Following yesterday's post on small-scale apartments, a number of people commented on the 6m front yard setback that was shown on the city's drawings and that I mentioned in my post. Well, it turns out that I wasn't entirely correct about the 6m. What is proposed in the draft zoning by-law is the following:

The modelling has illustrated building setbacks that are appropriate for townhouse developments and small-scale apartment buildings on major streets in a Neighbourhoods context. Based on the review, Urban Design staff recommend that the front yard setback be implemented through use of the average of the existing neighbouring setbacks, or a minimum of 3 meters, whichever is greater. This approach maintains consistency with the existing character of the Neighbourhoods supports protection of existing mature trees.

As you might expect, the approach with these small-scale apartments is to be mindful of the existing low-rise context. But as many of you rightly pointed out when you saw the 6m, the existing context may not be appropriate or ideal for the planned context, especially if there's retail at grade.

This is just one of the many details that we'll need to be careful with as this initiative moves forward.

It was bittersweet to learn last week that Toronto's chief planner -- Gregg Lintern -- will be retiring at the end of this year.

He accomplished a lot during his six-year tenure. Here's an excerpt from a recent Globe and Mail article by Alex Bozikovic:

"...he took the department through significant reforms: allowing new houses in back laneways, then garden suites; eliminating minimum parking requirements; even legalizing four-unit apartment buildings on any lot in the city."

All of this was not easy, as anyone in our industry will attest.

I also got to know Gregg, a little, by way of our development projects. And I can say that he (1) genuinely loved our great city and (2) was always looking for ways to make things better, whether that be through planning policy or through processes internal to City Hall.

Thank you for your service, Gregg.

Friday was a busy day at Junction House.

In the morning, we gave a hard hat tour to Toronto's City Planning Division. They are currently revisiting the Mid-Rise Building Performance Standards, and so this was an opportunity to see what these standards translate to when you're on site trying to actually build a mid-rise building.

It was great to see the group so highly engaged and looking for ways to improve the delivery of this housing typology. Thanks for taking the time to visit Junction House.

Then we had the "official lighting ceremony" for the placemaking art. And by official lighting ceremony, I mean that there were a handful of us playing around with a drone and trying to get cool pictures on our phones. However, did we have one actual videographer, so stay tuned for some proper video footage of the installation.

Finally, in the evening after sunset, we got to see it illuminated for the very first time. And it was everything we had hoped for! An idea turned into reality, many years later. Shout out to the Urban Toronto community for spotting one of our earlier prototypes online and then encouraging us to make some design changes. We are happy we listened.

But what do you all think? I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comment section below.

Following yesterday's post on small-scale apartments, a number of people commented on the 6m front yard setback that was shown on the city's drawings and that I mentioned in my post. Well, it turns out that I wasn't entirely correct about the 6m. What is proposed in the draft zoning by-law is the following:

The modelling has illustrated building setbacks that are appropriate for townhouse developments and small-scale apartment buildings on major streets in a Neighbourhoods context. Based on the review, Urban Design staff recommend that the front yard setback be implemented through use of the average of the existing neighbouring setbacks, or a minimum of 3 meters, whichever is greater. This approach maintains consistency with the existing character of the Neighbourhoods supports protection of existing mature trees.

As you might expect, the approach with these small-scale apartments is to be mindful of the existing low-rise context. But as many of you rightly pointed out when you saw the 6m, the existing context may not be appropriate or ideal for the planned context, especially if there's retail at grade.

This is just one of the many details that we'll need to be careful with as this initiative moves forward.

It was bittersweet to learn last week that Toronto's chief planner -- Gregg Lintern -- will be retiring at the end of this year.

He accomplished a lot during his six-year tenure. Here's an excerpt from a recent Globe and Mail article by Alex Bozikovic:

"...he took the department through significant reforms: allowing new houses in back laneways, then garden suites; eliminating minimum parking requirements; even legalizing four-unit apartment buildings on any lot in the city."

All of this was not easy, as anyone in our industry will attest.

I also got to know Gregg, a little, by way of our development projects. And I can say that he (1) genuinely loved our great city and (2) was always looking for ways to make things better, whether that be through planning policy or through processes internal to City Hall.

Thank you for your service, Gregg.

Friday was a busy day at Junction House.

In the morning, we gave a hard hat tour to Toronto's City Planning Division. They are currently revisiting the Mid-Rise Building Performance Standards, and so this was an opportunity to see what these standards translate to when you're on site trying to actually build a mid-rise building.

It was great to see the group so highly engaged and looking for ways to improve the delivery of this housing typology. Thanks for taking the time to visit Junction House.

Then we had the "official lighting ceremony" for the placemaking art. And by official lighting ceremony, I mean that there were a handful of us playing around with a drone and trying to get cool pictures on our phones. However, did we have one actual videographer, so stay tuned for some proper video footage of the installation.

Finally, in the evening after sunset, we got to see it illuminated for the very first time. And it was everything we had hoped for! An idea turned into reality, many years later. Shout out to the Urban Toronto community for spotting one of our earlier prototypes online and then encouraging us to make some design changes. We are happy we listened.

But what do you all think? I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comment section below.