lawrenze-Allen Toronto

Lawrence-Allen revitalization plan, Toronto, Canada - © Toronto Community Housing

Park view - ©Toronto Community Housing

Building view - ©Toronto Community Housing

Masterplan - ©Toronto Community Housing

Lawrence-Allen Revitalization Plan

Status

ongoing

City

Toronto

Main actors

Private Sector, other, City Government, Community / Citizen Group, Public Utility

Project area

Neighborhood or district

Duration

Ongoing since 2008

The highly participatory approach and its continuous integration of different city departments are outstanding features of this plan

The Lawrence-Allen Revitalization Plan (LARP) was initiated with the intention of solving the problem of missing housing spaces in Toronto’s area bounded by Hwy. 401, Bathurst Street, Lawrence Avenue, and Dufferin Street. Although the Lawrence-Allen area is situated in the middle of a vibrant urban region, it is covered with single family detached dwellings and few apartment buildings. The objectives of the Lawrence-Allen Revitalization Plan for the next 20 years are therefore to replace the 1,208 publicly-owned housing units and add 4092 market units, offering about 16,000 residents a new home.

From 2008 until 2011, the City of Toronto performed the three phase Lawrence-Allen Revitalization Study, which was accompanied by community consultations. The study revealed that 65 hectares of the 340 hectares of land in the Lawrence-Allen area are publicly-owned and therefore potential resources for new social housing sites connected to the rest of the city. On December 1, 2011, the City Council of Toronto approved the Lawrence-Allen Secondary Plan.

Although the results of the LARP can only be foreseen, the highly participatory approach of this policy and its continuous integration of different city departments supply the necessary conditions for it to be a case of good practice.

For further information about the case study, click here.

Sustainable Development Goals

City information

City

Toronto, Canada

Size and population development

The 2016 census record the population of the city of Toronto at 2,731,57. The city covers an area of 630 square kilometres with a density of 4,334 per km2. The population grew by 4.5% between the 2011 and 2016 census.

Population composition

According the 2016 Census data, persons aged 14 years and under made up 14.5% of the population, and those aged 65 years and over made up 15.6%. The median age was 39.3 years. The city's gender population is 52% female and 48% male. In 2016, foreign-born persons made up 47% of the population. The two largest ethnic origins overall were Chinese (332,830 or 12.5%), and English (331,890 or 12.3%). Common regions of ethnic origin were European (47.9%), Asian (including middle-Eastern – 40.1%), African (5.5%), Latin/Central/South American (4.2%), and North American aboriginal (1.2). The most commonly reported religion in Toronto was Christianity, adhered to by 54.1% of the population. A plurality, 28.2%, of the city's population was Catholic, followed by Protestants (11.9%), Christian Orthodox (4.3%), and members of other Christian denominations (9.7%). Other religions practised in the city are Islam (8.2%), Hindusim (5.6%), Judaism (3.8%), Buddhism (2.7%), and Sikhism (0.8%). Those with no religious affiliation made up 24.2% of the population. While English was the predominant language spoken, many other languages have considerable numbers of local speakers. Chinese and Italian are the second and third most widely spoken languages at work.

Main functions

Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the most populous city in Canada. Its location on the north-western shore of Lake Ontario, which forms part of the border between Canada and the United States, and its access to Atlantic shipping via the St. Lawrence Seaway and to major U.S. industrial centres via the Great have enabled Toronto to become an important international trading centre.

Main industries / business

Toronto is an international centre for business and finance. The city is home to the Toronto Stock Exchange, the headquarters of Canada's five largest banks and many large Canadian and multinational corporations. Toronto’s economy is highly diversified with strengths in technology, film and television production, design, life sciences, education, fashion, environmental innovation, food services, and tourism.

Sources for city budget

The city's revenues include subsidies from the Government of Canada and the Government of Ontario, 33% from property tax, 6% from the land transfer tax and the rest from other tax revenues and user fees.

Political structure

Toronto is a single-tier municipality governed by a mayor-council system. The Mayor of Toronto is elected by direct popular vote to serve as the chief executive of the city. The City Council is comprised of 26 directly elected members. The Mayor and members of the city council serve four-year terms without term limits.

Administrative structure

The decision-making process at the City of Toronto involves committees that report to City Council. Committees propose, review and discuss policies and recommendations before they are given to the councillors for debate and resolution at weekly meetings. Citizens and residents can only make deputations on policy to committees, citizens cannot make public presentations to City Council. Each City Councillor sits on one committee. The Mayor is a member of all committees and is entitled to one vote. There are three types of committees at the City of Toronto: Executive Committee, Standing Committees and other Committees of Council.

Website

http://www.toronto.ca/

Background and objectives

The LARP was created to cover several problems in the Lawrence-Allen area. Since 1958, when housing was constructed in the Lawrence Heights Neighbourhood, almost no new investments have helped to modernize the peoples’ homes.

The poor quality of social housing in the area is due to functional issues and problems with the maintenance of the buildings, the cost-effectiveness of repairs, and the mechanical systems. Missing infrastructure to other neighbourhoods has isolated and disconnected the residents from public services and life beyond the Lawrence-Allen area. For example, 40% of residents of Lawrence Heights Neighbourhood have a university degree, but the described systemic issues hinder them from securing employment. In average, the residents of the Lawrence Heights Neighbourhood have lower income and higher levels of unemployment than the residents of the rest of Toronto. All of these problems have pressed the need to improve the social and economic conditions in the neighbourhoods of the Lawrence-Allen area.

The housing stock in Lawrence Heights is in poor physical condition and requires replacement in order to provide all tenants with a healthy and sustainable neighbourhood to live in. Revitalization offers the opportunity to establish a planning context to renew housing. The Revitalization Plan also revisits the design of the neighbourhood in terms of the street network, parks system, and buildings. The plan also looks to build upon the neighbourhood’s strengths, including its strong social networks and proximity to regional transportation infrastructure.

The renewal of the social housing stock, intensification along a subway route, sustainable development, improved delivery of community services, improved public realm, and creation of high-quality usable parkland are all objectives of the LARP, which at the same time reflect the major themes of the current Toronto’s Official Plan. These objectives and the aim of turning the Lawrence Heights Neighbourhood into a mixed-income, mixed-use, and culturally diverse but fully integrated neighbourhood are to be built upon its strengths.

Although directly gearing towards the Lawrence Heights Neighbourhood and the Lawrence-Allen study area, the LARP indirectly aims at bringing together the whole city by providing new connections across Allen Road in form of pedestrian, cyclists and transit oriented links.

Implementation

Planning of the revitalization of Lawrence-Allen area started in June of 2008 with the first phase of the Lawrence-Allen Revitalization Study, in which data about the neighbourhood and community were collected and analysed. During the second phase of the study in 2009, alternative redevelopment plans were explored. In the last phase of the Lawrence-Allen Revitalization Study, which started in 2010, city staff, landowners, residents, and other stakeholders developed a Recommended Preferred Plan. This plan was given the official name of Lawrence-Allen Revitalization Plan, after the City Council endorsed the planning visions in July 2010.

The council then directed staff to continue community engagement and prepare a new secondary plan and implementation ideas. Three community forums in 2011 provided consultation by the citizens of Toronto: on March 3, 2011 regarding Buildings and Neighbourhood Design, on April 28, 2011 regarding Transportation, Transit, and Infrastructure, and on June 2, 2011 regarding Parks, Community Facilities, and Social Development. Additional consultations were launched with the Toronto Community Housing consultation, stakeholder meetings, and meetings of the Councillor Josh Colle Community Working Committee.

The City Council adopted new elements, which were a result of the community consultations, on July 12, 2011. As the last steps before the city council approved of the final version of the Lawrence-Allen Secondary Plan in November 2011, the plans were made available to the public and the North York Community Council accepted them. The Lawrence-Allen Secondary Plan was formally adapted to the City of Toronto Official Plan as Amendment No.162.

In November 2012, the Toronto City Council approved the Phase 1 by law amendments. Expectations of the City Council are that revitalization, renewal, growth, and change will occur. In February 2014, Phase 1 buisness Plan was approved by Toronto Community Housing Board of Directors. According to studies, two-thirds of Toronto’s population growth is projected to occur outside the city centre. The LARP could serve as an inspirational model for other areas of Toronto, guiding this evolution.

Since the City Council of Toronto took its first step towards developing the LARP, an inclusive community engagement process including stakeholders from all areas took place in form of large and small community meetings and workshops, surveys and tours, phone calls, e-mails, and face-to-face conversations. The City Council expresses its high level of dedication towards including the interests of the residents by hearing the voluntary Community Advisory Group (CAG) and regularly holding Community Forums, Open Houses, Workshops, and Youth Conferences of Revitalization. Invitations to these events are most often translated into ten languages and important documents on the LARP are available to the public on the City’s website.

Other stakeholders involved in the LARP are consulting groups (Arup, MMM group, LURA consulting, UMC, N Barry Lyons, Halsall, Corban and Goode, dmA, Ward and Associates and Dougan and Associates), the Toronto Community Housing (TCH), and the Toronto District School Board (TDSB). Staff from other city divisions (Social Development, Finance and Administration, Parks, Forestry and Recreation, Public Health and Children's Services) and the Lawrence Heights Interagency Network (LHION) also form part of the planning team.

Financing and resources

Technical and financial resources are provided by the City Planning Office of the City of Toronto, Toronto Community Housing (TCH), and Toronto District School Board (TDSB).

Apart from this, public and private investment is expected and necessary for a successful revitalization. Additional technical resources are contributed by the consulting team, private stakeholders, and citizens.

Results and impacts

The City Council of Toronto is planning to take the comprehensive planning framework presented in the Lawrence-Allen Secondary Plan as the basis for an evaluation of the future development of the LARP.

Revitalization planning is an opportunity to take a comprehensive look at the Lawrence-Allen area and plan for positive change over the long term. Revitalization can harness opportunities by directing public and private investment, planning to achieve city-building objectives, and aiming to ensure a high-quality of life for residents of the Lawrence-Allen area.

If all goals will be met by the LARP, it will have a positive impact on environmental sustainability, employment, construction businesses, social integration, development of the inner city, and transportation in the city of Toronto.

Barriers and challenges

Members of the Community Advisory Group (CAG) and other residents complained about the following: they were not sure how the role of the CAG members differed from that of other residents, they criticized the run on their meetings because it made it difficult for some people to be heard, they wished for more meetings at different times and locations and they found fault with the small amount of information they were given by the City Council. In June 2009, the City Planning handled those complaints by creating workshops, which took place more often and successfully implemented the CAGs suggestions.

Lessons learned and transferability

During the implementation of the LARP a lot of experiences were made in the areas of public participation, transfer of ideas, development of the inner city, and the participation of private financing or acquisition of private financing.

The Ontario Professional Planners Institute already recognized the LARP with the Excellence in Planning Award in the category of Municipal Statutory Planning Studies, Reports, and Documents. This award is supposed to highlight the high calibre of work done by the professional planners of the City Council of Toronto together with the involved stakeholders.

References

http://www.toronto.ca/planning/pdf/lawrenceallen_revitalizationplan_chapter1.pdf

http://www.toronto.ca/planning/pdf/lawrenceallen_revitalizationplan_execsummary.pdf

http://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2012/cd/bgrd/backgroundfile-48447.pdf

http://www.torontohousing.ca/investing_buildings/lawrence_heights/about

http://www.torontohousing.ca/investing_buildings/lawrence_heights_revitalization

http://www.northumberlandnews.com/print/1233655

http://www.toronto.ca/toronto_facts/diversity.htm