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planning toronto’s downtown

Parks and Public Realm Plan – Request for Proposals Information Meeting Andrew Farncombe, Project Manager August 19, 2015

Where will future growth be accommodated? What physical and social infrastructure will we need, where will it go, how will we secure it?

Keeping Downtown a great place

to live, work, learn and play

BA

TH

UR

ST

S

T

Growth

TORONTO’S CHANGING DOWNTOWN

DOWNTOWN’S CHANGING SKYLINE 2005

DOWNTOWN’S CHANGING SKYLINE 2014 – Existing and Anticipated

0

50,000

100,000

150,000

200,000

250,000

300,000

350,000

400,000

450,000

500,000

1956 1961 1966 1971 1976 1981 1986 1991 1996 2001 2006 2011

TD TOWERS COMPLETED

OFFICE BOOM

RECESSION GROWTH OF DOT.COM &

CREATIVE SECTOR

START OF OFFICE BOOM

REGENT PARK

COMPLETION

ST.

JAMESTOWN

OPENING CENTRAL

AREA PLAN

ST.

LAWRENCE

NEIGHBOURHOOD

“KINGS

SECONDARY

PLANS”

100,000

200,000

300,000

400,000

500,000

0

EMPLOYMENT

277,000 > 433,800

POPULATION

124,000 > 199,000

CONDO

BOOM

A MIX OF HOUSING AND COMMERCIAL USES A planning principle that has shaped our Downtown

LIVING DOWNTOWN Downtown’s residential population doubled in 40 years

1976 2015

102,299

215,000

(estimated)

NET GROWTH PERCENT GROWTH

112,000+ 110%

GROWTH RATES Downtown is growing 4X faster than the City as a whole

1991 - 1996 1996 - 2001 2001 - 2006 2006 - 2011

5%

1%

4.5%

8%

7%

10%

18%

14%

16%

17%

13%

CITY OF

TORONTO

DOWNTOWN

REST OF GTA

4%

18%

KING-SPADINA

+86%

WATERFRONT WEST

+105%

WATERFRONT CENTRAL

+68%

FINANCIAL DISTRICT

+18%

KING-PARLIAMENT

+31%

ST. LAWRENCE- DISTILLERY

+8%

MOSS PARK

- 7%

REGENT PARK

- 4%

CHURCH-YONGE

+15%

BAY CORRIDOR

+27%

KENSINGTON - CHINATOWN

+8%

UFT

+5%

ST. JAMESTOWN

+7%

CABBAGETOWN

+1%

YORKVILLE

+2% ANNEX

+6%

DOWNTOWN

NEIGHBOURHOOD GROWTH Residential Growth 2006-2011

Growth is not uniform across the Downtown

DIVERSE NEIGHBOURHOODS Downtown includes different types of neighbourhoods

New High-rise Neighbourhoods Older Apartment Neighbourhoods

Main-street Neighbourhoods Low-rise Neighbourhoods

DOWNTOWN COMMUTERS AND VISITORS Daytime vs. Night time Population

245,000 + Night time Population

residents

overnight visitors

Source: TTS Survey, TES, Statistics Canada, RTO5 Statistics 2012

830,000 + People Downtown every day residents

commuting workers

commuting students

day trips

overnight visitors

ETOBICOKE SCARBOROUGH DOWNTOWN

70%

66%

50%

60%

25%

26%

32%

39% 36%

34%

3% 3%

11%

4%

41%

SOUTH OF 401 NORTH OF 401

MOST DOWNTOWN RESIDENTS WALK, CYCLE OR USE TRANSIT Commuting by Mode of Travel 2011

Downtown

ANTICIPATING MORE GROWTH

DEVELOPMENT PIPELINE 2003 to 2013

DEVELOPMENT PIPELINE 2003 to 2013

STUDY OVERVIEW TOcore

STUDY GOALS

Parks and Public Realm • Complete Street Guidelines

• Outdoor Café Design Guidelines • Toronto 360 Wayfinding

Strategy

Transportation • SmartTrack & Relief Line Assessments

• Bikeway Network • Gardiner East EA

• Feeling Congested? •Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport Review

•King Street Operations Study

Community Services and Facilities • Recreation Facilities Master Plan

• Children’s Services Service Planning

• George Street Revitalization

Water and Energy • Central Toronto Integrated

Regional Resource Plan • Waterfront Servicing Master Plan EA Review

Planning Framework • Ongoing Local Planning Studies

•City-wide Planning Policy Reviews • Official Plan Review

• Heritage Conservation District Studies • Growing Conversations

ALIGNED INITIATIVES

TOcore PHASES

PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT and ROLLING IMPLEMENTATION

ELEMENTS OF ENGAGEMENT

PHASE 1 PHASE 2 PHASE 3

STAKEHOLDER FOCUS GROUPS

INTERACTIVE ONLINE INPUT

TRADESHOW INTERACTIVE OPEN HOUSE

WORKSHOPS

STATUTORY PUBLIC MEETINGS

PLANNERS IN PUBLIC SPACES

YOUTH OUTREACH PILOT

(Growing Conversations)

SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGY

Parks

AND

Public Realm PLAN

TOcore will develop a parks and public realm plan for Downtown to improve the quality and connectivity of public spaces, and identify parkland improvement and acquisition priorities within an intensifying core.

PARKS AND PUBLIC REALM Parks, squares, streets, laneways,

paths, ravines, school yards, POPs

and other open spaces

TOcore will develop a Downtown transportation strategy that prioritizes walking, cycling and transit and identifies networks and other improvements to increase mobility for the growing number of people living, working and visiting Downtown.

TRANSPORTATION Surface transit, walking,

cycling

ELEMENTS OF THE PUBLIC REALM

STREETS &

LANEWAYS PARKS

CYCLING

NETWORKS

STREET

TREES

POPS

SQUARES

SIDEWALKS

Towards a integrated

network

Intensifying residential fabric, growing workforce and more visitors Public realm as outdoor ‘living room’ Intensity of use: parks, squares, streets Balancing the needs of different users Securing new parks in a mature urban fabric Trees under stress Accommodating pedestrian flows and sidewalk amenities

TRENDS AND CHALLENGES

Acquiring new parks and squares and improving the ones we have (quantity vs. quality) Designing our streets for people: walking and lingering Building Toronto’s cycling network and expanding bike parking Making connections: a network of green corridors and great streets linking parks and open spaces Improving accessibility to parks, ravines and the islands bordering Downtown Protecting and growing the urban forest Reinforcing our retail main streets and surface transit routes Expanding the underground PATH

OPPORTUNITIES

Transforming our Downtown: bold and compelling vision, big moves, key strategies Putting public life, place-making and active mobility at the forefront of long-term planning for

Downtown Looking at the Downtown’s public realm in a holistic way, recognizing the challenges of a mature

urban fabric Engaging the public in new and meaningful ways A plan that provides clear, tangible direction to leverage our existing great public spaces through strategic capital improvements

PRINCIPLES

1. Work program (inception) • Staff workshop • Public space / public life study design • Public engagement strategy

2. Background & Analysis • Context, history + existing conditions • Public space analysis • Best practices • Active transportation analysis • Downtown park provision assessment • Street trees / analysis • Public engagement

3. Public Life Study • Behavioral mapping • Intercept surveys • Design recommendations

ACTIVITY COMPONENTS

4. Vision, Guiding Principles, Concept Plan and Priorities • Initial vision + guiding principles • Initial concept plan • Organizing elements • Placemaking opportunities + priorities • Draft ‘big moves’ and ‘key strategies • Public engagement

5. Parks and Public Realm Plan • Vision • Concept plan • Big moves • Key strategies under each big move • Public engagement 6. Implementation Strategy • Prioritizing and sequencing strategies • Quick starts • Partnerships • Risks + mitigation • Policy changes

ACTIVITY COMPONENTS (continued)

Follow “Proposal Content” guidelines -- Section 5.3 Note that study area includes Toronto Island Parks and should include consideration of adjacent areas – Section 3.1 Factor in that public engagement is cross-cutting Take into consideration data to be provided by the City – Appendix G (compendium of key policies, plans and guidelines), Appendix H (public realm map layers), Appendix I (active transportation data sets), Appendix J (parks asset and use survey report) and Appendix K (neighbourhood demographic profiles) See indicative weighting of team level of effort when forming bid teams – Section 3.7.2 Account for student volunteers for public life study – Section 3.4 Be mindful of proposal evaluation table – Appendix E Pay attention to mandatory requirements – Section 4.2 and throughout RFP document Note definitions of ‘permissive’ versus ‘imperative’ verbs in the RFP (‘may’ and ‘should’ versus ‘must’, ‘shall’ and ‘will’) Use the forms provided (e.g., Appendix F)

SUBMISSION CONSIDERATIONS

Questions?