Proposals Report November 2016 The City of Toronto gratefully acknowledges that the area covered by this Plan is the traditional territory of the Mississaugas of New Credit First Nation, the Haudenasaunee, the Huron-Wendat and home to many diverse Indigenous peoples. Table of Contents Overview Defining Moment 1 Downtown’s Journey 7 Heart of the City & Region: A Downtown Like No Other 11 Downtown’s Liveability: Infrastructure to Support Growth 19 Downtown’s Vision & Guiding Principles The Liveable, Connected, Prosperous and Resilient Heart of Toronto 22 Policy Directions A. Directing Growth 31 B. Shaping Land Use, Scale & Economy 34 C. Rebalancing Parks & Public Realm 59 D. Building for Liveability 83 E. Preserving Heritage 101 F. Diversity of Housing 105 G. Downtown Mobility 110 H. Enhancing Community Services & Facilities 128 I. Celebrating Culture 136 J. Towards a Resilient Downtown 142 K. Supplying Water 148 L. Making It Happen 153 Overview - 1 Downtown’s Defining Moment TOcore is a comprehensive and with a large and diverse range of integrated look at Toronto’s Downtown Torontonians and talked with them and its relationship to the city and about their lived experience Downtown region around it. With the current in order to be guided by their hopes and unprecedented pace of growth set to aspirations. This is the moment to continue into the foreseeable future, it determine the bold policy changes and is essential to step back and better transformative infrastructure moves understand the challenges our needed to ensure Downtown continues Downtown is facing, and the impacts on its trajectory towards a more that this growth will have on our liveable, connected, prosperous, infrastructure and services. Since this resilient and responsible future. study commenced, the City has engaged RAIL CORRIDOR t Dupont n a r s C N R ive a R e n l Do P Avenue t Bedford Spadina Belmont n u St George St o ROSEDALE M VALLEY Bloor Broadview Don Valley Parkway Bay Jarvis Yonge Harbord Hoskin Church C P R P C Sherbourne Wellesley Parliament College Carlton BATHURST ST Gerrard Dundas River Broadview Bayview DON RIVER Shuter Queen University Richmond Adelaide York King John Front C N R Wellington Front C P R C N R C N R Gardiner Gardiner Queens Quay Commissioners Cherry LAKE ONTARIO Downtown - TOcore Study Area Proposals Report 2 - Overview Downtown is Growing Toronto’s high quality of life and proposals containing 12,062 residential economic opportunities have made it units have been submitted to the City. one of the fastest growing cities in These projects illustrate how growth is North America, and nowhere is this concentrating in the Mixed Use Areas more evident than in our rising skyline and Regeneration Areas as our Official and crowded Downtown sidewalks. Plan anticipated, generally forming an Downtown is the most prominent upside-down “T” pattern. location for development activity in the city and it contains the largest Employment has also been increasing, percentage of proposed development of with over half a million jobs now located all the city’s growth management areas. Downtown within multiple new office buildings and other diverse places of Every year, approximately 10,000 new work, learning, and culture. Since May residents move into Downtown – a rate 2011, 1.2 million square metres of of growth that could see the population non-residential space has been increase from 250,000 today to 475,000 completed and projects in the in 2041. development pipeline propose a further 304,000 square metres of non- The distribution of that growth, residential floor area. illustrated on the following pages, shows the growth concentrating along the Much of the recent growth has taken southern edge of Downtown, generally advantage of the infrastructure south of Queen Street, to 2026, and investments made by previous then moving up the centre of generations of Torontonians. As the Downtown, along the Yonge Street excess capacity of existing spine, to 2041. infrastructure diminishes, we face a tipping point where further growth The development pipeline (consisting threatens to undermine the liveability of all projects with any development that has long underpinned Downtown’s activity) demonstrates the realization of success. This intensity of development projected Downtown growth and the will need to be balanced with an geographical distribution of that equivalent investment in the physical growth. As of December 31, 2015, and social infrastructure required to projects currently in the development keep the heart of our city strong and pipeline included 86,673 proposed liveable. residential units. In addition, within the first 6 months of 2016, 25 project 2016 2041 projected estimated population potential population 250,000 475,000 Proposals Report Overview - 3 Source: Toronto City Planning Division, Research and Information - October 2016 Proposals Report 4 - Overview Source: Toronto City Planning Division, Research and Information - October 2016 Proposals Report Overview - 5 In today’s economic environment, Achieving this balance will also position where cities must compete with one Downtown to continue realizing another to attract both talent and jobs, economic success. This will be our we cannot forget that the continued legacy to future generations. success of Downtown hinges on its ability to act as a people magnet. In response to these pressures, this Residential growth must be balanced by Proposals Report lays out the economic growth to ensure that our foundation for the Downtown Secondary Downtown remains the vital engine of Plan. Four decades after the adoption of our regional and national economy. the Central Area Plan in 1976 that Achieving the right balance between heralded a wave of unprecedented residential and job growth, while at the residential intensification, this new same time ensuring that high quality Secondary Plan will set the stage for infrastructure and the other essential Downtown’s next 25 years of growth. elements of a liveable place are provided, will allow us to continue realizing the benefits of intensification. This defining moment in the evolution of Downtown places Toronto at a crossroads and requires us, collectively, to confront some challenging decisions. The opportunity for transformation is immense. INVESTMENT & INFRASTRUCTURE PLANNING FRAMEWORK GROWTH IN THE DOWNTOWN Proposals Report 6 - Overview TOcore: Where are we? This Proposals Report is the third and threats. The second report to City report to Council on TOcore: Planning Council presented the results of this Downtown. The first report was a analysis, and outlined a set of emerging comprehensive background study that directions targeting the gaps in the provided an existing conditions analysis existing planning framework and of Downtown and set the stage for infrastructure. This report outlines the further “building block” analysis of policy proposals for the new Downtown strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, Secondary Plan. Moving Forward The TOcore inter-divisional staff By mid-2017 the draft Downtown team, with support of consulting Secondary Plan and the six resources, will prepare a public infrastructure strategies and consultation document and related assessments – Parks and Public Realm, web-based materials that summarize Transportation, Community Services the TOcore policy directions endorsed and Facilities, Office and Institutional, by Council and take it out for public Energy, and Water – will be finalized consultation in early 2017. In addition, and presented to Council. targeted stakeholder consultations related to the infrastructure strategies and related studies will be carried out. Proposals Report Overview - 7 Downtown’s Journey Downtown’s journey dates back so-called “Toronto Purchase” remained centuries, with different settlements in in dispute for over 200 years until 2010, the area by various Indigenous people when the Government of Canada made a over time. They relied on its forest, settlement for the land with the shoreline, watercourses and the sandy Mississaugas. peninsula now known as the Toronto Islands for trade, gathering, hunting, It was a dozen years later in 1793 that fishing, health, and cultural exchange. the Town of York was laid out according In 1781, the British Crown entered into to a ten block plan centred on the St. an agreement with the Mississaugas of Lawrence Market. It wasn’t until 1834 the New Credit for use of the land that the Town of York was renamed centred on today’s Downtown; the “Toronto” and incorporated as a city. City of Toronto Archives, Fonds 200, Series 725, Item 90 Proposals Report 8 - Overview From the 1860s to the 1920s the City Yonge subway. The subway ran under of Toronto invested heavily in its Yonge Street between Union Station and streetcar network, with much of it still Eglinton Avenue and had 12 stations. in existence today. New lines spread out Since the 1950s the subway system has from Downtown to the north, east and been expanded to become Canada’s west, spurring the development of largest in terms of number of stations, Toronto’s streetcar suburbs and giving accommodating an average of 1 million rise to retail along Toronto’s beloved passenger trips each weekday. main streets. During this time, the University of Toronto campus began to The 1950s also saw the opening of the take shape around the original King’s Gardiner Expressway and the Don College. Valley Parkway. When the Gardiner was built, it passed through industrial lands, The post-war period saw Toronto which have since been redeveloped with growing rapidly, with the population of mixed use communities. greater Toronto increasing at a rate of 50,000 persons per year. It was during The building of the GO Rail network this time that the City invested heavily by the Province beginning in the late in new infrastructure. In 1954, for 1960s brought commuter rail to Toronto example, the Toronto Transit and contributed to the growth of the Commission opened Canada’s first Financial District with underground underground rail line known as the PATH connections to Union Station.