Planning predictability takes resources — and political will

In April 2016, the owner of Kristy's Restaurant applied to rezone the property at 809 Richmond Rd. Being a stone's throw from the future Cleary LRT station, chances were excellent-to-absolute that he'd be successful. 

Shortly after the application was submitted a year ago, the city started its planning study on how to develop the areas around the Cleary and New Orchard stations, both on Richmond Road, west of Westboro.

Last week council approved the application for a 24-storey building at the Kristy's site, considerably higher than the previously allowed four. The new development plan for the Cleary and New Orchard stations? It's expected sometime in 2018.

And therein lies the source of much of the ongoing frustration with planning in this town. The city — or more accurately, the politicians — promise certainty in planning, and launch years-long processes to develop a vision for how neighbourhoods are to grow. In the meantime, individual properties get rezoned anyway, making a bit of a mockery of the whole exercise.

Not a new issue

It's not new for developers to try to get their properties rezoned before overarching planning documents are approved. Nor is it against any rules. And the city is obliged to deal with those applications in a timely manner.

Sometimes the city is left scrambling to finish these community plans while rezonings for individual properties are being pushed through.

A recent example of this phenomenon is the 40-storey towers approved for Carling Avenue in Little Italy, while the community development plan for the area was delayed by years.

3-year planning lag

But have city politicians learned nothing from these past experiences?

Consider the Kristy's Restaurant application. The rationale for extra height at this location is that intensification near the light rail system is desirable. That makes sense.

So why did it take three years to launch the Cleary-New Orchard planning study? Why didn't council direct planning staff to launch it as soon as possible after the project's approval?

It also makes sense that the city's planning staff would engage with residents, businesses and landowners to come up with a blueprint about how that intensification around the future transit station is expected to unfold. 

But council approved Phase 2 of the LRT in 2013. And while there have been a few tweaks to the route — we're talking about a difference of a city block — the extension plan has been known for four years.

So why did it take three years to launch the Cleary-New Orchard planning study? Why didn't council direct planning staff to launch it as soon as possible after the project's approval?

Further, when it's well known that some developers will try to get their properties rezoned before the community plans are approved, why does there appear to be such little effort to expedite the process? In the distant past, a downtown community design plan was completed in a single year of intense work. That is not the case now.

Resources, political will required

One roadblock may be resources. The city was without a formal planning boss for a chunk of 2016, during which there was a freeze on filling vacancies. Last year, only 61 per cent of rezoning requests were processed within the city's target timeline, while there was an 18-per-cent increase in applications.

Despite the cliché, it usually is impossible to do more with less, something that's as true for the city's planning staff as anyone.

But is there the political will to push ahead as quickly as possible with community development plans for transit stations?

Consider that there's currently no plan underway for what's to happen around Westboro Station on Scott Street, just east of Churchill Avenue.

There are all sorts of buildings-taller-than-originally-zoned popping up around the station.

Just last April, council approved a 22-storey building on the old Trailhead store site, which was zoned less than 10 years ago for six storeys. Located kitty-corner from Westboro Station, most residents expected something taller than six storeys to be built there, but hoping for something less than 22.

More to the point, community members were looking to have a say in how the area was going to be developed. As Coun. Jeff Leiper told his colleagues, the city is "setting a new planning context for the entire area without an honest and transparent discussion with residents about how their neighbourhood is likely to change."

Most of council appeared unfazed by the observation. That includes Mayor Jim Watson, who told reporters: "If we're not going to have density right across the street from a transit station, where are we going to have it?"

Where's promised predictability?

And yet five years ago, at a much-ballyhooed planning summit, Watson told a crowd of developers, planners and community activists that "we need greater predictability and certainty when it comes to development in our city. There are just too many surprises that upset local neighbourhoods when zoning changes."

It's still true that we need greater certainty in planning, even if that certainty results in plans that upset residents — which they almost certainly will. And it's still true that neighbours are upset over zoning changes — 100 people commented on the Kristy's rezoning and, in the words of a city report, "few comments were submitted in support."

But it's unlikely residents are still surprised. They've become accustomed to rezoning applications overtaking community plans, before, during and after they're passed. At least this one aspect of planning has become predictable.