Plan to allow taller buildings in London overdue: Developers

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Groups representing developers and businesses say they’re pleased with proposed increases to building heights in London, as the city gets its first look at how the skyline could look going forward.

Consultants presented to politicians new proposed height limits that would jack up highrises in some areas by nearly 50 per cent at a city council committee meeting on July 16. The changes would affect areas of the city with the densest population such as downtown and transit corridors and villages.

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Mike Wallace, executive director of the London Development Institute, said the group representing developers is supportive of the proposed heights, as they are largely in the range of heights developers prefer and that council has been approving anyway.

“The London Plan, particularly in heights, is out of date already, and this is an opportunity to catch up,” he said. “We’re assuming this will allow for the London Plan to get caught up to what is actually happening in the marketplace, and is required for London’s growth.”

Wallace said he doesn’t expect any significant changes if the new heights are approved by city council. But the change would mean developers would have one less hoop to jump through because they would not have to apply for London Plan amendments, he said.

The changes are just one part of the review of the London Plan, the city’s master planning document. Not only have population estimates from the 2016 document already been surpassed, but London’s sign-on to $74 million from the federal housing accelerator fund in September 2023 also requires changes, specifically to heights near transit.

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The proposed changes include:

• Downtown: 45-storey limit, up from 35 storeys
• Transit villages: 30 storeys, up from 22
• Rapid transit corridors:
  • 25 storeys, up from 16 within 150 metres of transit stations
  • 15 storeys, up from 12 elsewhere on corridors
• Urban corridors: 15 storeys, up from 10
• Shopping areas:
  • Major (new): 15 storeys
  • Community: Eight storeys, up from six

The proposed limits were largely informed by height limits in other Ontario cities, but also from the development industry, SvN Architects and Planners, a consulting firm hired by the city, said in a report presented last week to city council’s planning and environment committee.

Coun. Corrine Rahman, whose northwest London ward is home to part of the Masonville mall transit village and several other major shopping centres, said having a new standard is important.

“I would rather we have a policy in place that guides our decisions, then we’re making decisions application by application only,” she said. “I think that it will help the community to better understand what we’re looking at and the expectations are being set.”

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Rahman said she has not heard much from constituents regarding the review but is looking forward to a public meeting Sept. 10 about the proposal.

On the other side of the city is Old East Village, home to the future East Link transit corridor, the Dundas Street urban corridor, and potentially a new transit village on the former Kellogg factory lands.

Kevin Morrison, the BIA’s executive director, said he’s pleased to see the city appears posted to renew its commitment to build up and not out. He points to recent residential and mixed-use towers in the neighbourhood as an example of what could come about from the change.

“When you have (commercial space), and then residential above that, that just is a win-win for everybody in that you’ve got more people living in the area, which means more people to support the area,” he said. “That certainly assists and helps with creating a vibrant community.”

Morrison said he hopes the upcoming East Link bus rapid transit will result in fewer cars on the road because an increase in traffic could overwhelm the district’s tight streets and limited parking.

jmoulton@postmedia.com

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