Avoid ‘status quo’ at Quayside, experts urge
Sidewalk Labs announced Thursday it was no longer interested in developing Toronto’s waterfront. Sidewalk’s pullout offers chance for affordable, climate-positive housing
With Sidewalk Labs out of the picture at Quayside, civic leaders say there’s still an opportunity to build something ambitious on the site, including “truly affordable” housing, unfettered public access to the waterfront and anything other than the “status quo” condos already in the city.
Google’s sister firm announced Thursday it was no longer interested in developing the 12 acres of mostly publicly owned land on the eastern waterfront into a high-tech neighbourhood of the future, but one expert says that an opportunity remains to create a large neighbourhood of affordable housing on the property.
Sidewalk Labs had proposed up to 40 per cent of the units on the site would be affordable housing.
But David Hulchanski, a professor of housing and community development at the University of Toronto, said that’s setting the bar too low.
“Sidewalk Labs didn’t intend to make money on lower and moderate income housing. Let’s cut the B.S.,” he said.
He said a model akin to the nearby St. Lawrence neighbourhood is what should now unfold at Quayside.
The area could become “truly affordable” — 50 per cent social or public housing, 25 per cent purpose-built market rental housing and 25 per cent condominiums, Hulchanski said.
“There are all kinds of ways to fund that model — direct capital grants or long-term subsidies to the buildings from the federal and provincial governments. And let’s have our best designers figuring out the most of this type of housing we can put on the site.”
Hulchanski added that the waterfront, near Yonge Street and west of Bay Street already has a lot of condos, with the exception of the co-ops and public housing near Bathurst Quay.
The St. Lawrence neighbourhood, built in the1970s with the federal government’s non-profit and co-op housing programs has 46 per cent condominium apartments, four per cent ownership townhouses, 25 per cent non-profit co-ops and nonprofit rentals, and 25 per cent municipal non-profit rental.
The citizens group #BlockSidewalk, which opposed the Sidewalk Labs project, also supports the idea of creating a St.
Lawrence-type neighbourhood at Quayside.
“The need to use public resources to solve our housing crisis is becoming more pronounced by the day, particularly in light or the current pandemic.” said #BlockSidewalk member Thorben Wieditz on Friday. “We have models for mixed income communities in Toronto that we know work. We have celebrated the St. Lawrence neighbourhood as one of those models for decades, but abandoned it immediately after it was realized.”
Others say elements of the Sidewalk Labs project such as climate sustainability, as well as pedestrian and bike-focused communities with access to Toronto’s waterfront, shouldn’t be abandoned.
“I think there were a lot of things (Sidewalk) were doing right, but it got overshadowed in the privacy and data debate,” said Cherise Burda, executive director of the Ryerson City Building Institute.
Rather than “status quo buildings” Burda likes the idea of wood frame construction — Sidewalk Labs wanted to build an entire neighbourhood of wood buildings at Quayside — and innovations such as sensors that would know when to water rooftop farms on top of buildings.
Mayor John Tory on Friday echoed concerns about doing something unique at Quayside.
“We’re going to start over and do something exciting in terms of … innovation, housing, transportation.
“Nothing ordinary is going to happen down there and that’s the process we need to begin again,” Tory told CBC Radio.
Similarly, the head of Waterfront Toronto’s design review panel hopes authorities reflect on lessons learned from the Sidewalk Labs chapter, before restarting Quayside development plans.
“We have to understand the ‘Canadianness’ of how things evolved (with Sidewalk Labs) where so many players got involved and the public’s voice was really important,” said Paul Bedford, a former chief planner of Toronto.
Ken Greenberg, a prominent urban designer who advised Sidewalk Labs, said he hopes a clean slate doesn’t mean losing the valuable work that was done.
Mobility, micro climates, the nature of public space, livework developments, housing affordability, incorporating social services into neighbourhoods, mass timber construction — “I would hope all that learning doesn’t get lost,” he said.