Item - 2018.PG29.5

City Council considered Items PG29.4. PG29.5, PG29.6 and PG29.7 together.

The Planning and Growth Management Committee recommends that:

1. City Council adopt the Downtown Parks and Public Realm Plan attached as Attachment 1 to the report (April 17, 2018) from the Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning, the General Manager, Parks, Forestry and Recreation, and the General Manager, Transportation Services to serve as the vision for and to guide future review and implementation of the Downtown Plan.

2. City Council direct the Chief Planner, Executive Director of City Planning, the General Manager, Parks, Forestry and Recreation, and the General Manager of Transportation Services in consultation with the Chief Financial Officer, to develop a Downtown Parks and Public Realm Implementation Strategy, in light of the City's broader Capital Plan, and report back to Executive Committee in the fourth quarter of 2019. The implementation strategy should address among other matters:

a. Identification of the priority parks and public realm projects that will require future technical feasibility studies;

b. Existing aligned projects and/or initiatives that will support and advance the parks and public realm projects identified in the Downtown Parks and Public Realm Plan; and

c. Parks and Public Realm priorities for consideration in future divisional Capital Budget Plans.

3. City Council direct the Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning, the General Manager, Parks, Forestry and Recreation and the General Manager, Transportation Services to use the Downtown Parks and Public Realm Plan to review development applications within the Downtown Plan area to:

a. inform the necessary infrastructure required to support the development application;

b. assess the potential cumulative impact of other applications and previous approvals to determine the City’s ability to secure the necessary infrastructure to support development; and

c. apply planning mechanisms, potentially including the use of holding provisions, as necessary to ensure that growth and infrastructure needs are aligned.

4. City Council direct the Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning, the General Manager, Parks, Forestry and Recreation and the General Manager, Transportation Services to report back every 5 years with updates to the Downtown Parks and Public Realm Implementation Strategy to be coordinated with the preparation of the City’s future Development Charges By-law updates.

5.  City Council direct the Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning, the General Manager, Transportation Services and the General Manager, Parks, Forestry and Recreation, in consultation with other divisions and the Toronto Transit Commission, to consider the potential to prioritize the redesign of University Avenue in the development of the Parks and Public Realm Implementation Strategy.

6. City Council direct the General Manager, Transportation Services, in consultation with the Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning, and the General Manager, Parks, Forestry and Recreation and other appropriate City Divisions, the ward Councillor and the local community, to design a pilot project for neighbourhood public realm and streetscape improvements in Harbord Village in Ward 20, with potential for additional areas, in alignment with the Council-approved Harbord Village Green Plan, based on the vision and goals articulated in the Downtown Parks and Public Realm Plan, and on the objectives outlined in Policy 7.3.13 of the Downtown Plan on pilot projects and community-based design, according to the following guiding principles:

a. Resilience, Complete Streets and Green Infrastructure;

b. Pedestrian-focused mobility, as articulated in the Mobility Strategy;

c. Expansion of the public realm and re-visioning of local streets as public space

d. Expansion of and integration with Urban Forest and neighbourhood and laneway greening initiatives.

This report recommends adoption of the Downtown Parks and Public Realm Plan (PPR Plan) to serve as the vision for and to guide future review and implementation of the Downtown Plan.

Toronto’s streets, parks and publicly accessible open spaces are among the city’s greatest assets and are essential to the quality of life that Torontonians enjoy. Downtown's proximity to Lake Ontario and its shoreline, the Toronto Islands, the Don River and Rosedale Valley offers a unique experience to residents, workers and visitors within the urban core. These natural features are the setting for Downtown Toronto. They create a link to Indigenous histories and are valued by contemporary Indigenous peoples.

Downtown's parks, squares and streets are some of the most iconic, beloved and heavily used destinations in the city. These public spaces set the stage for daily social interaction and act as the canvas on which public life occurs. The social bonds created in these spaces are fundamental to the city's identity and quality of life.

The variety of parks and open spaces Downtown provides unique experiences and offers a range of necessary functions. Easy and equitable access to quality public space for recreation, passive use, active transportation and nature promotes mental and physical health and contributes to social cohesion. Downtown is becoming a more dense urban environment, and improved and expanded public spaces must address the needs of an increasing intensity of residents, workers, students and visitors.

Working in tandem with the Downtown Mobility Strategy, the Downtown Parks and Public Realm Plan (PPR Plan) sets out a vision for parks, open spaces and streets, proposing a framework to re-imagine, transform and grow public space. It will guide the development of an expanded, improved, connected and accessible network of high-quality open spaces for people and promote healthier, diverse natural systems to support a growing Downtown. It will create stronger connections to the natural landscapes that surround Downtown, unlocking the potential to expand and improve access to the parks and open space network. It will reinforce existing, and provide new visual and physical connections and improve active transportation within and beyond the Downtown.  The PPR Plan supports the implementation of the Downtown Plan by informing the Complete Community Assessment and other requirements as part of the Planning Rationale for development applications.

One of the main financial tools that will be used to implement the Downtown PPR Plan will be the option for an alternative provision for or amount of parkland to be dedicated as part of any development, as permitted through Section 42 of the Planning Act. Prior to passing the by-law, an official plan is required to be in effect that contains specific policies dealing with the provision of lands for park or other public recreational purposes and the use of the alternative requirement.  The City intends to enact a new by-law to set an alternative parkland dedication rate for the Downtown.  The accompanying TOcore: Downtown Plan Official Plan Amendment report includes a recommendation that City Planning in coordination with Parks, Forestry and Recreation staff, bring forward the by-law in early 2019.  The Planning Act also requires that a parks plan be made publicly available prior to the adoption of a new official plan policy addressing an alternate rate.  The Downtown PPR Plan addresses the need for parkland and sets out a park plan for the area to support future growth and change, as referenced in the Planning Act.

The four objectives of the Downtown PPR Plan are: acquire and expand; improve; share; and connect.  The objectives guide the Five Transformative Ideas identified in the PPR Plan: The Core Circle; 12 Great Streets; Shoreline Stitch; Park Districts; and Local Places.

The Five Transformative Ideas are each supported by a number of initiatives that will inform a 25-year implementation strategy.  These initiatives identify opportunities, and provide a vision for and explore concepts that are examples of the type of change that could occur. Moving from the vision and concepts illustrated in the Downtown PPR Plan to implementation will happen through a more detailed planning, design and implementation process, as set out in the graphic below.  Each phase of the process will provide additional technical review and analysis, develop options for consideration, and will solicit further input and feedback from the community and stakeholders. The PPR Plan also promotes coordination among corporate and community partners for implementation.

The Downtown Official Plan Amendment (OPA) will provide a blueprint for growth and infrastructure in Toronto's core over the next 25 years.  Leveraging opportunities that come with intensification, while addressing challenges associated with growth, the Downtown OPA sets the direction for the city centre as the cultural, civic, retail and economic heart of Toronto, and as a great place to live. Downtown is Canada's largest employment cluster with over 500,000 jobs, relying on Union Station, the subway system and the surface transit network to provide access to a city-wide and regional workforce. Close to 240,000 people live Downtown, with more than 7,500 residents added annually over the past 5 years.  The Downtown, together with the 'shoulder' areas of South of Eastern and Liberty Village, has the potential to reach between 850,000 and 915,000 jobs by 2041.

The Downtown Plan requires new development to be commensurate with the provision of infrastructure, it is supported by five infrastructure strategies:

- Downtown Parks and Public Realm Plan
- Downtown Community Services and Facilities Strategy
- Downtown Mobility Strategy
- Downtown Water Strategy
- Downtown Energy Strategy
 

These strategies represent the first phase of work which identifies future infrastructure requirements to guide and support growth over the next 25 years within the Downtown Plan, which encompasses a 17-square-kilometre area from Bathurst Street to the Don River and from the waterfront, north generally to the CP rail corridor and Rosedale Valley Road. Each strategy is reported out separately, and outlines a series of plans, priorities and actions intended to align infrastructure planning with long-term growth. 

Moving forward, an implementation strategy will be developed for the Downtown Parks and Public Realm Plan that will prioritize projects; review aligned initiatives and opportunities for quick start projects; and identify priority projects to advance feasibility studies for consideration in future capital budget.