Last week saw some great news come from the Ontario Municipal Board (there's a sentence I thought I'd never type...) in the form of them siding with the City of Toronto against SmartCentres and their plan for "Big Box" retail (including a rumoured WalMart) along Eastern Avenue in Leslieville:
Toronto is declaring victory after the Ontario Municipal Board sided with the city, blocking a big box retail complex in Leslieville.
In a 56-page ruling, released today, vice-chair James McKenzie said the proposals "do not constitute good planning" and "will very likely destabilize" the area known as the South of Eastern Employment District near the intersection of Lake Shore Blvd. E. and Leslie St.
The SmartCentres proposal called for multi-level retail, service, commercial, office and entertainment uses, covering nearly 700,000 square feet.
This is great news for Toronto cyclists because not only will a 1,700 parking lot NOT be built, but the proposed SmartCentre plan called for multiple multi-lane driveways to be built across the multi-use path that runs along the north side of Lakeshore Boulevarde.
The development would have turned a nice and well-used multi-use path...
... into an intersection like the one at Lakeshore and Leslie:
News links about this:
- Wal-Mart sent wal-king (Sun)
- OMB quashes plan for Leslieville mega mall (Globe & Mail)
More BikingToronto posts about SmartCentre's Leslieville plans:
- SmartCentres and their Dumb BigBox Parking Lot Plan for the Lakeshore Multi-Use Path
- No Big Box in Leslieville Community Rally
Labels: infrastructure, news
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