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CANADA MORTGAGE AND HOUSING CORPORATION SOCIETE CANADIENNE D'H YP OT H £ QU E S ET DE LOGEMENT Canada TCH CA6 CUA 97C55 NO The Compact Metropolis: LOAN Growth Management and Intensification in Vancouver, Toronto, and Montreai Ray Tomalty CMHC SCHL Helping to house Canadians Intergovernmental Committee on Urban O ICURR and Regional Research Comite intergouvernemental de recherches urbaines et regionales ClRUR The Compact Metropolis: Growth Management and Intensification in Vancouver, Toronto, and Montreal Ray Tomalty ICURR Publications Toronto February 1997 Published by ICURR PRESS Suite 301, 150 Eglinton Avenue East, Toronto, Ontario Canada M4P 1E8 Telephone: (416) 973-5629 Fax; 416) 973-1375 First Edition: Februaiy’1997 Copyright © ICURR PRESS 1997 All rights reserved. No part of this report can be reproduced in any form without the written consent of the publisher. The views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the “official views of ICURR. This project was partly funded by Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) but the views expressed are the personal views of the author and CMHC accepts no responsibility for them. ISBN 1-895469-47-3 Canadian Cataloguing in Publication Data Tomalty, Ray, The compact metropolis : growth management and intensification in Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 1-895469-47-3 I. City planning - British Columbia - Vancouver Metropolitan Area - Case Studies. 2. City plaiming - Ontario - Toronto Metropolitan Area - Case studies. 3. City planning - Quebec (Province) - Montreal Metropolitan Area - Case studies. 4. Cities and towns - British Columbia - Vancouver Metropolitan Area - Growth - Case studies. 5. Cities and towns Ontario - Toronto Metropolitan Area - Growth - Case Studies. Cities and towns - Quebec (Province) - Montreal Metropolitan Area - Growth - Case studies. I. Intergovernmental Committee on Urban and Regional Research (Canada). II. Title. HT384. C3T65 1997 307.1'164'0971 C9-930241-2 Foreword On behalf of the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) and the Intergovernmental Committee on Urban and Regional Research (ICURR), we are pleased to present Dr. Tomalty's report entitled The Compact Metropolis: Growth Management and Intensification in Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal. ICURR previously published a descriptive survey that discussed the quantitative growth patterns of the six largest urban areas in Canada; Halifax, Montreal, Toronto, Winnipeg, Calgary and Vancouver. The study was carried out by a team from the Universite de Montreal, comprising Dr. Chris Bryant and Denis Lemire. The study entitled Population Distribution and the Management of Urban Growth in Six Selected Urban Regions of Canada, also identified the most pressing growth issues as perceived by senior plaimers in the regions. With the publication of Dr. Tomalty's report, ICURR has turned its attention to an in-depth analysis of growth management policies at the provincial, metropolitan and municipal levels in Canada's three major cities: Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal. In doing so, it enlisted the financial help of the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation which has long fostered the "compact city" concept through its publications. CMHC and ICURR asked Dr. Tomalty to identify, for each of the study areas, the full range of government agencies that have adopted growth management and intensification policies, the degree to which these policies are linked or consistent, challenges to growth management and intensification and, as a final step, to determine whether policies are likely to promote the compact city concept. It is the hope of CMHC and ICURR that planners from all Canadian cities will benefit from this comparative discussion of recent efforts in growth management and housing intensification. ICURR wishes to thank the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation for its help in enabling us to successfully complete this comprehensive study. Chir thanks are also extended to Ray Tomalty for pursuing this complex research issue with enthusiasm and tenacity. Andre Lanteigne Dr. Claude Marchand Executive Director Research Director Table of Contents ACKNOWLEDGMENTS.................................................................................................... i AUTHOR’S BIOGRAPHY............................................................................................... iii EXECUTIVE SUMMARY................................................. v 1. THE COMPACT CITY: DEFINITIONS, LITERATURE REVIEW AND STUDY METHODS....................................................................................................................1 1.1 Introduction.................................................................................................................................. 1 1.2 The Benefits of the Compact City Model................................................................................. 4 1.3 Challenges to the Compact City Model.................................................................................... 9 1.4 Study Objectives......................................................................................................................... 16 1.5 Study Regions.............................................................................................................................16 1.6 Method....................................................................................................................................... 22 1.7 Case Study Format......................................................................... 24 1.8 The Role of Federal Policies.................................................................................................... 25 2. THE VANCOUVER REGION...................................................................................... 27 2.1 The Region and its Governance...............................................................................................27 2.2 Growth Patterns.........................................................................................................................27 2.3 Growth-Related Issues..............................................................................................................30 2.4 Provincial Planning Policies......................................................................................................35 2.5 Metropolitan Planning Policies................................................................................................. 39 2.6 Municipal Planning Policies......................................................................................................44 2.7 Recent Initiatives and Current Challenges..............................................................................54 2.8 Concluding Comments...............................................................................................................69 3. THE TORONTO REGION.......................................................................................... 75 3.1 The Region and its Governance...............................................................................................75 3.2 GroAvth Patterns.........................................................................................................................75 3.3 Growth-Related Issues..............................................................................................................79 3.4 Provincial Planning Policies......................................................................................................84 3.5 Metropolitan Planning Policies................................................................................................. 92 3.6 Municipal Planning Policies....................................................................................................100 3.7 Recent Initiatives and Current Challenges............................................................................117 3.8 Concluding Comments.............................................................................................................130 4. THE MONTREAL REGION.......................................................................................139 4.1 The Region and its Governance.............................................................................................139 4.2 Growth Patterns.......................................................................................................................141 4.3 Growth-Related Issues............................................................................................................ 143 4.4 Provincial Planning Policies....................................................................................................147