Blog Archives

King Street Pilot - transit options for King Street

2/23/2017

A King Street Pilot Study Public Meeting was held on February 13th.
To access all the slides presented at that meeting, click HERE.
The crux of the meeting was the staging of three creative options designed to achieve these goals:

Improve the transit experience
Provide safe, comfortable and accessible sidewalks, road crossings and streetcar boarding facilities
Transform the public realm experience for pedestrians
Reinforce King’s diverse neighbourhood identities

The "Separated Lanes” option dedicates the centre lanes to streetcars, and gives the remaining one lane in each direction to car and truck traffic, forbidding left turns and stopping, but allowing through traffic.
Analysis:

Where would delivery/trade/service and taxi/Uber/Wheeltrans/EMS vehicles stop?
Right hand turning vehicles can back up traffic
Nearside boarding of streetcars from street level could endanger/challenge passengers
Cyclists would share vehicle lanes with cars and trucks

The “Alternating Loops” option allows a single lane of one-way car traffic, to facilitate local access to driveways and deliveries, with the direction alternating each block, preventing through traffic. Only right hand turns are permitted with the right hand turn lane isolated from the streetcar lane. Centre lanes prioritize streetcars but permit moving vehicles to circumvent delivery vehicles. The fourth lane can be used either as public realm space (option A) or as a dedicated bike lane (option B). Streetcar patrons board from height of curb rather than height of roadway.
Analysis:

Streetcars can be blocked by vehicles circumventing stopped or waiting vehicles
Cyclists would share lane with cars and trucks (option A) or with boarding streetcar riders (option B)

The “Transit Promenade” option sees the sidewalk extended into the road on both sides for public realm improvements and accommodation for delivery/trade/service and taxi/Uber/Wheeltrans/EMS vehicles. Moving vehicles share the centre lanes with streetcars except at farside boarding zones they are forced to turn right and prevented from driving straight through intersections
Analysis:

Streetcars are given “priority” but how is that possible given that moving vehicles share the same lanes?
Cyclists would share public realm space with pedestrians and boarding streetcar riders
After making accommodation for stopped or waiting vehicles, how much public realm remains?

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More on the OMB

2/21/2017

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And Jennifer Pagliaro from the Star followed up with a three-part analysis of the OMB and its efficacy:
Part 1
http://projects.thestar.com/ontario-municipal-board-reform/contested-development/
Part 2
http://projects.thestar.com/ontario-municipal-board-reform/planning-power-politics/
Part 3
http://projects.thestar.com/ontario-municipal-board-reform/onward-upward/

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Environmental Defence Panel: FixtheOMB.ca

2/14/2017

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This images says it all: citizens across the province are tired of not having a voice and finding few allies at the OMB.

The City of Toronto's Chief Planner Jennifer Keesmaat was a member of last night's panel on how to fix the OMB. The event was organized by Environmental Defence and citizens from area codes 519, 705, 905, and 416 attended, all showing strong interest in drastic improvement at the OMB. Other panel members included former Chief Planner Paul Bedford, environmental lawyer David Donnelly, and "green" developer Rodney Wilts. The moderator was urban designer Ken Greenberg, with Susan Lloyd Swail, consultant and executive director of E.D. to welcome everyone to a most illuminating evening.

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Construction Staging Fees ... Toronto 2016

2/2/2017

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Back in October, the press gave wide coverage to John Tory's concern about construction staging occupying public space, specifically roadways, for extended periods of time.

At that time we learned that developers are charged fees when they block lanes of traffic or sidewalks. A GDNA colleague became curious and pulled some statistics from the public records. What he learned was certainly interesting.

construction_staging_approvals.docx
File Size:	18 kb
File Type:	docx

Download File

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Another new neighbour ... Tosto at 431 Richmond Street West

2/1/2017

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We met Michael Lublin, co-founder of the Tosto franchise, when he applied for a liquor license for this location. He promised us that the food would be good and inexpensive ... and now that the restaurant is open, we have found out that Michael is good to his word.