(01-27-2020, 04:56 PM)westwardloo Wrote: The boardwalk is awful in every way, but unfortunately was destine to be suburban due to its location. The sportsworld development is the worse one in my opinion. The region was already thinking of the lrt by the time they allowed this to happen. Why not try to preemptively justify the extension by building mixed use. It boogles my mind that we are in a housing crisis yet we continue to allow commercial developments (big box/ strip malls) with a ridiculous amount of surface parking, that will never become completely filled and we give no thought to putting housing above said retail.
Not just allow, require. Remember, traditional mixed-use neighbourhoods are illegal in most parts of most municipalities in Canada. We should start by eliminating all parking minima, and allowing most uses to mix as-of-right. Certainly if a developer wants to mix apartments and townhouses with shops, restaurants, and professional offices, it’s entirely their business if they get the mix wrong and one or the other doesn’t sell or rent.
Really the only valid justification I can think of for a government-mandated separation of uses is for safety and nuisance reasons. For example, making it illegal to build a propane transfer facility within 1km of housing, or housing within a 1km radius of a propane transfer facility, are perfectly reasonable.
Unfortunately, as far as I can tell the whole concept of “that’s none of my business” simply doesn’t exist in the minds of planners, or is a shrivelled remnant of what it should be.
Oh, and I totally agree about the Boardwalk. It has neither the “get out of the car and into a building once” of a large mall, nor the “wander around a pleasant commercial neighbourhood” aspect of a place like Uptown. It’s bad for everyone who uses it, even those who prefer to drive places.