West.
Mr. Saundercook said neighbouring residents had raised concerns about traffic and parking at the Teddy Bear Academy, a daycare centre being created in a house at 167 High Park Ave.
The councillor said that when he heard that another daycare application had been submitted for a house nearby, it “pushed us over the top.â€
But Teddy Bear Academy owner Holt Hunter said he's offering an essential service in the family-friendly community.
“We're going to finish [building], and then will be touring people,†he said. “I'm really committed to this.â€
When asked if he is seeking legal advice about the new bylaw, Mr. Hunter declined to comment.
Parents, however, had plenty to say as they gathered outside Mr. Saundercook's community office to protest against the bylaw yesterday afternoon.
“Daycares in the area are all full, the waiting lists are atrocious,†said Alison Gibbons, who is struggling to find local child care for her seven-month-old son.
According to data from the 2006 census, the area spanning High Park Avenue had 355 children aged four or younger.
The crucial problem is infant care. Children younger than 18 months require higher staffing levels, which makes daycare centres less inclined to offer it. (Ten of the 50 spaces at Mr. Hunter's Teddy Bear Academy are to be for infants.)
Women often join daycare waiting lists during pregnancy. Some are still waiting at the end of their one-year maternity leaves.
That forces them to hire nannies, rely on family, or simply give up their EI and job guarantees to stay at home.
In High Park and the Junction, a flood of young families is exacerbating the situation and increasing the stress on parents, Ms. Gibbons said.
“Toronto needs to embrace that families are staying in the city, not moving to the suburbs. In order to embrace that, we need to have daycares,†she said.
The traffic and parking concerns that Mr. Saundercook cited are baseless, Pippa Van Dam said. Most parents would walk their children to the centre en route to the subway, she said.
And the street has plenty of room, Ms. Van Dam added. “It's one of the widest streets in the entire neighbourhood,†she said. “It's not some lazy, quiet road. It has a bus route running along it. It has several traffic lights.â€
The bylaw proposal came at the end of the council meeting on Wednesday, when 21 councillors were absent. It was passed 19-5, despite strongly worded protests from neighbouring ward councillor Gord Perks.
“It's a terrible, terrible, terrible mistake. I am profoundly upset that a majority of my colleagues went the other way,†Mr. Perks said yesterday.
Such bylaws are introduced quietly and dealt with quickly to stave off property speculation and last-minute development applications, said Mr. Perks, who made the nuclear bomb analogy.
“I'm concerned about the precedent,†he said of the daycare ban. “[Residential daycare] is the kind of use we should be protecting. This should be easy to do.
“We need to remember that human beings have different needs at different stages in their life. A healthy, thriving neighbourhood provides for all of those needs.â€

Then there is the Ossington "Wild Wild West" boondoggle. At least City Council gave a reason beyond "traffic will increase," preferring the more cosmopolitan NIMBYism "noise will increase." How come every time people in this city do something good for their area and the economy, the City steps in to screw it up? Its almost like they like screwing organic development so that their mega-project on the water front looks like more of a success. Who wants independent restaurants when you could have a Subway?

“The city says there is that there is too much going on at once. Is that really so bad in a recession?†says Anthony Siniscalco of the soon-to-open Gallery supper club. “We're pumping money into the city. We're adding to this community. Five years ago there were gun shots here. Now look at it. People walking down the street. Guys investing.â€

He has a point. The upside of letting the strip develop is obvious and the worries overblown. It is just fear-mongering to suggest, as Mr. Pantalone does, that the strip could become another entertainment district like the one farther east, around Richmond and John, with its thousands of rowdy club goers and crime problem. Most of the buildings on the strip are much too small to house cavernous dance halls and existing zoning already prohibits night clubs in any case.

As for noise, city bylaw officers say they are patrolling regularly to monitor noise levels and prosecuting places that break the rules. Enforce the law, fine, but don't stifle change. The strip is a marvel of spontaneous urban evolution: unplanned, unexpected, organic, changing by the month – the very thing a city needs to stay vibrant and alive. Let's cheer it, not freeze it.

What passes for urbanism here is so suburban it is unbelievable. Young entrepreneurs displaying creativity and daring in rejuvenating an area -bad. Government owned ehtnic food carts producing what tastes like curried wood- good. If a nuclear bomb went of in Toronto tomorrow and we had to rebuild, Kensington Market would get banned because of haphazard food safety standards, St. Lawrence market would get banned for being "Big Box" and attracting too much traffic to the area, UofT, Ryerson, & OCAD would get banned for drawing too many people to clubs/bars, the financial district would probably get banned because Maude Barlow types wouldn't like it and the entire city would end up looking like the Waterfront, sterile, boring and crap. Never mind a totally logical proposal like redeveloping our lane ways, that would be to Melbourne for us. A few years ago the Globe ran a series on urban design in Toronto. Will Alsop's comments were the most intriguing to me because they rejected the idea that the City itself should lead development.

When Mr. Alsop was asked how we might make wider changes to Toronto's often scruffy urban fabric, he delivered something characteristically different. His confection of coloured geometry, with buildings growing out of the landscape – and seemingly each other – is what might happen, he suggests, if Toronto were to fling off its corset of planners, politicians and bureaucrats and live a little, removing all the planning rules and letting residents and developers rebuild at their pleasure. The fanciful picture sends the message that organic growth is more interesting than urban planning. In Mr. Alsop's words, “A carefully planned place usually lacks soul and results in people behaving badly.â€

Mr. Alsop calls his concept a “no-planning†zone. Here, market forces take over and there is a rush to maximize the potential for lake views. Buildings appear that dip their toes in the water. Among them are some that are lifted above the ground, allowing public access to the water's edge. Others emerge north of the first ones, but are built higher, also to achieve lake views. The increase in density persuades the city to locate a new museum in the area. The architect decides to raise the building as a 3-D Mobius strip. Bars, restaurants and street markets appear in what Mr. Alsop calls a “useful terrestrial grge.†This, he adds, “is the part where people really want to be.â€

 

[Hipster Duck]

Yeah, sometimes when I'm in a bad mood, Toronto city politics pushes me over the edge and it feels like Milleristas are attempting a prototypically Canadian experiment in social engineering armed with all of the civic know-how of those kids who ran student council in high school.

 

[PukeGreen]

I feel similar emotions when I see stories such as the following:

- A story in the local newspaper The Bulletin titled "Art at Distillery Revulses Residents". Yes, that's right, people who moved into the Distillery Arts District, initially developed by ArtScape as an area for promoting the arts are now upset because some art has been installed in the district, within view of their condo windows. Oh, the horror.

- Council has passed a law preventing any new restaurants, bars, clubs or eateries from opening on the newly hot Ossington strip. To quote the editorial in today's Globe: "Only in Toronto. In other cities where shabby industrial districts have been invaded by galleries and bars – New York's Meatpacking District, for one – they celebrate the change. Here we pass a bylaw."

- The never-ending "businesses vs wider sidewalks/bike lanes" dilemma, currently playing out on Jarvis, which is another case of suburban attitudes impeding true urbanity. Miller was the good guy on that one, and it seems like they might have won that battle. But the war continues.

 

[Eug]

The never-ending "businesses vs wider sidewalks/bike lanes" dilemma, currently playing out on Jarvis, which is another case of suburban attitudes impeding true urbanity. Miller was the good guy on that one, and it seems like they might have won that battle. But the war continues.

When I lived downtown, I used to ride up Jarvis, to get to Mount Pleasant. I'd have to say, Jarvis was amongst the least interesting to me as a target for gentrification, at least at this point.

P.S. I'm not sure why people would consider Moore Park or Leaside as suburban.

 

[junctionist]

It's funny that in the Junction there's one street with a daycare which turns into a disaster at the end of the day. The street is narrow, yet people park on both sides, making it very difficult to pass. High Park is so much different a street being wider and the concerns I don't understand.

Fortunately, with all the parents supporting the day care, the city's regulation probably won't make that much of an impact, but it's a slippery slope.

As for Ossington, isn't the "rejuvenation" underway replacing all the old businesses with trendy restaurants and bars? How is that positive for locals? It's not like affordable grocery stores are moving in.

 

[Eug]

As for Ossington, isn't the "rejuvenation" underway replacing all the old businesses with trendy restaurants and bars? How is that positive for locals? It's not like affordable grocery stores are moving in.

I don't live in that area, but personally, I'd love it if in my neighbourhood some of the old businesses were replaced with trendy restaurants and nice bars.

I'd probably walk to the trendy restaurants often for meals.

 

[Hipster Duck]

Don't mess with Ossington's success

Only in Toronto. In other cities, they celebrate the change. Here we pass a bylaw.


The Globe and Mail

Marcus Gee

Friday, May. 22, 2009

The Ossington Strip is a stretch of four or five city blocks on a commercial street in the downtown west end – and what is happening there is nothing short of wonderful.

What used to be a benighted zone of auto-body shops, car washes, shady karaoke bars and one particularly sleazy strip club called Baby Dolls has transformed into a quirky quarter of restaurants, bars, art galleries and boutiques. People come from all around to check it out, filling the once dead-after-dark street with the buzz and swarm of urban life. The strip has become an asset for the whole city, a draw for couples, hipsters and tourists. The New York Times featured it this month as a must-see spot in “one of the planet's most diverse cities.â€

But all this dazzling change is a too much for deputy mayor Joe Pantalone. In a last-minute motion at council this week, the city slapped a year-long moratorium on any new restaurant, café, bar or “place of amusement†on the strip. Mr. Pantalone fears that, without some kind of pause in the frenzied growth, it will become a lawless Wild West – and “I'm afraid the Wild West was not a nice place to be.â€

Only in Toronto. In other cities where shabby industrial districts have been invaded by galleries and bars – New York's Meatpacking District, for one – they celebrate the change. Here we pass a bylaw.

Ossington's evolution has vastly improved the local neighbourhood, raising property values and bringing in new business in the midst of a recession. Residents who used to avoid the street, site of murders and mayhem in the bad old days, can now stop for wild spring salmon and watermelon at Foxley, authentic Neapolitan pie at Pizza Libretto, “white-trash nachos†at the Painted Lady or a beer at Baby Huey. And Mr. Pantalone wants to pull the plug?

The deputy mayor, a veteran councillor and a smooth operator, swears he is not against the evolution of the strip. “It's a very hot area, which is wonderful,†he told a public meeting. But there are problems.

People living near the strip complain they can't sleep because of the noise. They say the visitors take all the parking. Pioneers in the area feel that breakneck growth could spoil its unique character.

Mr. Pantalone claims that all he wants is a one-year pause to figure out how to balance the comfort of residents with the benefits of change. Sounds fair enough. But ordering a halt to development is taking a hammer to a butterfly. The bylaw bans not just restaurants and associated patios, but “bake-shops†too. The city actually argues that bars could masquerade as bakeries to get around the ban. Care for a martini with that muffin?

An interim control bylaw like Mr. Pantalone's is one of the most draconian measures in the city's legal armoury. It takes effect immediately, no pesky committee hearings or public consultations required. The owners never even had a chance to make a case against this wet-blanket bylaw.

“The city says there is that there is too much going on at once. Is that really so bad in a recession?†says Anthony Siniscalco of the soon-to-open Gallery supper club. “We're pumping money into the city. We're adding to this community. Five years ago there were gun shots here. Now look at it. People walking down the street. Guys investing.â€

He has a point. The upside of letting the strip develop is obvious and the worries overblown. It is just fear-mongering to suggest, as Mr. Pantalone does, that the strip could become another entertainment district like the one farther east, around Richmond and John, with its thousands of rowdy club goers and crime problem. Most of the buildings on the strip are much too small to house cavernous dance halls and existing zoning already prohibits night clubs in any case.

As for noise, city bylaw officers say they are patrolling regularly to monitor noise levels and prosecuting places that break the rules. Enforce the law, fine, but don't stifle change. The strip is a marvel of spontaneous urban evolution: unplanned, unexpected, organic, changing by the month – the very thing a city needs to stay vibrant and alive. Let's cheer it, not freeze it.

 

[Skeezix]

- A story in the local newspaper The Bulletin titled "Art at Distillery Revulses Residents". Yes, that's right, people who moved into the Distillery Arts District, initially developed by ArtScape as an area for promoting the arts are now upset because some art has been installed in the district, within view of their condo windows. Oh, the horror.

Just to clarify (although I'm not sure that it affects the point you were making), Cityscape is the company that owns the Distillery District and redeveloped it. Artscape, a city agency, is a tenant of some of the space.

 

[voxpopulicosmicum]

About the day care: I suppose Saundercook isn't in the Minnan-Wong/Holiday camp, but I never thought of him as being a Millerista. Wasn't he a Lastman-man?

Anyway -- whatever his political stripes -- this is dumb, dumb, dumb. Methinks he'll be backtracking.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

Saundercook is definitely not a Millerista - I think he defeated Miller's fav. candidate for the ward which he vacated. That said, why is anyone surprised? This sort of NIMBYism is everywhere and by nature councillors are compelled to respond to it.

AoD

 

[adma]

Saundercook is definitely not a Millerista - I think he defeated Miller's fav. candidate for the ward which he vacated.

Not only that: when the wards were reconfigured for the 2000 election, Councillor Saundercook ran against Councillor Miller and lost! (Three years later, he ran for Miller's vacated seat, and won.)

 

[Hydrogen]

As for noise, city bylaw officers say they are patrolling regularly to monitor noise levels and prosecuting places that break the rules. Enforce the law, fine, but don't stifle change.

I had to laugh at that. The MLS patrolling for noise violations? What, once a year? This is largely a nine-to-five organization, and already have lots to do. They are the subject of a number of complaints in the Entertainment District where they have a hard time fining the obvious noise bylaw offenders.