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Newsstand: March 12, 2015
Another day, another news headline. Why beat around the bush? Let’s get right to it. In the news: The new municipal budget passes, the development potential of a Scarborough LRT, and plans for the Stollerys building site.
Congratulations Toronto, you have a brand new municipal budget! On Wednesday night, council passed the first budget of Mayor John Tory’s term. Channeling his inner Goldilocks, Tory touted his $9.973-billion budget as being “not too hot, not too cold” after it sailed through with minimal dissent from within the ranks at City Hall. Among the key points, this year’s budget includes a 2.75 per cent property tax increase, an 8 per cent water rate increase, and a 3 per cent rate increase for garbage collection. It also includes a plan for the City to borrow from itself in order to bridge a $86-million budget shortfall. In the biggest signal that times have changed, the two-day proceedings fell short on high-drama antics. Even Councillor Rob Ford’s (Ward 2, Etobicoke North) attempt to create some theatrics through the introduction of 31 budget motions became anticlimactic as they got shot down with relative ease. Because we care, Torontoist liveblogged the whole two-day budget proceedings, which you can read here.
A new study co-authored by the University of Toronto suggests that LRT provides the greatest development prospects for Scarborough of all the easterly transit proposals that have come (and gone) in the past decade. The study considered the LRT routes of the Eglinton-Morningside, Malvern, and Sheppard projects, finding that they had a combined 18.4 hectares per kilometre of land available for redevelopment, which exceeds the amounts available to both the SmartTrack and Scarborough Subway plans. The study also examined how many jobs are within walking distance of each transit line and found that there are 18,000 walkable jobs with the LRT plans, compared to less than 3,000 with the subway extension. The study also finds that in a worst-case scenario, the initially-approved configuration of the Scarborough subway extension, which routes up McCowan Road, could one day be within two kilometres of the SmartTrack route, if it becomes a reality.
Development plans for the former Stollerys building site at the southwest corner of Yonge and Bloor were revealed on Wednesday. The site will be transformed into an 80-storey tower designed by Foster + Partners, the team behind the Hearst Tower in New York City. The project plans to become Canada’s new tallest building, standing at 1,043 feet, and would feature eight floors of retail space and 560 residential suites. The site incorporates a unique design that lacks any pillars or columns, instead using an “exoskeleton” that developers say will allow for greater customization of space by retailers and condo owners. While no application for the project has been introduced to the city planning department, developers hope that retail space will open in the first quarter of 2018, with residential occupancy to begin in 2020.