Toronto's Avenues

What are the Avenues? What particular challenges in the City of Toronto does the Avenues initiative respond to?

Introduction

The Avenues are part of Toronto's strategy to manage the future growth of the city. Toronto's Official Plan^[3] directs future development towards a few specific locations, these include: the downtown area, employment districts, the four designated Centres (Scarborough, North York, Etobicoke and Yonge-Eglinton), as well as specific segments of certain arterial corridors identified as the Avenues. Toronto's OP provides a 30 year vision to guide development, and the Avenues are places where growth and re-urbanization is both anticipated and encouraged. It is intended that the Avenues will provide new opportunities for housing, shopping, and employment, and that the redevelopment of the Avenues will improve the look of the street and the pedestrian realm, and be supported by improvements to transit services.

Background

For the most part, the Avenues are major corridors situated on top of the pattern formed by Toronto's original concession grid. These roads form the skeleton of Toronto's transportation system and provide both goods and people movement, linking the city to the surrounding regions and facilitating transportation within the city's boundaries. The Avenues which will see the most re-urbanization under this initiative are those that run through and connect the the city's post-war suburbs.

The Challenge

Toronto faces a major challenge in the future, the City is already fully urbanized, but growth forecasts predict that by 2031 Toronto will have 2.7 million more residents, and 1.8 million more jobs. In order to accommodate this growth, the City must undertake a re-urbanization strategy. That is, "a co-ordinated approach to the redevelopment of land within the existing urban fabric to accommodate regional growth"^{[3], Chapter 1}. Many of the policies in the official plan are specifically targeted towards intensification and redevelopment.

The Big Picture Goal

This approach to city building, or city re-building, is compatible with many of the broader goals in the city's official plan, which embraces environmental sustainability and social equity as a important concepts. For the City of Toronto, "sustainability is based on social equity and inclusion, environmental protection, good governance and city-building" ^{[3], Chapter 1}. This allows the city to comprehensively, and without contradiction, consider economic, environmental, and social perspectives simultaneously. The plan further suggests that the intensification process should be democratic and participatory, respectful of all interested people, with a focus on the long-term vision.

The Avenues must be understood within the context of a holistic reading of the Official Plan as well as the particular policies that outline the Avenues initiative. In addition to accommodating growth and managing change, the Avenues process supports environmental sustainability and social equity. This is due to the fact that the proposed increase in density as well as the design guidelines produced by individual Avenue studies, should collectively contribute to: a more efficient (and therefore more utilized) public transit system including expanded streetcar and bus service to reduce automobile dependency, mixed use development to limit vehicle journeys, a range of housing options to promote affordability, and the incorporation of environmentally sustainable building design.

The Development of Avenues Policies

It is the City's Official Plan that designates the Avenues and outlines the procedures and policies for their re-urbanization. Toronto's Official Plan was developed just after the city's amalgamation and was one of the first requests of the new Council in the new City of Toronto. The single document replaces the individual plans from each of the former municipalities.

The development of this particular Official Plan incorporated extensive consultations with the public, council, and corporate partners, throughout the entire plan development process. Hundreds of individuals, groups and organizations from a broad cross-section of the community were involved, and hundreds of emails and written submissions contributed to the final outcome of the process. The new innovative Official Plan was approved by City Council in November of 2002, the majority of which was brought into effect by an order issued by the OMB on July 6, 2006.

Scope of the Policy and Policy Tools

The primary means of re-urbanizing the Avenues will be through the establishment new zoning by-laws and design guidelines for each Avenue segment. The zoning by-law will outline the mix of uses, heights, densities, setbacks and other zoning standards, while the design guidelines will contribute to an attractive, accessible, and functional street that encourages a variety of activities and pedestrian movement, through a streetscape plan, landscaping, road improvements and better access to public transit.

While the Avenues stretch across the entire city, not all Avenues identified as such in Official Plan will see intensification or re-development. Primarily, this is due to the fact that each Avenue must undergo its own unique Avenue study before any change to zoning by-laws are made. This means that each Avenue will develop differently, and at the discretion of the local community and various stakeholders. Further, where sections of the Avenues are designated as Neighbourhoods under Chapter Four of the Official Plan, the Neighbourhood designation takes precedence, and any development that is undertaken in these areas must reinforce the existing conditions and character of that community. Such areas are likely to see little change in the future.

There is no set schedule for the undertaking of individual Avenue studies, and each one is undertaken with its own timeline. Another significant feature is that even once an Avenue study is completed, re-urbanization along the corridor will occur very gradually, development will incrementally change the appearance and functions of the street over a long period of time. Further, Avenue studies are developed in partnership with local stakeholders, and the local community, to ensure good decisions are made that will benefit the local context.

This tactic appears to be a very careful and cautious approach to planning, and perhaps is utilized in conjunction with a highly consultative study process due to the fact that planning for increases in density are so often contentious public issues. Each study completed contains a vision and implementation plan, and importantly, fully considers a variety of factors before any changes to zoning by-laws are made.

Process and Consultative Approaches for the Implementation

The Avenue Study

The Avenue study process consists of extensive public consultations and public participation to inform the new regulatory framework. City Planning staff and the consultant team make presentations to the public at meetings and workshops, and hold design charettes. Each local Avenue study involves local residents, businesses, the TTC and other stakeholders, and establishes a Local Advisory Committee which is composed of residents, business, and property owners who are selected by the City. It is the role of the Local Advisory Committee to work with and advise City Planning staff and the consulting team about issues and opportunities in the area, and provide feedback throughout the study process.

Policies Presented in the Official Plan

The re-urbanization of the Avenues will be achieved through Avenue studies which consist of a detailed assessment of local conditions for strategic mixed use segments of the corridors identified as Avenues. These studies will construct a vision and implementation plan demonstrating "how the streetscape and pedestrian environment can be improved, where public space and parks can be created or improved, where trees should be planted, and how the road allowance can be optimized and transit service enhanced". ^{[3], Chapter 2} The changes outlined in the study will be gradually implemented as funding becomes available.

During the Avenue study, local residents, businesses, the TTC and other stakeholders will set out investments in community improvements to be carried out by public agencies or public private partnerships to enhance area attractiveness for residents and businesses (investments will target elements such as streetscape, transportation and transit , bikeways, walkways, park and public space, as well as water and sewer infrastructure).

Importantly, participants will further establish appropriate as-of-right zoning to establish permitted uses and maximum density hight and limits; appropriate massing, small, siting and organization of buildings; appropriate scale of transitions to adjacent areas; restrictions on parking at-grade and driveways in front of buildings; and transit supportive measures such as: minimum development densities, maximum and minimum parking standards, and restrictions in regards to auto-oriented retailing and services^{[3], Chapter 2}

Connection to other policies and legislation

The intensification of the Avenues as presented in the Official Plan supports the overall provincial land-use policies found in the Provincial Policy Statement (2005) and the Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe regarding the importance of growing in a manner that promotes the use of existing infrastructure through intensification.

Capacity for Change And Authority

All road segments designated as Avenues in the Official Plan will undergo Avenue studies, although there is not a set schedule or timeline proposed for this work. In fact, some Avenues already function well with zoning that is consistent with the goals of the Avenue studies, and thus may not require further study at all. Other Avenues already function as "main streets" and have zoning that supports mixed use development that fits with the character of the surrounding neighborhood. Such Avenues, are a low priority for Avenue re-urbanization studies. The Avenues that are high priority are those corridors that have one or two story commercial buildings, vacant or underutilized lands, and large areas of surface parking.

The Official Plan outlines a number of provisions to guide development in designated Avenue areas where Avenue studies have not yet been conducted. Development in Mixed Use Areas on Avenues has the potential to set a precedent for the form and scale for the re-urbanization of the Avenue, therefore the application for development in an area with an incomplete Avenue study must also consider the implications of their development with respect to the entire Avenue segment. This requires consideration of the development's scale and intensity, an assessment of the affects of the development on nearby Neighbourhoods or Apartment Neighborhoods, and the capacity of available infrastructure. In the consideration of an application where a change in zoning is requested, the application should reflect the goals to be achieved through the criteria likely to be developed in the yet to be completed Avenue study, and in particular will consider not just the specific applications site, but the affects of the proposed development on the Avenue as a whole. The process will conform to the regular procedures prescribed by the Planning Act including community consultation and rights of appeal.

Development that precedes an Avenue study will "support the use of transit, contribute to the creation of a range of housing options, contribute to the pedestrian environment, will allow physical access to all publicly accessible space, will conserve heritage, be served by parks services water and sewers, be encouraged to incorporate environmentally sustainable building design and construction practices to reduce stormwater flows, reduce the use of water, reduce waste and promote recycling, renewable energy systems and efficient technologies, create innovative green space such as roofs and designs that reduce the urban heat island effect."^{[3], Chapter 2}

Public Reactions to the Avenues

Pierre Filion notes in a recent article that increases in density in Toronto neighbourhoods have always been seen as contentious. He finds that many residents associate density as coming with problems of traffic congestion and competition for parking spaces ^[1]. The Official Plan itself indirectly reflects this, by stating that part of the process of intensification will involve a concentration of efforts towards building a city-wide consensus for change. The plan is very careful to point out in several places that increased density will be limited to a few select areas, and that most future development will occur on only about 25% of the land in the city. Interestingly, despite the fact that increases in density in Toronto are historically contentions, the Avenues strategy did not elicit as much public reaction as Vancouver's EcoDensity Charter. (although it should be noted that certain groups within Toronto have definitively stated their distaste for increasing density in some residential neighbourhoods)

When considering the small amount of large-scale public response to the Avenues, it is important not to overlook the process for policy development both in terms of the Official Plan, and in terms of the design of the Avenues initiative. The official Plan presents the Avenues alongside other measures for preserving the character of communities, and the plan itself goes to great efforts to try and balance change with stability. It is conceivable that this was an intentional effort that effectively stalled public opposition to the Avenues, in addition to the fact that the Avenues have built in measures to ensure a gradual targeted change. Further, the initiative was not a city-wide stand-alone agenda like the EcoDensity charter, which sought and required mass public consultation devoted entirely to the charter commitments themselves. Therefore, the placement of the Avenues initiative within the official plan, surrounded by other issues that both support and further elaborate the Avenue undertakings could have quieted any potential public opposition.

The most important and innovative feature of the Avenues initiative is the localized Avenue studies which are required in order to achieve any changes in zoning by-laws. It is this aspect that most clearly differentiates the two cities' approaches to densification. The Avenues may not be as controversial as EcoDensity because they reflect targeted and contextually articulated densification in select areas, molded to meet local visions and match local characteristics. In Toronto, this localization effectively limits large scale public debate and confines any discussion to the just one case. This effectively dissolves any city-wide organizing against the growth management strategies represented by the Avenues.

Another important consideration is that Toronto's Official Plan rarely uses the word densification. Instead, words like re-urbanization and intensification are utilized. This may suggest that such terminology may be less abrasive for publics who are disinclined to welcome increased density into their communities. Another consideration related to discourse is the fact that The Avenues are seen as a growth management tool to direct increases in the population. Arguments like environmental and social sustainability are used to support growth which is framed in terms that pertain not just just population, but also to employment and economic opportunities. Growth in the Toronto context may be more acceptable in part because it is presented as inevitable, but also because it is seen as profitable. This is very different from the Vancouver case in which arguments for change were founded on ecological principals and environmental concerns. Linking increased density to environmental issues might be more difficult for the public to accept than linking density to management and increased employment and economic opportunities. In the Toronto case, arguments for social and environmental sustainability appear to be supporting arguments rather than the primary impetus for intensification, which was instead presented as an opportunity for jobs, housing, improving the look of the street, shopping, and transit.

There is one other public concern in the Toronto case which is worth mentioning. Increased density has been a source of criticism by some who fear that initiatives like the Avenues will result in gentrification. As noted earlier, priority for Avenue studies will go towards those Avenues that are currently of a low-density nature, or that have vacant and under-utilized land. Criticism in this regard has centered around the possibility that the Avenues studies will push away existing area residents in some of the more impoverished city neighbourhoods designated for Avenue studies ^[2].

Sources

1. Filion, J. (2009). The mixed success of nodes as smart growth planning policy. Environment and Planning B: Planning and Design, 36, 505-525.
2. Parlette, V. (2005). "Planning hegemony: Discourses of urban governance." MA., York University, Toronto, ON.
3. City of Toronto Official Plan, Consolidation 2007
4. City of Toronto Dundas Street West Avenue Study
5. City of Toronto Lawrence Avenue East Avenue Study
6. City of Toronto Council's Strategic Plan
7. City of Toronto Official Plan Status

designed & developed by Raymond Selzer