Canada/Toronto again proposes to allow businesses in residential neighborhoods
The City of Toronto is once again proposing to allow commercial construction in its residential neighbourhoods - a measure that still does not meet with unanimous approval - almost a year after it was referred by City Council.
The City proposes to authorize the construction of grocery stores, convenience stores, restaurants, cafés, galleries and hair salons, among others, on any reToronto's main roads, such as Dovercourt Road, Ossington Avenue or Dupont Street - much as was proposed last year.
The rules would be stricter, however, within residential neighborhoods.
In the latter, city staff are proposing instead to allow businesses only on the corners of designated community streets. In the downtown core, this includes segments of Wellington, Liberty and Adelaide streets, for example.
According to the City, these community streets are more likely to have sidewalks on both sides of the street, bicycle infrastructure and public transit service. They also connect to major roads, and represent only 25% of the streets in residential neighborhoods.
Businesses can also open directly adjacent to parks, schools and commercial buildings, whether or not they are on a community street.
This is a tightening of the criteria compared to what had been proposed by urban planners in the plan rejected by City Council last year. At that time, the city suggested allowing businesses to open on the corner of any street within a neighbourhood.
We've considerably reduced the number of streets where these convenience stores would be allowed," says Michael Noble, head of the City of Toronto's Department of Urban Planning.
Similarly, terraces - which staff had proposed to allow within neighbourhoods in 2024 - would no longer be permitted as of right within them under the proposal now under consideration. Terraces would, however, be permitted outside shops and restaurants on major thoroughfares.
In particular, the urban planners' proposals would allow entrepreneurs to open businesses serving coffee or other beverages, as well as food, in residential neighborhoods. However, the city limits the amount of space that can be occupied by food and beverage outlets.
Measures that continue to divide Torontonians
Sean Aubin, a volunteer with More Neighbours Toronto, wishes these changes had been adopted as early as last year.
It makes life easier without a car, if you can walk to a café or convenience store to pick up groceries," he says.
A neighborhood with more cafés, convenience stores and shops is more fun to live in! There's more room to come together as a community, to build stronger, more resilient communities in the face of economic and environmental change? This creates more dynamic communities.
A quote from Sean Aubin, volunteer with More Neighbours Toronto
He cites the example of cities in Europe or Japan, or, closer to home, Montreal, where, he points out, neighborhoods with mixed uses of residential buildings are better places to live.
But not everyone agrees.
Randy Kerr, founder and member of the Beaconsfield Village Residents Association, had already opposed the project last year. Despite several exchanges with the City during consultations organized since then, he is still not in favor of the project.
In his opinion, the chances of success for new neighborhood businesses where he lives are very slim.
This morning, I was out driving around the neighborhood for a meeting or two, and I saw several restaurants and small businesses in the commercial zone that should be thriving, but are closed," he says. In their place are cannabis stores. We're even seeing mushroom stores, which are technically illegal, but growing everywhere.
Many residents fear that, if the small convenience stores go out of business, they'll be replaced by something a little more controversial, especially if there are schools and public parks nearby. These are our concerns.
A quote from Randy Kerr, founder and member of the Beaconsfield Village Residents' Association
He fears that these changes to zoning rules will pave the way for vandalism, noise and parking problems due to a lack of control, because, in his opinion, the police don't patrol residential streets in the middle of the night, and they don't have enough manpower to do so.
For him, each neighborhood should have the right to decide whether or not it wants these new rules.
On the city side, Michael Noble confirms that Toronto would have no control over the nature of the businesses that would open in the neighborhoods, pointing out that the regulation of alcohol and cannabis is a provincial matter.
He assures us, however, that the City is in discussion with Ontario on the subject.
Is it theoretically possible for a site with a retail permit to open a cannabis store? At present, yes, but we think it's unlikely, and we're working with the province to try to resolve the issue.
A quote from Michael Noble, Manager, City of Toronto Planning Department
As for the other concerns raised, he assures us that these are problems addressed by existing municipal by-laws.
Unavoidable measures
For Pierre Filion, professor emeritus of urban planning at the University of Waterloo, if the city left residential neighborhoods to decide for themselves, there wouldn't be many businesses within them.
For him, these changes are double-edged: There's the positive scenario for residents, where we'd have exclusively convenience stores... People would walk to these shops, so it wouldn't create more traffic," he says.
But the other, less ideal scenario, he points out, would be for these new businesses to become so popular that they attract people from all over town, causing a lot of nuisance to local residents.
While, as a resident, he understands the concerns of certain groups of Torontonians who oppose these new rules, as an urban planner, he believes they are inevitable.
Indeed, as the city's population grows, so does its need for new shops and local services.
According to the municipality, Toronto is a fast-growing city, with at least 700,000 new residents expected by 2051.
Source: ici.radio-canada.ca/
