Comment 115290

By fmurray (registered) | Posted December 01, 2015 at 18:37:08

Hi Alberta,

Just to clarify, the proposed Character zoning would only affect low-rise residential, and is for established neighbourhoods like Durand.

Basically, the zoning layer will look at dominant characters of the 21 neighbouring houses in terms of front-facing entrance, parking (in front), etc. It will not have any authority over paint colour, and will have nothing to say about anything done in the backyard such as clothes lines or urban chickens.

We are hoping this new layer will prevent the kind of block-busting by developers that occurred in the 60s and 70s and is starting to creep back (see 1 St. James Place). People find the Durand neighbourhood attractive precisely because of the heritage and history it currently contains. That "development creep" will eventually wipe out the solid housing stock in favour of highrise buildings. This is not NIMBY. The Durand is already the most intensified in the city in terms of people/sq km, and there are plenty of empty lots currently used for parking that can be used for intensification within the urban boundary.

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