Miller’s Build Toronto becomes Ford’s demolition tool

How good ideas can be thwarted by political change! Former Mayor David Miller tried to deal positively with the difficult fiscal deficit of our megacity of Toronto.

He wrestled with the permanent fiscal straitjacket imposed by the Mike Harris’ “Common Sense Revolution.” Harris had downloaded provincial responsibilities and costs onto Ontario municipalities without appropriate compensation.

In 2009, Miller established a new, wholly owned subsidiary city company called Build Toronto. It is an independent, selffinanced real estate and development company. Its purpose was to sell and ensure the proper development of surplus cityowned land.

It had many laudable, officially stated aims under the heading of “City Building.” One aim was to achieve “excellence that meets and exceeds community expectations.” Another aim was to create affordable housing units.

Build Toronto has now been turned into a simple money-making machine by our new mayor, Rob Ford. He needs to compensate for his never-ending taxcut mania. Build Toronto now operates like a private sector company maximizing profit. Instant, maximum cash has replaced long-term city livability.

The effect of Ford’s new aim was fatefully demonstrated in the recent selling of the city-owned Greyhound parcel depot at 154 Front St. E. at the corner of Sherbourne, northeast of historic St.Lawrence Market.

The land was sold to a private developer without any enforceable, rigid development restrictions. The developer, Cityzen Development Group, then proposed a very dense and tall condo to maximize its own profit and compensate for its high bid cost on the land.

The Greyhound parcel is within the 10 original blocks of our historic 1793 Town of York, the birthplace of today’s Toronto. Cityzen first proposed two tall towers, 34 and 24 storeys on a common base. It totally ignored the existing
zoning requirement of maximum 10 storeys and stepbacks.

It even ignored the not welcomed—but by now generally accepted—maximum norm of 20 storeys or less established over the last boom years in the general area. It also exceeded densities of existing area projects.

The proposal encountered stiff opposition by city planners, its professional Design Review Panel and the entire St. Lawrence community. The developer then only minimally reduced its plan to two 26-storey towers joined by a 4-storey bridge between them at the top. Still facing vigourous opposition,the developer then chose the often-used developer tactic of appealing the project to the allpowerful, non-elected, provincially appointed Ontario Municipal Board (OMB).

OMB disastrously sided with the developer. Its decision will now encourage and facilitate more monster projects in the area. There already is one waiting. Another developer has bought a whole city block between Front St. and The Esplanade kittycorner from the Cityzen site. Facing opposition, it withdrew its first preliminary proposal last year which was even higher and denser than the Cityzen original plan.

No doubt they will now try again. Each new bigger, approved project is used by subsequent developers as justification for their own. Over the last few years in the area, there has already been a slow creep in height from 13 storeys to now nearing 21. Suddenly, OMB sets a new norm at 26. What next?

Build Toronto has a responsibility in this. It no longer promotes a livable city. It has abandoned its earlier wider definition of “City Building.” At present, it is maximizing the value of a small, 0.6-acre triangular sliver of city land tightly squeezed between portions of the Gardiner Expressway at 10 York St.

This joint venture of Tridel and Build Toronto is a glass skyscraper of 65- storeys, down from 75, but still by far the tallest on the waterfront.

Its location guarantees future residents plenty of traffic noise and air pollution 24/7.

It may interfere with the hoped-for future replacement of the elevated Gardiner with a wide, landscaped cross-town avenue.The independent board of directors of Build Toronto sets the high salaries and bonuses of its top executives.

Bonuses based on maximizing the bottom line are a strong incentive for the executives to forget about the lofty aims originally established for Build Toronto by the Miller administration. What matters now is only maximizing profits like any private developer does.

That is the way Rob Ford wants it.