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Bold new plan calls for long overdue facelift for Toronto's Yonge St. -Star
Toronto eyes bold makeover of busy Yonge Street corridor-GlobeA bold new plan is calling for a long overdue facelift for Yonge St.
The report, to be released Wednesday, proposes dramatic changes in the section between Dundas and Gerrard Sts., including widening sidewalks, reducing car traffic to two lanes, and making it pedestrian only for special festivals.
The Yonge Street Planning Framework, written by Ken Greenberg of Greenberg Consultants and Marianne McKenna of KPMB Architects, is a blueprint for turning around this tired area that includes historic buildings, a new 75-storey condo tower and Ryerson University.
It’s designed to improve the public space, make the area more welcoming for retailers and encourage small businesses, including high-tech ventures, to set up shop.
Owners have been reluctant to invest in building improvements, in part because they were unsure of the area’s future, said Councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam. She pulled local residents, businesses and city officials to work together after January’s fire destroyed the Empress Hotel, saying Canada’s historic street needed a new vision.
Some ideas are obvious, such as encouraging cafes and restaurants at the ground level so patrons spill out to outdoor patios, creating a friendly neighbourhood. It also calls for more street vendors to draw people in. Small details such as garage-like doors or French doors can link the stores to the street in good weather.
But other suggestions break new ground, such as sending large-scale retail stores from ground-floor locations to upstairs or below-ground spots.
“Big box is welcome to Yonge but not at the street level,” said Wong-Tam. “The planning rationale we want to have as many doors at grade at possible. There is an appropriate place for large-format retail.”
The proposal calls for a better balance of retail including higher quality stores, though not necessarily high-end businesses. Wong-Tam argues there’s a place for dollar stores and strip clubs, but they can’t be the only businesses on Yonge St.
The report showcases innovative ideas like Montreal’s Rue Sainte Catherine, where pedestrians are ushered to events and venues through lighting on the pavement. New York City closed part of famed Broadway to cars, transforming the area for cyclists and pedestrians, with rocks, planters and some paint. The bistro tables and chairs are drawing locals and tourists alike.
Greenberg, co-author of the report, said this framework strikes a balance between preserving heritage buildings and balancing new development, including offices and condos such as the planned 75-storey Aura tower at the corner of Gerrard St. It calls for certain setbacks to ensure large towers don’t engulf Yonge St. and protects sunlight access to the low-rise heritage buildings.
“Yonge St. has gone through many changes as the city evolves. The downtown is more inhabited, and there’s so much potential here,” he said, adding residents suggested beautifying area laneways, creating green routes.
Similar changes are happening in cities across Canada including Montreal’s Sainte Catherine, Vancouver’s Granville St. and even Kitchener’s King St., he said.
“This is a great period for cities in which pedestrian life is being celebrated,” Greenberg said, noting that Yonge St. pedestrians outnumber drivers by more than two-to-one, and Yonge-Dundas square draws large crowds.
According to the city’s statistics in November 2006, 53,434 pedestrians were counted at Yonge and Dundas, compared with 22,038 drivers in an eight-hour period, long before the scramble intersection, which at times allows pedestrians to cross in any direction, was introduced.
Fewer drivers use Yonge St. as a main thoroughfare because of no-turning restrictions already in place at some intersections.
However, any move to restrict car traffic is likely to spark fireworks at Toronto city hall especially since Mayor Rob Ford campaigned on building a car-friendly city.
Wong-Tam argues the report is much more than just taking out traffic lanes.
“This began with a conversation on how we can bring economic prosperity to small- and medium-sized business,” she said, adding the pilot project will look for external funding for landscaping and changes. “It is a business-led initiative. It’s not just a conversation about whether to have road closures.”
City staff will bring their own recommendations based on this framework to community council likely in October, and then it would go to city council. Wong-Tam’s goal is to have a pilot project with temporary landscaping in place for next summer.
“It’s a smart idea of seeing at how it works,” said James Robinson, executive director of the Downtown Yonge Business Improvement Area, which helped finance the report.
Unlike an earlier effort for a pedestrian-only mall in the 1970s, this proposal will still allow for vehicle traffic, he said. As well, the plan will focus on how to ensure businesses can get their deliveries.
Sheldon Levy, president of Ryerson University, which is building its own $110 million Student Learning Centre on Yonge St., said he is pleased the busiest corner in Canada is finally being improved.
“The time has come. It’s too important location,” said Levy, adding he is confident the mayor and city council would see the value in these changes. “It does not mean we would take the eclectic or funky nature of the retail.”
More room for pedestrians, fewer lanes for cars.
A new planning blueprint for revitalizing the tired retail strip on Yonge Street north of Dundas envisions sidewalk cafes and street vendors, mid-rise buildings and heritage storefronts and one lane less in each direction for traffic on the city’s main drag.
The privately funded study will be unveiled Wednesday by local Councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam after consultations with residents and businesses. The rookie councillor, who began her career in real estate, says Yonge Street has never lived up to its full potential as a commercial corridor. Without a plan, she argues, the main face of Toronto will continue to deteriorate or eventually come to resemble nearby Bay Street – a corridor of tall condo towers.
“We need a strategy for all of Yonge Street and especially this troubled stretch,” she said.
The new study examines the section of Yonge between Dundas and Gerrard streets, long home to head shops and strip clubs, but now poised for dramatic change. Ryerson University’s new student centre is slated for the former Sam the Record Man site, and to the north a towering 75-storey condominium is under construction that will add more than 900 residential units to the neighbourhood. Primaris, a major retail landlord, also has bought properties on both sides of the street, including a heritage building at Yonge and Gerrard streets.
Taking its cue from projects such as New York’s transformation of Broadway or, closer to home, the redo of Kitchener’s downtown, the plan offers a solution to the growing numbers of pedestrians and recommends more street closings for special events.
“Pedestrians are literally falling off the sidewalks at busy times,” said planner Ken Greenberg, author of the study along with architect Marianne McKenna. More than 53,000 pedestrians use Yonge and Dundas in an eight-hour period, he said, making it the country’s busiest intersection, and foot traffic already outnumbers cars by more than two to one along Toronto’s main street. “We want to provide an opportunity for life to spill out onto the street,” he said.
The plan also proposes new northern entrances for the crowded Dundas subway station and setbacks for upper stories of new developments to keep the current scale at street level. One large tower is anticipated on the southeast corner of Yonge and Gerrard streets.
The proposal comes at a time when councillors are contemplating ripping out bike lanes and is sure to face headwinds at city hall. In response, Ms. Wong-Tam says she will remind potential opponents that the plan comes with the support – and funding – of business. Still, she expects some “Herculean lifting” will be required to move it forward.
James Robinson, executive director of the Downtown Yonge Business Improvement Area, says the new plan strikes a balance, recognizing most people come to the area on foot but also leaving the door open for development.
A pilot of the expanded pedestrian space is proposed for next spring, and Mr. Robinson said his group will work with tenants to respond to concerns over issues such as loading zones before that happens.
Ms. Wong-Tam said she wants all Torontonians to wade into the debate on their main street and is looking for support from other levels of government. If the plan is successful, she would like to see it rolled out beyond the few blocks in the study and become a template for economic revitalization of main streets in other urban centres.
“We can do absolutely nothing and leave it alone, or we can try it and not be risk-adverse,” she said.
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