Item - 2016.TE17.14

The Toronto and East York Community Council adjourned the public meeting for Final Report - TOcore: Updating Tall Building Setbacks in the Downtown - City-Initiated Official Plan Amendment and Zoning By-law Amendments, until September 7, 2016 at 10:00 a.m. 

The Toronto and East York Community Council commenced a statutory public meeting on June 14, 2016, and notice was given in accordance with the Planning Act.

This report recommends that City Council adopt the proposed City-initiated Official Plan and Zoning By-law Amendments to update the policies and performance standards for front, side and rear lot line setbacks for tall buildings in the Downtown.

This report and body of work is part of TOcore: Planning Toronto's Downtown, a three-year, inter-divisional study led by City Planning.  The purpose of TOcore is to ensure growth positively contributes to Toronto's Downtown as a great place to live, work, learn, play and invest by determining: a) how and where future growth will be accommodated, shaped and managed and b) what physical and social infrastructure will be needed, where it should be located and how it will be secured.

 
This report presents the outcomes of a six-month study and recommends amendments to the Official Plan and two Zoning By-laws to update the setback requirements for tall buildings in the Downtown.  The direction for this report arose from the TOcore Phase 1 Summary Report and Phase 2 Directions Report adopted by City Council on December 9, 2015 and is further discussed in the Decision History section of this report.

Since 2006, Planning Staff have reviewed property line setback requirements for tall building development using a series of guidelines, starting with Design Criteria for Review of Tall Building Proposals (2006) and later with the current Tall Building Design Guidelines (2013) and supplementary Downtown Tall Buildings Guidelines (2012).  Increasing use of guidelines has assisted in implementing the Official Plan intent and was due in part to the absence of performance standards in the Zoning By-law which spoke directly to tall building proposals.  This report recommends updating zoning provisions for lot line setbacks which date back to 1996, a decade before the first tall building design guidelines were adopted by City Council.

The proposed Official Plan and Zoning By-law amendments will apply within the Downtown and provide a policy and regulatory framework to ensure appropriate separation distance between tall buildings.  The proposed Zoning By-law amendments establish minimum required front, side and rear lot line setbacks and the policies provide the planning policy framework for those setbacks.  The setbacks will apply to the tower portion of a tall building on sites that can support tall buildings.  These updated setbacks protect important planning principles such as providing access to sky views, light, and privacy, enhancing a development site's ability to provide high-quality public realm improvements, and protecting the development potential of adjacent sites.

These policies and performance standards are a starting point in updating the Downtown planning framework and ensuring that future growth positively contributes to the liveability, sustainability and health of Toronto's Downtown. Further amendments will be made through the TOcore study.