STAFF REPORT

November 17, 1999

To: Etobicoke Community Council

From: Executive Director and Chief Planner, City Planning

Subject: Kipling/Islington City Centre Secondary Plan Review - Status Report

(Kingsway-Humber, Markland-Centennial and Lakeshore-Queensway)

Purpose:

The purpose of this report is to provide a status update of the Kipling/Islington City Centre Secondary Plan review.

Financial Implications and Impact Statement:

There are no financial implications resulting from the adoption of this report.

Recommendations:

1. It is recommended that this report be received for information and that District staff prepare a report containing proposals for amendments to the Kipling/Islington City Centre Secondary Plan.

2. That the processing of site specific development applications in the Kipling/Islington City Centre Secondary Plan area be informed by the on-going review of the Plan, specifically as this relates to community services and open space needs, transportation capacity, opportunities for pedestrian connections and the City's emerging affordable housing policy.

Executive Summary

A review of the Kipling/Islington City Centre Secondary Plan was authorized by Etobicoke Community Council on July 29, 30 and 31, 1998. As a result of staffing changes, this review has been delayed. This status report is being submitted to Etobicoke Community Council to set out certain preliminary observations regarding the character of the emerging Kipling/Islington community and to evaluate various policies of the Plan including land use, urban design considerations, open space and the implementation strategies. The Report recommends that Planning staff report on proposed amendments to the Secondary Plan. The Report also recommends that site specific development applications be informed by the on-going review of the Plan.

Background:

The Kipling/Islington City Centre Secondary Plan was approved on November 24, 1987. The primary goal of the Plan is to have the area develop as a high intensity, mixed use area with a strong civic focus. This goal has yet to be realized.

Over the past 12 years since the approval of the Secondary Plan, a number of factors have occurred which have led to its review. These include:

(a) changes in the scale of public and private investment, whereby change occurs incrementally, rather than through larger master-planned developments and major public infrastructure projects;

(b) a market place that has shown a much greater preference for residential development than for the originally planned office development;

(c) a new City of Etobicoke Official Plan, approved in 1992, which incorporated the Kipling/Islington Plan, but did not address inconsistencies between the two plans; and

(d) the creation of the new City of Toronto which has encouraged a re-evalution of the Kipling/Islington area and its role within the broader context of the new City.

The purpose of the review is to update the principles, objectives and land use concepts guiding the development/redevelopment of lands within the Plan area and to identify opportunities and constraints to community building and reinvestment in the area. Based on the findings of the review, recommendations for changes to the Plan will be made in a further Proposals Report.

Comments:

Area Context:

The Kipling/Islington City Centre Secondary Plan area is located in the south-central portion of the Etobicoke community. It is comprised of 178 hectares and is centred around the "Six Points" interchange (see Figure 1 - Context Map). The Kipling and Islington subway stations are transportation focal points and each is surrounded by considerable tracts of publicly owned at-grade commuter parking. Office and high density residential development is focussed in the east portion of the Plan in the vicinity of the Bloor Street/Islington Avenue intersection. Pedestrian oriented retail strips are found along Dundas and Bloor Streets in the east portion of the Plan. The balance of the Plan area is less intensely developed with a mix of low-rise commercial, industrial, residential and utility/transportation uses.

The area is home to almost 10,000 residents. Apartment units comprise approximately 80% of the housing stock. Eighty-seven percent of apartment units are rental with 43% of the units being assisted housing.

Plan Summary:

The Kipling/Islington Plan policies seek to:

(a) encourage the creation of a street related, mixed-use, high density, sub-centre with a strong civic focus;

(b) pull together otherwise loosely organized suburban office and service development into an easily recognized and acknowledged employment area, which in turn attracts additional commercial and complementary residential investment; and

(c) preserve both the existing commercial strips within the Plan area and the established residential neighbourhoods outside the area.

The general land use concept of the Plan is to provide office and mixed use development in the central portion of the plan, residential and institutional uses in the east, and office and transportation uses in the west ( see Figure 2 - Existing Development Concept Map).

The strategy to implement the land use concept is through a set of 12 different land use designations and 16 site specific, special policy areas within the Plan. The special policy areas are based on key redevelopment sites, existing land use patterns and various physical boundaries created by the road network, rail lines and open space areas. The site-specific policies closely prescribe items such as land use, density, building height, open space, vehicular and pedestrian facilities, floor space indices and urban design objectives. The existing Official Plan Land Use Designations are shown as Figure 3.

The Plan promotes the highest densities for both office and residential uses around each of the subway stations. A density gradient reduces densities as you move away from the subway stations.

The Plan sets out development caps which limit the amount of new development within the Plan area to an additional 3,300 apartment units and 376,000 m2 (4,047,362 sq. ft.) of office space. The caps are based on a transportation analysis that was undertaken at the time the Plan was developed. The analysis identified a menu of potential road works that could be constructed incrementally to accommodate planned development. The Plan sets out that a review of the transportation network is to be initiated when development levels reach 80% of the development cap. The purpose of the transportation review is to establish the availability of transportation capacity for potential additional development beyond the cap.

The urban design policies of the Plan focus on providing a pedestrian oriented city centre environment and a continuous east-west open space system. This is to be achieved through a series of parkettes and urban squares which would be created in conjunction with the redevelopment of key sites within the Plan area.

The major transportation goals of the plan include: ensuring that sufficient transportation capacity can be provided incrementally to accommodate new development; improving connections and circulation within the City Centre; limiting traffic infiltration into surrounding neighbourhoods; and establishing the Kipling subway station as the regional transit node. One prominent transportation objective is the reconfiguration of the Six Points Interchange from a grade separated intersection of three major arterial roads, to a more urban at-grade, pedestrian oriented design. A more urban form of intersection with at-grade connections would greatly assist in connecting the east and west portions of the Plan. A series of potential road works, including new local roads, local road closures, arterial road widenings and intersection improvements are also provided for in the Plan.

Evaluation of the Plan:

The following section provides an evaluation regarding the Plan's premise as an office node, the land use and density pattern of the Plan, urban design policies, parks and open space concepts, development caps and implementation strategies.

Refocusing the Plan as a residential/mixed use community

The foundations of the Plan lie in the premise that the Kipling/Islington area possessed the underpinnings to develop into a sizable office/commercial node to serve the Etobicoke community.

The experience of the Kipling/Islington area and its attempt to develop into an office/commercial node is similar to that of other city centres in Toronto, such as North York and Scarborough. The trend experienced in these centres and City-wide since the late 1980's is that significant new office development has not occurred. This has been a result of an overall decline in the market for new office space.

Although there has been little interest in office development, a healthy residential market (particularly high rise condominiums) has developed in the area. This is evidenced by the number of redesignations of commercial lands to residential and the applications for residential development which are currently in process (see Table 1 - Residential Development Application Review and Figure 4 - Key Development Sites).

Given the market preference for residential development, a more flexible planning framework which can accommodate a mix of office and residential uses on individual sites will provide viability and durability through various building cycles and maintain investment in the area. Additional residential uses will provide opportunities for increased service and commercial uses that will help reinforce the area as an urban focus.

With the creation of the new City of Toronto, the role of the Kipling/Islington area should also be assessed within the dynamics of this broader City context.

Land use and density pattern

As mentioned earlier, the Secondary Plan provides 12 different land use designations and 16 Special Policy Areas. The land use designations and Special Policy Areas are very prescriptive in nature and almost all development applications that have been filed have required Official Plan amendments. A reduction in the number of land use designations and an elimination or reduction of site specific policies could provide increased opportunities to meet changing market demands without the need to amend the Plan for what are often minor reasons.

Densities in the Plan are controlled by units per hectare and floor space index. Two ranges of densities are provided, a higher range for lands around the Islington subway station and a lower range for lands around the Kipling station. The Plan sets out a higher range of densities around the Islington station on the basis of a greater level of community services existing at the time that the Plan was approved. A re-examination of the need for two density ranges in relation to the goals of the Plan is also in order. The approval of a new City of Etobicoke Official Plan in 1992 provided residential densities which are inconsistent with those in the existing Secondary Plan. The inconsistencies between the two Plans should be eliminated.

Urban design

A policy of the Plan which establishes a general height limit of 8 stories is intended to provide a greater variety of building forms and a transition between the existing high rise towers and the low density residential communities located around the periphery of the Plan area. To further this approach, a general limit of 250 residential units per building is imposed, unless otherwise specified for a particular site. Although the goal of providing a variety of building types is appropriate, other less prescriptive means of achieving this goal should be considered.

A variety of building types could be achieved by consolidating or deleting the site specific and broader based urban design guidelines to clearly define a physical Structure Plan for the study area. The Structure Plan could illustrate the long-term vision for the public realm of the area including the streets and block pattern, pedestrian connections, and open space linkages. It could also provide, to the extent possible, an indication of priority areas for improvement, particularly those, which could be undertaken by the City as an incentive to redevelopment.

An urban design charrette, spearheaded by Urban Design staff and involving outside participants, is proposed for early December. Its intention is to look at the Kipling/Islington City Centre area in order to make recommendations with regard to potential initiatives.

Development caps and transportation improvements

The development caps which are set out in the Plan are based upon a transportation analysis undertaken at a time when a more robust commercial office market was anticipated. A shift in development in favour of residential uses will result in fewer vehicle trips being added to the road network compared to commercial office development.

Consideration should be given to replacing the current rigid development caps with a more flexible transportation monitoring program that, over time, can better assess the implications of changing travel behaviour and ambient transportation conditions.

Parks and open space

Development of park and open space facilities are planned to occur in conjunction with the redevelopment of key parcels of land. Due to the lack of redevelopment in the area, no new parks and open space facilities have been constructed since approval of the Plan. If growth is to occur at a slower, more incremental fashion, a more pro-active approach to the development of parks and open space development should be considered. If development occurs in smaller parcels, a strategy to preserve appropriate park sites and accumulate cash-in-lieu of park land for the eventual purchase of sites may be in order.

The plan proposes the development of an number urban parkettes which are to be linked to form an open space system. In light of less office development and greater residential development than originally planned, the provision of playgrounds and active recreation space should also be considered. Better and safer linkages should be made across the secondary plan area to existing parkland, tied in with a pedestrian friendly streetscape treatment. Roof gardens, urban squares, bike paths, vest pocket parks and more creative utilization of hydro corridors in the area could also be considered.

Criteria to assess parkland adequacy and acquisition on a City-wide basis are currently being developed by an interdepartmental team. The team has been requested to fast-track the assessment of the Kipling/Islington area.

Implementation strategy

The development thrust of the mid to late 1980's provided an era which enabled the undertaking of major construction projects which could define an area and serve as a catalyst for further growth. This development era was fuelled by major growth in the regional and national economies based on demographic and economic conditions which no longer exist. Similarly, public funding to undertake major public works is less likely to become available in today's more conservative fiscal environment.

The implementation of many of the goals of the Plan relied on strong economic growth to facilitate a number of major private and public undertakings which have yet to occur. These include: the private development of a number of key sites within the plan; the redesign of the Six Points interchange; and the establishment of the Kipling subway station as the key transportation gateway for the area rather than splitting the function with the Islington station.

In light of the foregoing, development and change in areas such as Kipling/Islington may occur in a more incremental fashion. This will require a re-focusing of the implementation strategies of the Kipling/Islington Plan away from "mega-project" solutions. Goals may need to be accomplished through a series of smaller developments and minor public infrastructure improvements occurring over a longer period of time.

Implementation of a strong residential community can be greatly assisted by developing a sense of place. This can be accomplished by establishing a neighbourhood that has a commonly perceived and interpreted quality and structure to it, as identified by people living, working and visiting the area. The development of a well-serviced, pedestrian friendly, mixed-use neighbourhood, can establish this sense of focus and place in Kipling/Islington.

Implementation of a focus for the area may also require improved definition of the geographic area where major developments are permitted. The Plan area currently stretches more than 2.7 kilometres along Dundas Street. This may inhibit the creation of a defined development focus by permitting office and residential development in too broad of an area. Accordingly, the boundaries of the Plan should be reviewed to ensure that they are appropriate to provide a suitable area focus.

A key requirement in the implementation of the Plan is the ability to resolve the inherent conflicts between the area serving as a high density, mixed use development node and a regional transit gateway. This has resulted in a substantial amount of commuter parking at both the Kipling and Islington stations. Provision of improved pedestrian facilities and the relocation of the gateway transit function away from the Islington subway station will greatly assist in resolving this conflict.

The publicly owned lands, such as the Westwood Theatre site, can also be used to implement a number of planning initiatives. These sites could be leveraged to attain City goals such as the provision of affordable housing, the development of parkland or a community-based performing arts facility. Development of publicly owned sites for the above-noted uses could also serve as a catalyst for additional development in the area including a possible West District civic administrative and cultural centre.

Refocusing the Plan from predominently office/commercial to residential/mixed use will require a careful examination of the availability of community services including schools, parks, daycare and senior citizens services (see Figure 5 - Existing Community Facilities). Likewise, a further review of hard services such as sewage capacity and transportation need to be undertaken with respect to the ability of certain sub-areas of the Plan to accommodate more residential development than anticipated.

The redirection of the planning focus for the area must also be made in light of the new City of Torontos emerging policy environment. Policies that address development in the area will need to respond to emerging City-wide policies dealing with the issue of housing affordability, contributions to the Capital Revolving Fund for Affordable Housing and, where appropriate, the use of Section 37 of the Planning Act as a mechanism for securing public benefits for the area. Other policies to be considered relate to parks, open space, use of hydro lands, community services and public art.

Interim Planning Considerations:

Partly due to the recession of the early 1990's there has been little development activity in the Kipling/Islington area. More recently, development interest in the area has grown and the opportunity presents itself for reinvestment that will assist in the implementation of many of the goals of the Plan.

There are currently three active development applications in the Kipling/Islington area which are being reviewed by Planning Staff. Individually, none of the sites present any particular challenges which would preclude the implementation of the broader goals of the Secondary Plan. None of the proposals will trigger the need for any of the major road works identified in the Plan, nor the construction of new roads other than those, which would form an integral component of a development proposal (e.g. a new public road through a development site). Furthermore, none of these applications will preclude the construction of any of the road works currently identified in the Secondary Plan. Lastly, any localized road improvements required in conjunction with a development application will be identified through the normal review process.

Proposed developments in the area provide a long-awaited opportunity to implement a variety of the goals of the Plan. New developments will provide parkland dedications, which will facilitate the provision of open space connections between sites and the development of parks to benefit existing and new residents. Development of individual vacant or underdeveloped sites presents an opportunity to weave a more urban fabric throughout the area and establish a more continuous streets and blocks pattern. New development will also aid in building the presence and focus desired for a city centre area. Continued development also provides the opportunity to optimize the use of public transit and hard services capacity which exists in the area.

By continuing to review and process development applications while undertaking the Secondary Plan review, much needed reinvestment momentum can be maintained. New development provides a positive economic presence that can identify the area as a successful place in which to invest. New development provides the ability to create synergies between differing uses. For example, new residential development can enhance local service and retail markets to provide for additional shops and services to benefit both existing and new residents. Better area services further enhance the attractiveness of the area for additional residential development. New development can also set a positive example to provide for greater stewardship of existing residences and businesses in the area leading to better maintenance of existing properties and improvement of commercial building facades to further enhance the area.

In light of the foregoing it is appropriate to continue reviewing development applications. The applications currently under review are to be informed by the preliminary findings of the Kipling/Islington review.

Conclusions:

The impetus for the review has come in response to a shift in focus in the Kipling/Islington area from office employment to residential use. At the more strategic level, the impetus has come from a need to review the general context of the Kipling/Islington area as a planned office/civic centre node and the opportunity to improve the local area "city building" and planning exercise through the incorporation of emerging City-wide policy directions. A review of the Plan has also been undertaken because the detailed and prescriptive nature of the Plan's land use and urban design policies, have proven to be too inflexible to respond to changing market conditions and have necessitated amendments for almost every development application that has been processed since the Plan's approval.

Although a number of factors have changed since the approval of the Kipling/Islington Plan in 1987, the concept of a high intensity, transit-oriented urban community providing a diversity of housing, employment, social and recreation opportunities serving the central Etobicoke community, continues to be a valid one.

The future planning for the area must take advantage of major investment in hard infrastructure in the Kipling/Islington area, including transit, roads and sewers. While there is capacity to accommodate current development proposals, the future adequacy of hard services will need to be monitored as new development comes on stream. The availability of hard services should not, however, overshadow the need to focus more strategically and comprehensively on those soft services, such as social, recreational, cultural facilities, parks and schools. These facilities will, in the end help to define the Kipling/Islington area as a good neighbourhood in which to live and work.

The initial review of the Kipling/Islington area and its Secondary Plan policies has identified opportunities to refocus the planning direction of the area and to provide alternative implementation strategies for the Plan.

Opportunities exist to create a greater sense of place in the Kipling/Islington area. This can be accomplished by improving pedestrian and vehicular connections throughout the area, by breaking up large development parcels and establishing a streets and block pattern that is more typically urban in nature, by creating a more coherent and connected public open space system, and lastly, by undertaking streetscape and sidewalk improvements to create a more visually interesting and active street environment. A future step in the review will be to recommend guidelines that achieve greater clarity regarding desired physical improvements in the area, funding alternatives to achieve these objectives and development policies that facilitate further investment.

The next steps in the review process will be the preparation of a Proposals Report. The Proposals Report will contain specific recommendations for policy revisions that are based on the following:

(a) the establishment of development policies which encourage investment and assist in the implementation of the emerging Plan;

(b) the role of the Kipling/Islington area in the broader context of other "city centres" across the new City;

(c) a review of the urban design and open space strategies;

(d) a review of existing and anticipated community service needs;

(e) the use of City-owned lands in assisting the implementation of Plan objectives; and

(f) a review of the existing transportation plan including the resolution of the Six Points intersection, the need and desirability of other potential road works, and the possibility of replacing the current development caps with a more flexible transportation monitoring program.

During the Secondary Plan review, development applications within the Plan area will continue to be reviewed. Development of the individual sites currently under application, will not preclude implementation of the Plan. The proposed developments provide an opportunity to implement the broader goals of the Plan, which, for the most part, remain valid. Proposed developments also provide an opportunity to maintain the reinvestment momentum gained in the area. Current development proposals will be evaluated in the context of the findings of the Kipling/Islington review.

A copy of the Proposals Report will be circulated to area residents, property owners and other stakeholders. Public meetings and focus group sessions will be held to obtain the views of all interested parties. The estimated period for bringing this report forward for public comment is in the spring of 2000.

Contact:

Helen Bulat, Principal Policy Planner - West District Tel: 394-8229

Policy and Research Fax: 394-6063

Email: hbulat@toronto.ca

Patrick Lee, Planner Tel: 394-8238

Community Planning, West District Fax: 394-6063

Email: plee4@toronto.ca

Paul Bedford

Executive Director and Chief Planner

Pl/Specials/kipling/3.dot

List of Attachments:

Attachment No. 1 - Table 1 - Residential Development Application Review Table

Attachment No. 2 - Figure 1 - Context Map

Attachment No. 3 - Figure 2 - Existing City Centre Development Concept Map

Attachment No. 4 - Figure 3 - Existing Official Plan Land Use Designations Map

Attachment No. 5 - Figure 4 - Key Development Sites Map

Attachment No. 6 - Figure 5 - Existing Community Facilities Map