# Dangerously positive precedents

By [Brandon Donnelly](https://brandondonnelly.com) · 2024-04-08

alex-bozikovic, community-opposition, gabriel-fain-architects, globe-and-mail, intensification, nimby, planning, the-annex, toronto, transit-oriented-development

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[This is the battle](https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/toronto/article-a-denser-city-in-the-annex-neighbours-say-no/) that is now playing out across Toronto — and many other cities — as we look to intensify our existing communities; even in the ones sitting on higher-order transit. Cities rightly want to see it happen. But local ratepayers do not.

From the Globe and Mail:

> _“This project is in no way gentle intensification,” said the architect Terry Montgomery, representing the powerful local group the Annex Residents Association. “It will set a dangerous precedent for all areas in the city which currently \[are zoned for\] low-scale residential-buildings.”_

> _It’s not clear whether that legal argument is true. At the meeting, City of Toronto planning manager David Driedger and director Oren Tamir – who, to their great credit, were supporting the development – said it would not set a precedent._

> _But if it did, why would that be “dangerous”? It is commonsensical. The Lowther site has two subway stations within an eight-minute walk. Toronto’s Line 1 and Line 2 intersect right here. This is one of the best-located, best-connected places in all of Canada._

Alex Bozikovic is, of course, right. This is commonsensical. 

If our goals are to create more homes, improve housing affordability, reduce traffic congestion, and make us overall a more sustainable city, then there’s no better place to build than on top of transit within our already built-up areas.

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*Originally published on [Brandon Donnelly](https://brandondonnelly.com/dangerously-positive-precedents)*