Today I learned that Councillor Ana Bailão and Councillor Mary-Margaret McMahon have put forward a motion to the June 13, 2017 Toronto and East York Community Council. It asks the Chief Planner and City Planning to undertake further public consultation and report back in Q1… Read More
Vancouver has supported laneway houses since 2009. So today I thought I would take a look at what their policy considers to be an “eligible lot.” All of the information for this post was taken from this laneway housing how-to guide dated November 2016. Here are… Read More
One of the most widely read posts on this blog is this one here, called: Why it’s next to impossible to get a laneway house built in Toronto. Clearly, there’s a tremendous amount of interest in this housing type both here in the city and… Read More
I was walking by a tight construction site last night and it got me thinking. Besides the obvious environmental benefits of building up, as opposed to out, compact urban sites can force something else: intent. One of the ways I think about good design is that… Read More
Earlier this week, Metro News published an article saying that it’s going to be a big year for laneways in Toronto: “2016 is going to be the year where the evolution of our laneways lands at the forefront of our public realm strategy,” said Downtown… Read More
“The wisdom of life consists in the elimination of non-essentials.” – Lin Yutang Yesterday I posted the above photo on social media with the caption: “This year I decided to go ALL OUT for Halloween.” A friend then responded and said: “A minimalist does Halloween.… Read More
I was speaking with a friend this morning and he told me that he had a Pavlovian association between me and laneways. That made me happy. If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you’ve heard me go on and on about the great potential… Read More
https://500px.com/embed.js I have a new mission for this summer: To explore more of Toronto’s ravines. Last week I had a fascinating conversation with Steve Heuchert of the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (TRCA). Most developers in this city would probably cringe when they hear those… Read More
One of the most interesting projects being proposed in Toronto right now is 363 Yonge Street, which is located downtown at the southeast corner of Yonge Street and Gerrard Street. See above hero rendering. The project is a two tower mixed-use development with the following… Read More
Speed Bump by Jason Cook on 500px https://500px.com/embed.js As many of you know, I advise a non-profit called The Laneway Project. The goal of the organization is to change Toronto’s relationship with its laneways and help create laneway friendly policies and procedures. It’s something that… Read More
