Waterfront convened the first of several public planning and design meetings to let local residents and the general public in on what's in store for the area surrounding the foot of Yonge Street.
"The concept of the first meeting was to introduce people to the concept that we are doing an area plan for the area we are calling the
Lower Yonge Precinct, which stretches from Yonge to Jarvis, and the Gardiner Expressway to Queens Quay," says Waterfront Toronto’s vice president of planning and design Christopher Glaisek.
"One Yonge is a public proposal so it's gotten some attention," Glaisek says, "but there’s also the LCBO lands with the warehouse and store, but it's mostly a big parking lot and that’s also a potential development site and it's actually bigger than the One Yonge site. Then there's a Loblaws site, which while they have no plans to develop it in the near term, will one day become a development site."
After discussing the extent of the area, which covers nine hectares, the convenors listened to public input on the subject of future development, which they will incorporate into two studies, Lower Yonge Precinct Area: Urban Design Guidelines and a transportation master plan environmental assessment
Glaisek was able to reveal one design principle immediately, however. "We’re trying not to build a wall of condos on the waterfront," he says.
Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Christopher Glaisek
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