Guest Blogger – More Questions on Planning

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Toronto Civics 101 participant Bill Gaw writes: During the Local Planning session we ran out of question time before I could raise these items with Paul or Jane. If there is space and time available perhaps they could comment through the blog spot.

Paul Bain and Jane Welsh of Toronto's City Planning Division respond to Bill’s questions below.

Question 1.

Bill asks: The Toronto Official Plan indicates that we want to reduce the need for automobile trips and increase cycling and walking as replacements. With that goal in mind, why do planners concentrate employment areas in segregated places instead of integrating them with other roles, similar to the way we integrate residential and commercial roles into mixed-use zones.

Paul answers: The Official Plan does call for reducing auto dependency. A majority of jobs in Toronto are actually in 'Mixed Use Areas' such as Downtown and the Centres that allow both commercial and residential uses. We are finding condominiums going up on the same block as office buildings downtown and in the Centres allowing people to walk to work. The Employment Districts, although they have about a third of Toronto's jobs, are different because they allow a fairly full range of industrial uses which are not a good idea to mix with residential because of truck traffic, noise, odours etc.