According to the SmartCentres document comparing the proposed development with Sherway Gardens, there is 644K sq/ft leasable space (Sherway Gardens: 980K), 1871 parking spaces (Sherway Garden: 5700) and gross land area 18.47 acres (Sherway Gardens: 74.3). I suppose SmartCentres can use these...

More information sources... There's a huge amount of information in various locations. The OMB case page lists all the formal pre-hearings so far and links to the decisions that were handed down. The most recent decision gives a flavour of the kind of legal arguments that go on at an...

While the employment is a principal issue in the appeal of the zoning bylaw amendment, there are a host of other "hallmark" issues as well: is a large shopping centre an optimal use of the land consistent with some kind of urban "smart growth" strategy? What about public infrastructure and...

I raised this question with the TEDCO rep. at one of the public meetings a few months ago, I did not get a real straight answer--probably my fault, since I put it in terms of participation in the OMB process, which has all kinds of complications for an official agency like TEDCO already...

Quite right, I was jumping to conclusions. More land has been set aside for this economic sector. Still, I think it's remarkable that overall film studio capacity seems to have been temporarily reduced and concentrated in a fewer number of locations and companies. The "What's Wrong with...

Role of TEDCO in all this? The FilmPort/TFS marriage was the result of a TEDCO bidding process, with the management exclusivity granted to the winner apparently as compensation for financial risk. TFS (well, the owner of TFS) wanted to cover that risk with the proceeds of redevelopment of its...

The current matter before the OMB does not deal with those site-specific plans (they can be viewed at http://thefoundrydistrict.ca/) but with zoning and official plan amendments; there is no obligation for SmartCentres to build according to those plans once it wins at the OMB. I don't know...

Not sure, I saw him descending the S. escalator to the main floor of the Manulife Centre a few weeks ago. Impeccably dressed, distinguished, making the people around him seem merely generic in comparison--or maybe he just caught my eye because he is (or was) a known public figure.

Exactly so. Toronto streets and public spaces were far cleaner in '85 when I moved here. There seemed to be a constant amount of advertising space on the TTC devoted to reminding people how uncivil it is to leave any litter outside the receptacles provided for that purpose, advertising which had...

This kind of large shopping centre (650K sq. ft. leasable space, Gerrard Sq. is 326K according to davpart.com) has many other effects on the neighbourhood other than commercial competition. Think about e.g. traffic, access infrastructure for that traffic, environmental effects of that traffic...

Status The OMB page for this case is at http://www.omb.gov.on.ca/ecs/CaseDetail.aspx?n=PL051314 It merely lists meetings and the formal board decisions. The matter is at the pre-hearing stage. The main item right now is getting all parties to agree on the list of issues that are in dispute...