Riverside South Secondary Plan

[J.OT13]

Passed at Planning Committee on April 24:

The vibrant colour portion in the middle is a real proposal. Same with the parking lot retail proposals at each corner of Earl Armstrong and Limebank (I guess the City doesn't want to bring too much attention to those). At least the retail is along the street with parking behind.

 

[Dzingle Bells]

Sure density is looking good, but this is still trending to become a hostile place to anyone outside of a vehicle.

 

[J.OT13]

As far as a new dense suburb goes, it's not bad. Still a lot of surface parking, but lots of greenspace, a proper street grid.

 

[CapitalSeven]

At least the parking lot retail developments will have buildings facing the street and the parking hidden within. But let's be realistic. If these are built, the windows and doors facing the roads will be papered over and locked, forcing pedestrians to walk around and through the parking lots, where the "real" customers come from.

I wonder if the developers won't have a change of heart and seek to build something more modern and profitable this close to transit. Why build Westgate or the Painyards here when developments like that are being torn down or facing financial problems?

 

[J.OT13]

At least the parking lot retail developments will have buildings facing the street and the parking hidden within. But let's be realistic. If these are built, the windows and doors facing the roads will be papered over and locked, forcing pedestrians to walk around and through the parking lots, where the "real" customers come from.

I wonder if the developers won't have a change of heart and seek to build something more modern and profitable this close to transit. Why build Westgate or the Painyards here when developments like that are being torn down or facing financial problems?

Having the retail along the street and parking at the back is certainly better than what we usually see. This is similar to Montreal Road around Ogilvy, with of course the actual doors facing the parking lot. There's no reason they can't have doors on both sides of a hallway/atrium/vestibule.

But really, these should at least have second floors with residential or professional offices.