New updated content: 2022-01-17 09:09:38
The City is required to update its parkland dedication by-law, which requires cash or land from developers for parks as part of development applications. A consultation session is scheduled for February 16 (since cancelled, but further consultation sessions are expected to be held in March. More details <here>.
New updated content: 2022-03-28 09:25:58
Paul reported that he will be attending a first information session provided by the City on this topic on March 31. This by-law specifies how much parkland must be set aside for new residential and commercial developments and is an essential tool towards meeting the improved access to greenspace standards set out in the new Official Plan (approval pending).
New updated content: 2022-04-18 09:33:33
Paul reported that he attended the information session provided by the City on this topic on March 31. A very good presentation by the consultant hired by the City to evaluate the parkland quantum that would be delivered by a status quo approach showed that it would be far short of the target of parkland per capita called for. The main recommendations to achieving a much higher quantum would be to implement a land first approach (always take land, not cash in lieu), remove the 10% cap on apartment new builds and apply the parkland dedication to all development applications, not just those subject to site plan approval. These seemed very reasonable recommendations and we should advocate for the new bylaw to adopt all of these measures.
New updated content: 2022-07-25 09:52:35
Parkland Dedication By-law review
Paul reported on the approval by Planning Committee of the updated Parkland Dedication bylaw, which will now be considered by Council on August 31. Having this bylaw in place prior to the provincial deadline of September 18 enables the City to use the “alternative method” of computing the amount of parkland required to be provided for new residential developments. The alternative method is based on number of units rather than total site area, which is desirable. In addition, Planning Committee has approved improvements to the by-law: 1) raising the 10% cap for all apartments to 15% for mid-rise and 25% for high rise buildings, meaning allowing builders to cap the dedication of parkland to these limits rather than providing 100% of what the base calculation would require and 2) extending the application of the bylaw to all new residential projects, not only those under site plan control. These are significant improvements and will be hotly contested by the development industry. Even with these improvements, the Bylaw will not provide sufficient parkland to meet the targets set in the new Parks and Recreational Facilities Master Plan. For this reason, Planning Committee has mandated a review of the operation of the Bylaw in 2023.
Action: Write to Mayor and council ahead of the August 31 council meeting to support Planning Committee’s recommendation.
