Item - 2013.PG23.5

The Planning and Growth Management Committee recommends that:

1.         City Council adopt the updated city-wide "Tall Building Design Guidelines" attached to the report (March 27, 2013) from the Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning (Attachment No. 1) for use in the evaluation of all new and current tall building development applications across the entire city together with the "Downtown Tall Buildings: Vision and Supplementary Design Guidelines" for those applications located within the applicable Downtown area boundary; and

2.         City Council direct Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning, to make administrative updates to the attached Guidelines to reflect changes that may be made from time to time to related City policies, plans, guidelines and planning implementation tools.

3.         City Council request the Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning to develop a framework for the use of a Development Permit System as a means for managing height.

This report recommends that City Council adopt the updated city-wide "Tall Building Design Guidelines" (Attachment No. 1). These Guidelines update the "Design Criteria for the Review of Tall building Proposals" (2006) and consolidate the "Downtown Tall Buildings Vision and Performance Standards Design Guidelines" (2012).

Updates to the city-wide "Tall Building Design Guidelines" generally include:

-           clear language, layout and graphic illustrations;

-           strengthened connections to Official Plan policy;

-           emphasis on design excellence, heritage conservation and sustainable design; and

-           focus on contextual fit, quality of living and working conditions in and around tall buildings, cumulative effects of tall building clusters, sunlight/shadow and sky view impacts for streets, parks, open space and neighbouring properties, tower separation, daylight and privacy, generous sidewalk widths, and high-quality landscaped open space on-site.

The updated Guidelines represent the result of over six years of testing, monitoring and feedback from City staff, City Council and external stakeholders (e.g. local residents, architects, urban designers, planners and developers); experiences at the Ontario Municipal Board; and advice from the Design Review Panel. To further refine and finalize the Guidelines, City Planning staff also carried out a series of formal stakeholder consultations between August 2012 and February 2013.

The attached "Tall Buildings Design Guidelines" integrate and build upon previous Council-adopted tall building guidelines and establish a unified set of performance measures for the evaluation of all tall building development applications city-wide.