BWVRA Public Meeting – April 30th
April 21st, 2008Bloor West Village – Present and Future
Join us on Wednesday, April 30th, 7-pm to hear two special guests speak about our Village, its virtues and challenges. Christopher Hume, the Toronto Star’s Urban Affairs and Design Columnist will be joined by Jennifer Keesmat of the Office for Urbanism.
Hume recently toured the Village with the BWVRA. Keesmat will present portions of the Bloor West Village Urban Design Study, which she co-authored. It identifies the unique aspects of the Village and identifies the properties most likely to be re-developed. The report sets out guidelines, developed along with a citizen’s panel, for future developments. She has since gone on to produce similar documents for other residents associations, who want to be pro-active in shaping the development of their neighbourhoods. A copy of the study is on the right of this page under “Links”.
Why is this of value? The City has an Official Plan that covers Toronto in broad strokes only. The sad fact is that detailed planning has not been done for every neighbourhood. And in the absence of a cohesive plan developers can and do ask for exceptions to the O.P. Precedents are set and often what follows is the kind of haphazard development one sees in many parts of the City.
A pro-active approach by the residents of our area can result in guidelines for future development that have the weight of law – perhaps even enough to matter to the OMB.
Come join us to learn more: Runnymede United Church, 432 Runnymede Road, Wednesday April 30th, 7-pm.