[waterloowarrior]

For those interested in mid-rises and issues like economics, why many developers seem to prefer low rises or highrises, barriers to more midrises etc... here are some good links.

In 2005 the City of Toronto did a mid-rise symposium relating to urbanizing its Avenues (roads like St. Clair, Bloor, etc) http://www.toronto.ca/planning/midrise_symposium.htm

There is lots of interesting information that was presented and discussed.

Some essential readings is the discussion of what a pro forma is and a sample pro forma for a midrise vs a highrise
http://www.toronto.ca/planning/midrise_proforma.htm

There is a page with all the presentations and workshops, including discussions some of the barriers to midrises
http://www.toronto.ca/planning/midrise_workshops.htm

workshop 2 is especially interesting with its discussion of things like building code and fire code regulations
http://www.toronto.ca/planning/midrise_workshop2.htm



More recently, the Canadian Urban Institute did a workshop in December 2009 on making midrises work in the Ontario context. You can see the presentations and discussion paper here.
http://www.canurb.com/events/event_details.php?id=275

and a past CUI event from 2008
http://www.canurb.com/events/event_details.php?id=223

And here is a Globe article from earlier this year, "Encouraging mid-rises a tall order" in case the above links make your eyes glaze over ;)
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/real-estate/encouraging-mid-rises-a-tall-order/article1427929/

Happy reading!

[Ottawan]

It's taken me some time to get through it, but some very interesting reading! Being unfamiliar with Toronto planning, I find it interesting how their designation of "Avenues" seems to correspond with Ottawa's designation of "Mainstreets", with "Old City Avenues" being our "Traditional Mainstreets" and "New City Avenues" being our "Arterial Mainstreets".

The challenges of mid-rise construction are well laid out in these articles, although they have missed mentioning one which has caused problems to several Ottawa mid-rises: restrictions relating to and the prohibitive cost of removing hydro wires.

One fact worth mentioning from the 2009 CUI report that highlights the policy barriers to mid-rise construction is that rezoning or official plan amendments are needed in 75% of midrise approvals in Ontario.

[waterloowarrior]

I would be interested to know if Toronto has had the same problem with hydro wires... they seem to have an even bigger mess of wires with the streetcars there.

Very true, and those are lengthy processes. That's why it's desirable to go through the minor variance process if possible (although even then you can run into problems - see the 129 Main St. thread)

[waterloowarrior]

proposal in Toronto to pre-zone for midrise buildings on the Avenues
http://spacing.ca/toronto/2013/01/29/zoning-for-midrises/