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Canadian Urbanism Uncovered

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Monday’s headlines

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• Mayor’s executive committee can’t dodge every demand [ Globe and Mail ]
• City examines vacuum trash collection [ National Post ]
• ‘Martians’ brainstrom to improve area transit [ Toronto Star ]
• Impose minimum height on big boxes [ Toronto Star ]
• Architect gives project thumbs up after seeing for himself [ Globe and Mail ]
• Is Burger King’s Quay a future street name? [ Toronto Star ]
• Agency plans to sell lakefront naming rights [ Globe and Mail ]
• Polluted sports site a field of wasted dreams [ Toronto Star ]
• T.O.’s band of birders [ Toronto Star ]

4 comments

  2. Jeez. I was upset when they announced that they were going clearcut the trees on Cherry Beach to make way for *temporary* turfed sports fields, but to clearcut the trees, spend millions on building the sports fields, only to have them sit completed, but fenced off and inaccessible?! That’s just ludicrous. I’m all for brownfield redevelopment, but “brownfield redevelopment” that turns greenfields/public parkland into inaccessible contaminated land has got the concept a tad ass-backwards. I want my/our trees back. Too bad you can’t “temporarily” cut down trees…

  3. Building heights on box stores.Great idea…..now if we only had a planning dept.

  4. Scott>

    Wouldn’t make a difference. We already have maximum height restrictions for buildings, and no one at the municipal level pays a bit of attention to them. The Committee of Adjustment doesn’t, my fabulous councillor Kyle Rae sure doesn’t, and neither do the folks at the OMB. The only way minimum requirements would work is in a situation where there is political will to enforce the requirement. There’s no point in having a planning department when we’re stuck with decision-makers who think they know better, and choose to ignore the city’s planning guidelines. It’s a good idea in theory, but pretty useless in practice.

    I’m also not sure why Hume thinks that the box mall model is appropriate in the suburbs. We could save a hell of a lot of farmland and other greenspaces from being paved over if boxmalls were required to build parking lots underground and condo towers on top.