[E.B.]

I notice that the report often refers to Ed Mirvish Way. I wonder if Keesmat thinks the name of the street should be considered a heritage site? And if David Mirvish wanted the street renamed, since he no longer wanted his family name associated with the area as reflection of his disappointment, would Keesmat say absolutely not?

 

[skyrise]

You are dead on !

We have enough empty parking lots end derelict buildings begging to be redeveloped.
The only difference is , that Marvish does not own them...

Where are these empty parking lots and derelict buildings that would accommodate a project of this scale??? Other than the LCBO lands, I don't see anywhere that the City would approve this development. They will use the same "too much density" and "lack of infrastructure and community services" argument no matter where this is proposed.

Make no mistake about it folks, if counsel fails to approve this project, Mirvish will sell this block to another developer. That developer for all intents and purposes will be able to build something at half the scale, as long as they maintain the existing "heritage" structures in some form or another and keep the towers at the 157m mark. Expect 3 more King Blue type atrocities here and a neighborhood, by the planning depts. own admission, that will still be overcrowded and underserviced.

Great work city of Toronto! Now that's vision!

 

[adma]

No what I have implied is if one does not favour change or progress, one should aspire to live in a non progressive, stagnant city like Buffalo, a city that peaked 50 years ago. Buffalo's stock of historical buildings exist due to lack of growth, not preservation. Toronto came into its own 50 years ago and made sacrifices to move forward and grow. Had we not made said sacrifices and refused to grow, then yes we would be like Buffalo.

Actually, Buffalo, like a whole slew of rust-belt American cities, sacrificed a good deal of its historical fabric for redevelopment, or urban renewal, or parking lots or other such stopgap/tax-saving measures--no different from 50s/60s Toronto, really. Indeed, it's the acres of parking and vacant lots and taxpayer shabbiness that are stronger emblems of "lack of growth" than the raw "stock of historical buildings".

And indeed, the way you're going about it, it seems like "historical building stock" in general, never mind on the Gehry/Mirvish site, is of no positive consequence to you, and is only an emblem of stagnant non-progress. Look at it this way: anyone who'd take a "if I had to do it all over again today, I would" attitude t/w the sacrifice of Carrere & Hastings' Bank of Toronto for the TD Centre should be marked with a big red X by any realm of the heritage-sensitive. And yes, the components of the Mirvish block aren't anywhere as "significant" or "important" as the Bank of Toronto--but that actually feeds my point more than it refutes it...

 

[TheTigerMaster]

Make no mistake about it folks, if counsel fails to approve this project, Mirvish will sell this block to another developer. That developer for all intents and purposes will be able to build something at half the scale, as long as they maintain the existing "heritage" structures in some form or another and keep the towers at the 157m mark. Expect 3 more King Blue type atrocities here and a neighborhood, by the planning depts. own admission, that will still be overcrowded and underserviced.

Great work city of Toronto! Now that's vision!

I wish I could upvote this x1000000.

 

[Peepers]

Staff report is out! Recommend opposing it at the OMB.
http://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2013/te/bgrd/backgroundfile-63687.pdf

No surprise that planning staff are recommending rejection of this proposal. They seem to be against anything exciting that gets proposed for this city.

What I wonder about is does this go to a vote at the local council level before any OMB hearing? It is the prerogative of the local councilors to approve a project even if planning staff advise against it.

If the local downtown council reject this proposal can they be overturned by a vote in full council? I am not an expert on this and am curious about how the approval process works.

If this is going to go to a vote by council in the near future we need to get busy sending emails to the city clerk so our voices can be officially recorded!

 

[E.B.]

Make no mistake about it folks, if counsel fails to approve this project, Mirvish will sell this block to another developer. That developer for all intents and purposes will be able to build something at half the scale, as long as they maintain the existing "heritage" structures in some form or another and keep the towers at the 157m mark. Expect 3 more King Blue type atrocities here and a neighborhood, by the planning depts. own admission, that will still be overcrowded and underserviced.

Great work city of Toronto! Now that's vision!

+1 +10 +100

 

[Lansdude]

Where are these empty parking lots and derelict buildings that would accommodate a project of this scale??? Other than the LCBO lands, I don't see anywhere that the City would approve this development. They will use the same "too much density" and "lack of infrastructure and community services" argument no matter where this is proposed.

Make no mistake about it folks, if counsel fails to approve this project, Mirvish will sell this block to another developer. That developer for all intents and purposes will be able to build something at half the scale, as long as they maintain the existing "heritage" structures in some form or another and keep the towers at the 157m mark. Expect 3 more King Blue type atrocities here and a neighborhood, by the planning depts. own admission, that will still be overcrowded and underserviced.

Great work city of Toronto! Now that's vision!

This is exactly what will happen, three ugly boxes that will look like 300 Front, and then down the street three more and the neighbourhood will be burdened just as if the Gehry towers were built. Perversely, I'm going to relish the bitter outcome.

 

[Peepers]

I see that this matter is going to be considered at the Toronto and East York Community Council meeting on November 19th.

http://app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewAgendaItemHistory.do?item=2013.TE28.2

You can email the city clerk with your comments and concerns for this project and your email will be entered into the official record!

The following is the suggested email format. Simply cut and paste into your email program:

Group email address:

teycc@toronto.ca (teycc@toronto.ca); councillor_perks@toronto.ca (councillor_perks@toronto.ca); councillor_fletcher@toronto.ca (councillor_fletcher@toronto.ca); councillor_bailao@toronto.ca (councillor_bailao@toronto.ca); councillor_davis@toronto.ca (councillor_davis@toronto.ca); councillor_fragedakis@toronto.ca (councillor_fragedakis@toronto.ca); councillor_layton@toronto.ca (councillor_layton@toronto.ca); councillor_matlow@toronto.ca (councillor_matlow@toronto.ca); councillor_mcconnell@toronto.ca (councillor_mcconnell@toronto.ca); councillor_mcmahon@toronto.ca (councillor_mcmahon@toronto.ca); councillor_mihevc@toronto.ca (councillor_mihevc@toronto.ca); councillor_vaughan@toronto.ca (councillor_vaughan@toronto.ca); councillor_wongtam@toronto.ca (councillor_wongtam@toronto.ca)

Subject Line:

My comments for 2013.TE28.2 on November 19, 2013 Toronto and East York Community Council‏

Body of the email:

To the City Clerk:

Please add my comments to the agenda for the November 19, 2013 Toronto and East York Community Council meeting on item 2013.TE28.2, Request for Direction - 266-270 King Street West and 274-322 King Street West - Zoning Amendment Application

I understand that my comments and the personal information in this email will form part of the public record and that my name will be listed as a correspondent on agendas and minutes of City Council or its committees. Also, I understand that agendas and minutes are posted online and my name may be indexed by search engines like Google.

Comments:

I will be asking that they put the proposal to a straight up or down vote to either approve or reject the proposal as is. I suspect that most of these Councillors don't want to go on record voting against this proposal and are hoping it will get rejected or scaled back at the OMB.

I think sentiment for the the Mirvish-Gehry project on this forum is about five to one in favor. If we get busy sending emails hopefully we can make a positive difference.

 

[adma]

Boy, these UT P&C threads have been taken over by the Glaeser-fellaters

 

[skyrise]

All the better to balance out the Jacobs-cunnilingus crowd on here.

 

[E.B.]

Adma, didn't you mean to write Glazing-Hazing and fellatio

 

[Ramako]

Make no mistake about it folks, if counsel fails to approve this project, Mirvish will sell this block to another developer. That developer for all intents and purposes will be able to build something at half the scale, as long as they maintain the existing "heritage" structures in some form or another and keep the towers at the 157m mark. Expect 3 more King Blue type atrocities here and a neighborhood, by the planning depts. own admission, that will still be overcrowded and underserviced.

Great work city of Toronto! Now that's vision!

Well said. This is exactly what will happen.

 

[skyrise]

I see that this matter is going to be considered at the Toronto and East York Community Council meeting on November 19th.

http://app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewAgendaItemHistory.do?item=2013.TE28.2

You can email the city clerk with your comments and concerns for this project and your email will be entered into the official record!

The following is the suggested email format. Simply cut and paste into your email program:

Group email address:


Subject Line:


Body of the email:


I will be asking that they put the proposal to a straight up or down vote to either approve or reject the proposal as is. I suspect that most of these Councillors don't want to go on record voting against this proposal and are hoping it will get rejected or scaled back at the OMB.

I think sentiment for the the Mirvish-Gehry project on this forum is about five to one in favor. If we get busy sending emails hopefully we can make a positive difference.

Thanks Peepers, this is great! This is a call out to all my fellow Glaeser-Fellators. Let's rally the troops and get all over city counsel on this. We do not want to blow this...well maybe the wrong choice of words...haha

 

[Edward]

No surprise that planning staff are recommending rejection of this proposal. They seem to be against anything exciting that gets proposed for this city.

There are others here that can speak to this better than I can but the planning staff have no option but to oppose. The application is for something that is not allowed in the current zoning. The only people that can change the zoning are city council. To expect the planning staff to do anything but refuse is ludicrous. They examine the proposal based on the current zoning and then recommend to council whether the proposal fits the criteria or not. If it doesn't they recommend refusal. Blame council if this ultimately gets refused.

Toronto came into its own 50 years ago and made sacrifices to move forward and grow. Had we not made said sacrifices and refused to grow, then yes we would be like Buffalo.

London's been doing pretty good in recent decades without having to do anything drastic with their older buildings.

 

[ushahid]

guys! is it possible that the design and land should be sold to some other developers and they can work on the project by saving heritage.