Item - 2018.TE31.105

The Toronto and East York Community Council:

1.  Requested the General Manager, Transportation Services, in consultation with City Planning and Urban Design, Urban Forestry and other city divisions as identified through the process, and in consultation with local residents, residents associations, and the local Ward Councillors:

a.  to conduct a review of movement, transportation and street use priorities to plan for the opening of the new Mirvish Village development, including:

I. movement to and from the site, from surrounding neighbourhoods and arterial roads, to design the preferred route using all transportation modes;

ii. anticipated future movement with the projected growth- scenarios and comparisons; and

iii. possibilities for mitigation that include traditional traffic calming measures, stormwater management, canopy enhancement, and creative solutions that consider repurposing of road space for community uses.

b. to explore possibilities for partnership with the owner of the Mirvish Village development site, in consultation with the Ward Councillors.

In 2017, City Council approved the large-scale redevelopment of the Mirvish Village site, located at Bloor and Bathurst. After 3 years of City consultation, combined with conversations with the owner that began before this, our communities have spent hundreds of hours learning, understanding, and working together to produce a better development for future residents and the surrounding communities.

Bloor and Bathurst - also the subject of a separate Area Planning Study and Official Plan Amendment - is where four dynamic and stable neighbourhoods intersect. The Annex, Seaton Village, Palmerston, and Harbord Village are four neighbourhoods working hard to manage change and plan for the future, on the Mirvish Village application and countless others. Although we have spent much time on the Mirvish Village site through the development review and ongoing Site Plan Review processes, we must now work to understand how we want integrate and plan our streets surrounding the new development - not only for movement to and from the newly approved development, but for innovative public realm improvements and spaces that can be reclaimed for passive and active community uses - to enhance the quality of life of both the existing and future community.

This is a precedent setting development and the impacts are far reaching. People from all across the City are watching, and will use this future site as an example for other large-scale sites in the future. How do we want the thousands of new residents to access their community? Are we encouraging active transportation, and discourage travelling in and out only by car? How can we foster all modes of movement, and additionally enhance the public realm by making local streets and boulevards places of beauty rather than simply traffic conduits? How can we ensure potential pinch points - Lennox and Bathurst, Bathurst and Bloor, and others - are designed for functionality, for safety and to maximize greening? These and many other questions are those we wish to consider together. We must ensure a smooth transition and connection between the new and existing neighbourhoods, and create benefits for both.