^The city has issues with the development so it could be a while.
Yeah, but our city has the weakest zoning controls outside Houston. Our zoning bylaws are a joke. Look at cities like New York. Developers give huge concessions to the city, and are forced to buy air rights from heritage buildings, in order to build large towers. In Toronto, every developer knows that they'll get approval for virtually anything they propose, so there's no reason to make any kind of concessions. It wasn't always this way. We got the BCE Place galleria because we actually wouldn't have allowed those towers to be built otherwise. Could you imagine credibly making that threat today?
These things are actually dealt with more at the official plan and secondary plan level than the zoning level. Zoning merely implements the OP. Developments are refused all the time. 16 York is the perfect example - it doesn't follow the secondary plan for the area which is why it's not going to be approved anytime soon.
Of course, for every call for more restrictive planning we have calls for less restrictive planning...
It is for the city to decide, though. Condo developers don't really want to include retail, so they're only going to include a narrow strip on the outside of their lobbies. If they really want to attract decent retail they need deep retail units, which could mean a second-floor lobby. I'd also like to see the city force them to accept leases from local businesses instead of just chains.
No municipality can force owners to refuse leases from a store just because it's not local. You plan for the use, not for the owner. The city can, however, help create the conditions for quality retail through design. Like I said, we agree on that. But who the owner leases to is their choice.
No... it's well within the city's power to prohibit any particular kind of development on any particular site in the city. Just as there's no way a warehouse would be permitted in the middle of the Annex, there's no reason why a condo needs to be permitted on any site in the city. It's just a matter of actually having and enforcing zoning laws.
Remember that the justification that the OMB uses to overrule the city's rare objections to a condo tower is simply that the city allows so much unrestricted condo construction that it's unjust to single out one building.
The city has to have reasons for designating land for certain uses. There has to be a reason to ban residential development in a certain area. I have yet to read a reason here that people shouldn't be allowed to live in this neighbourhood. As for the OMB, well it's a lot more complicated than that. The city doesn't look like they're going to allow purely condo at 16 York and I don't see the OMB overruling that.
But that's exactly what we have right now. Condos are built anywhere and everywhere, with virtually no city control over anything save some height guidelines and vague promises of (lousy) retail at grade.
No, condos aren't built anywhere and everywhere. You should know that just from reading this of all threads. The Planning Department doesn't like the proposal specifically because it has too much residential.
Yes, the design of the retail is absolutely critical to what kind of neighbourhood Bremner turns into...condos and office buildings very, very rarely support independent stores and restaurants.
Now you're criticising offices? You just suggested an all-office district! Hotels and malls, two uses you suggested are more appropriate for this area, are less likely to support independent retail than condos. Look around, lots of condos have independent stores. So you want offices or hotels or malls with independent retail, when condos are more likely to support indepentent retail than any of those. I really have no idea what you want.
And to repeat myself, I think some sites would be better off with non-condo uses...a statement you're compelled to contest. All it takes is one quick glance at the Distillery thread to see evidence of people supporting unrestricted condo development.
No I'm not contesting that at all. Some sites aren't appropriate for people to live on. The Distillery argument is a red herring but I'll humour you anyway. There's absolutely nothing wrong with condos on that spot. People living there is a good thing, and Pure Spirit looks like a really well designed building. I do have a problem with the height and scale of the building though, which IMO is innapropriate in that area, whether the building looks good or not.
See? Things aren't always as black and white as you think.