Comment 114696

By RobF (registered) | Posted November 06, 2015 at 16:22:18

I look forward to seeing what PED comes up with in terms of zoning by-law reform. I don't envy them. Assessing the possible impacts of zoning-bylaw changes is notoriously difficult. You solve one problem and create two new ones.

Really the problem is with zoning in the first place. It arose out of nuisance bylaws and has always been a blunt instrument that privileges technical as opposed to substantive planning. Zoning for the most part is still based on the legal framework developed a 100 years ago to protect residential districts from the intrusion of "incompatible" uses. The problem is we now understand that greater flexibility is needed to address contextual factors, and that aesthetics and design criteria are vital to outcomes, but don't mesh well with prescriptive and uniform rules. We actually have to let planners, architects, and urban design professionals use their expertise creatively. Current zoning and other building regulations work against that. Except for a very talented few, most simply become interpreters of rules.

Comment edited by RobF on 2015-11-06 17:57:59

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