Item - 2015.PG4.4

The Planning and Growth Management Committee:

1.  Requested the Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning to continue the development of draft policies for the purpose of public consultation as outlined in Attachment 1 to the report (April 16, 2015) from the Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning.

2.  Received the Consultant's report, appended as Attachment 2 to the report (April 16, 2015) from the Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning, which summarizes the process and outcomes from public consultations on urban design policy directions.

Urban Design is the process by which we create vibrant, connected, safe, inclusive and beautiful places where people want to live, work, play and learn.  Quality urban design is achieved through the creation and application of Official Plan policies, and reinforced through visioning and planning studies, urban design guidelines, application review, design review panels, public art and design competitions. The Official Plan policies related to urban design seek to enhance and set priorities for capital improvements within the public realm and provide guidance for the form and character of development across the city.

This report provides a summary of the public consultations undertaken in the last quarter of 2014 with respect to the urban design policies of the Official Plan.  The report also summarizes key work to be undertaken for each of the policy directions in order to complete the review and prepare draft policies, as well as an estimated timeline for completion and reporting back to Planning and Growth Management Committee.

The "Urban Design Matters" consultation process was designed to obtain input from a diverse range of Torontonians through a variety of different events and online engagement methods.  One of the goals of the urban design public consultation program was to build capacity and raise awareness of what urban design is to Torontonians.  Consultation included open houses, focused stakeholder meetings, a series of pop-up events in public spaces throughout the city and an Urban Design Forum.  In total, City Planning staff engaged over 1,500 Torontonians through the Urban Design Matters consultation program.