Torontovibe said:
I just hope they are going to have some restaurants and cafes facing the park, along with other retail. Let's not make the same mistake we made with Cityplace and the Fort York neighbourhood. It's a simple concept, yet many developers and the city, just don't realize how important retail is in animating a neighbourhood and creating a central meeting place.
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We should be able to tell from the detailed reports that are available ? Maybe they're not at this point.

Given the application above I see several mentions of ground floor retail.

I really didn't think the colours or the final designs were finalized yet.
 
DC83 said:
What a joke this entire PanAm debacle has become!
The 2011 Games have come and gone w/o a single breath in any local Media.

The 2015 Games will be a giant fail (Athletics-wise), and McGuinty will finally succumb to his failure to follow through on any of his grandiose promises (unless he's toppled before then).
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You being ironic? Even the mouth breathers at the Sun are getting into the Pan Ams. Hume at the Star has probably done a half dozen pieces about the work on WDL and how it's Pan Am-driven.

http://www.torontosun.com/2011/11/06/building-pan-am-dreams-in-to
 
AlvinofDiaspar said:
It would be a no-brainer to hold this development up on an issue that have taken decades to reach the current state of non-decision; besides, the alignment for any DRL is far from settled - it would have been even less intelligent to do the wrong thing and be stuck with it, considering the price tag.

AoD
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... Shame. A DRL should have been factored into this a long time ago given how long there has been a vision for waterfront development. If and when political will for mass transit ever catches up with the need the cost will be exponentially greater given the development that will already have taken place.
 
Partial Block Map for the West Don Lands

I needed to look up a block plan for the area to visualize what is being proposed in the applications for blocks 1,3,14 and 15. I am sure there are better maps out there but this did the trick.


Capture-M.jpg


sourcehttp://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2009/te/bgrd/backgroundfile-19706.pdf:
 
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Tewder said:
This and other new communities along the waterfront are being planned so thoughtfully and yet I can't get past the fact that no subway line has been included, the infamous east leg of the DRL for example. It just seems like a no-brainer that a line would be put down now before everything is built up, rather than wait for when it will be necessary to build anyway. Not very intelligent planning in the end.
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Yupp, it's too bad nobody proposed a cheap method of rapid transit that would go along the waterfront from the CNE to the West Donlands..

Oh wait.
 
the more we talk about things in toronto the more transit city sounds brilliant. ok transit city + more toronto go stops with higher frequency plus a DRL sounds brilliant. we were almost 1 third there. go would have updated their service eventually. and third eventually with the pressure of a yonge extension we would habe gotten a drl, even if it was just the eastern leg.
 
The_Architect said:
Yupp, it's too bad nobody proposed a cheap method of rapid transit that would go along the waterfront from the CNE to the West Donlands..

Oh wait.
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I don't think 'cheapness' should ever factor into the equation when planning for fundamental long term infrastructure projects. Cost is important of course but if cost and value were truly an issue a DRL would have been planned a long time ago to be built at a fraction of the cost it will eventually have to be built for... and I despise the whole Transit City vs subways debate. It smacks of desperation as polarization always does and is the pathetic result of lobbyists on either side of the divide scrapping bitterly for meagre crumbs. The fact is that Toronto needs an inter-connected network of both LRT and subways to serve its needs. In this sense a DRL subway line connecting the new communities and future areas of development along the east and west sides of the city makes the most sense.
 
SP!RE said:
Well even when developers provide retail space, they often don't provide APPROPRIATE retail space. As in, high ceilings, an airy feel, attractive and versatile signage, ideal space for patios, etc... I am sure they will do that here :)

Here's an image of a model of the village I have saved from awhile ago.... if anyone has a larger version could they post it?

http://i759.photobucket.com/albums/xx232/andrewharv/westdonlands.jpg
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Hey SP!RE, here's a larger version of that image:

6341097463_7e5e153760_b.jpg
 
rdaner said:
I needed to look up a block plan for the area to visualize what is being proposed in the applications for blocks 1,3,14 and 15. I am sure there are better maps out there but this did the trick.


Capture-M.jpg


sourcehttp://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2009/te/bgrd/backgroundfile-19706.pdf:
Click to expand...

Check out the 'block plan' .pdf link from here: http://www.waterfrontoronto.ca/explore_projects2/west_don_lands/planning_the_community

One thing I really can't be certain about, but it would be a tragedy if they screwed it up, is restaurants and pubs with patios. All around River Square, along the part of Bayview circling the Don River Park, and along the Front(?) street boulevard are areas marked 'active use.' Hopefully, 'active use' will translate into a proper set of small, independent stores and restaurants.
 
Riverdale Rink Rat said:
You being ironic? Even the mouth breathers at the Sun are getting into the Pan Ams. Hume at the Star has probably done a half dozen pieces about the work on WDL and how it's Pan Am-driven.

http://www.torontosun.com/2011/11/06/building-pan-am-dreams-in-to
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I'm not being 'ironic', no. I'm serious - it's sad that the main purpose of the PanAms (you know, Amateur Sport Development) has been lost/forgotten amongst "what really matters" ie: brownfield development.
This whole thing is a PanAm Sham (to quote Hamilton Ward 4 Councilor Sam Merulla who called it as such well before we were handed the games)
 
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