 |
| Attachment 1 |
A. Defers any further work on:
- a planning proposal for land outlined in Attachment 1, and
- preparation for a mixed-use development on the Council-owned land at 4 Bath Street and 1B Victory Row, Toronto until a comprehensive review of Council’s property portfolio is undertaken;
 |
| Attachment 2 |
C. Commences the process of investigating the reclassification of all or part of the Bath Street and Victory Row site to community land and consult with the community on future planning for that site.
D. Extends the boundary of the Toronto Foreshore Master Plan to include land at 4 Bath Street and 1B Victory Row, Toronto;
E. Continues to develop the Toronto Foreshore Master Plan (noting extended scope, including further community engagement, conceptual design and detailed design for master planned work on Council’s land at Toronto Foreshore;
F. As part of the Foreshore Master planning process with current consultant, or as required, undertake assessment of the best future use and design elements for land at 4 Bath Street and 1B Victory Row, Toronto in accordance with Lake Macquarie City Council’s Sustainability Policy;
So for the time being we sit and heave a sigh of relief hoping that a good community outcome will be delivered. We can now enjoy the excitement of the Foreshore Masterplanning process, awaiting the refined document for public comment, possibly by the end of the year.
There is little doubt that over the past 18 months Council failed to understand that its plans were not in the best interest of the Toronto area community nor would it provide the best opportunity to encourage more visitors to the area.
Council resisted calls to halt progress towards the DA for the Bath Street site over this period, in contempt of community feeling. Such a situation was even more disappointing in that Council was already aware that there had been no community consultation prior to the April 2018 decision and that its plans would likely meet with opposition.
To add weight to the community’s concerns the consultants’ report on its community engagement on the Toronto Foreshore Masterplan has been released. There were 337 responses.
JOC consultants’s key insight on Mixed-Use Development was “The majority of face to face participants are against the proposed Mixed-Use Development at Bath Street. Many online survey respondents also included their concerns in the comments section of the survey despite there being no Mixed-Use Development question. Across all engagement activities, participants raised concerns relating to the planning, design and use of the proposed Mixed-Use Development. “
The feedback on the Mixed-use development was “Overall, participants do not support the Mixed-Use Development (Bath Street). The participants reference the proposed height, massing and anticipated ‘exclusive, private spaces’ of the development as being inconsistent with heritage and character of Toronto and the draft Masterplan principles and design ideas.
The engagement report further states “The workshops and online survey captures participant’s discomfort with the exclusion of the Bath Street site from the Foreshore Masterplan. Many participants felt it should be acknowledged as it is an essential part of the foreshore that’s currently under investigation.”
Council resisted calls to halt progress towards the DA for the Bath Street site over this period, in contempt of community feeling. Such a situation was even more disappointing in that Council was already aware that there had been no community consultation prior to the April 2018 decision and that its plans would likely meet with opposition.
To add weight to the community’s concerns the consultants’ report on its community engagement on the Toronto Foreshore Masterplan has been released. There were 337 responses.
JOC consultants’s key insight on Mixed-Use Development was “The majority of face to face participants are against the proposed Mixed-Use Development at Bath Street. Many online survey respondents also included their concerns in the comments section of the survey despite there being no Mixed-Use Development question. Across all engagement activities, participants raised concerns relating to the planning, design and use of the proposed Mixed-Use Development. “
The feedback on the Mixed-use development was “Overall, participants do not support the Mixed-Use Development (Bath Street). The participants reference the proposed height, massing and anticipated ‘exclusive, private spaces’ of the development as being inconsistent with heritage and character of Toronto and the draft Masterplan principles and design ideas.
The engagement report further states “The workshops and online survey captures participant’s discomfort with the exclusion of the Bath Street site from the Foreshore Masterplan. Many participants felt it should be acknowledged as it is an essential part of the foreshore that’s currently under investigation.”
The face to face data…captured 42 separate objections to the Mixed Used Development (in comparison, the second highest area for comment was in reference to the Railway Station and its revitalisation with 13 comments). Further, objections to Bath Street made up the majority of comments across all questions of the online survey. Participants described the Bath Street development as the ‘10% missing from the Masterplan’”
There are still more questions being asked, like what’s the timeframe on the actions identified in the 23/9/19 motion and why is council’s development arm driving this process not the recreational planners?
There are still more questions being asked, like what’s the timeframe on the actions identified in the 23/9/19 motion and why is council’s development arm driving this process not the recreational planners?
Thank you to all the supporters who voiced concerns, wrote letters , contacted
councillors and engaged with the process. It takes a town talking to make a noise, and it appears we were heard.
No comments:
Post a Comment