Pamela Blais

agreed

Kinda crazy that you think people have to be “forced” to live in neighbourhoods outside Toronto.

How is it equitable to have large areas outside Toronto with “inferior transit and amenities” not get those improved by adding population?

It’s not “forcing” growth - it’s no different than allowing new growth in Toronto. Remove the obstacles, zoning and otherwise, which exist in places like Mississauga too. So too does demand for housing, believe it or not. Target threshold areas near jobs, eg allow housing in business parks, for one.

Transit needs density. I’m arguing adding pop strategically where it will push density over the threshold to make transit viable.
And yes, that’s how it works and how cities evolve.

So you’re arguing to just ignore all areas outside of TO and let those areas continue to be car-centric GHG drivers?

Not to mention the equity argument… much worse access to jobs by transit outside of Toronto, except NE Scarborough which is also bad.

In order to expand the blue areas of that GHG map, you need to get people out of cars.

Adding pop to already-transit served areas does nothing to address the millions of current daily car trips in the yellow and orange areas.

It’s simply a much bigger up side to focus on threshold areas.

That may be true, but the biggest gains to reducing GHGs, at the lowest costs, are to be found in areas at the threshold of transit-supportiveness where we can get people out of cars.

All the orange areas below lost population 2016-2021.

I’m talking outer 416 and especially beyond, eg Mississauga where virtually all neighbourhoods have lost population in recent years, improved transit would benefit all, and capacity exists.

Otherwise we are just ignoring the carbon emissions elephant in the room when it could be addressed.

More people need to live in the yellow and orange zones in order to move them out of auto dependency and into transit-supportive densities. That is where the biggest marginal gains are presently.

Agreed, but that is already happening to some extent (eg Golden Mile). But very little attention to places like Mississauga, eg, where almost every residential area has lost population in recent years.

It’s an issue of how we grow the city. We are adding population where it’s already pretty dense ie central Toronto. And not densifying in the vast swathe of yellow and orange areas outside of that where it would have most impact, eg pushing densities to be transit-supportive, adding pop near jobs…

Apparently there are a few. Would be good to compare notes.
#singlestair

Anybody else have an ASP application for a single stair building in Toronto under review rn?

Exactly… plus start-up space, shops, studios….

Old is gold: once-shunned decrepit buildings find new commercial uses in Viet Nam’s cities Going to old buildings to shop and have coffee and food has become popular with young people in major cities looking to find somewhere chic and attractive to relax.

Could get behind converting office buildings into spaces for small businesses:

vietnamnews.vn/economy/5360...

The MTSA zoning could, in theory, address these other issues (garbage, bike maintenance, visitor parking etc. etc.) eg for newly-permitted 4 storey buildings in Neighbourhoods; it should, but it probably won’t.

Up to and including 10 units is exempt from site plan control, I believe.

One of the issues is as soon as you exceed 6 units (until recently 4 units) apartment regs apply, same for 7 units or 100, incl. visitor parking, enclosed garbage etc., increasing the number of variances. Small building regs needed.

Application Details

www.toronto.ca/city-governm...

Single exit stair people: What would/should be considered a reasonable stair width in a single stair bldg? BC Code says 1500 mm up to 6 storeys. City of Toronto guidance report says maybe 1650 mm up to 4 storeys.
What’s reasonable for a small footprint 3 storey 6plex? For a 6 storey apt building?

… which itself is what is allowed for a single-detached house (with a small tweak to allow a bit more height in areas where limit is less than 10.5 m). So we were talking about a net addition 2 units within the same, already permitted form. 2/2

What struck me about the debate was that 6 plexes were portrayed by opponents as some kind of cataclysmic change to neighbourhoods. But 4 plexes are already allowed city-wide. 6 plexes would maintain the same building envelope,…. 1/2

This includes a report recommending updates to our zoning to allow up to a sixplex (plus garden suite) across the city; updates to allow for semi-detached fourplexes (i.e. four units on each side); and allowing new housing around "tower-in-the-park" sites. 3/

2025 RAIC Awards: Single Exit Stair Building Code Reform An in-depth research project paves the way for building code updates that would remove a key barrier to missing middle housing.

Congrats @conradspeckert.bsky.social

2025 RAIC Awards: Single Exit Stair Building Code Reform — www.canadianarchitect.com/raic-awards-...

European Spa Company Therme Misrepresented Itself in an Effort to Expand Into Canada A Times investigation shows Therme, a European firm, exaggerated its track record in securing a deal with Ontario, and government auditors found that the process had been unfair and opaque.

www.nytimes.com/2025/04/16/w...

Quelle surprise!

Sounds like good grounds for cancelling the deal.

And here’s the table showing relative vulnerability to trade shocks of individual municipalities in the GGH:

Here it is:

neptis.org/sites/defaul...

It’s a good question. Not only LA but GTA too… from earlier research here’s my map of where jobs with highest vulnerability to trade disruptions are…

Both on Bethnal Green Road

Or this one