Expanding Housing Options in Neighbourhoods - Neighbourhood Retail and Services Study Phase Two Final Report

This is the final report for Phase Two of the Expanding Housing Options in Neighbourhoods (EHON) -Neighbourhood Retail and Services Study. The report also recommends approval of a monitoring approach. This study was undertaken with a combined team of staff from the City Planning and Development Review divisions. Draft zoning by-law amendments were presented to the Planning and Housing Committee in May 2024 and have been the basis for public and stakeholder consultations from June to October 2024, as well as internal discussions with City divisions. The proposed amendments have been revised to reflect feedback from these consultations. Amendments with respect to commercial use permissions in the Residential Zone category are appended in Attachment 1. Amendments with respect to home occupation permissions are appended in Attachment 2. Small scale retail, service and office uses historically played an important role in many Toronto Neighbourhoods. This includes corner stores in the old City of Toronto, and small plazas in Etobicoke, York, North York and Scarborough. These uses, however, were strictly limited by Official Plan Policies and Zoning By-law provisions established in the mid-20th century and then carried forward over time into the current Official Plan and City-wide Zoning By-law. As a result, many residents have never had these amenities close to their homes, and others have seen them decline over decades, as existing establishments closed, and new ones did not take their place. Recent developments in the city have enhanced the opportunity and the necessity to create greater opportunities for these community amenities. These changes include the dramatic shift toward working from home, and the anticipated new homes in Neighbourhoods driven by the EHON initiatives including laneway suites, garden suites, multiplexes and, on major streets, townhouses and low-rise apartments, as well as permissions for multi-tenant housing and components of the Housing Action Plan. Neighbourhoods with more residents, who spend more time close to home, are places which need more amenities and can support those amenities with more potential customers, employees and business owners. The focus of the proposed changes are to provide a city-wide policy environment that is more supportive of local businesses and services, allowing the flexibility for different communities to evolve in their own ways. In the pre-war City, "ghost store" buildings that were previously commercial and have switched to residential could be converted back into retail stores. In the parts of the city built in the post-war period, areas which have lost their local plaza or grocery store could see new stores along major streets where they were not permitted in the past. The proposed ZBLAs, Attachments 1 and 2 to this report, build upon Official Plan changes approved by Council in 2022, to further complete and connect communities. The proposed amendments present a balanced approach to permit these uses while minimizing adverse impacts on nearby residents by permitting them in a physical scale, and in locations, that are compatible with and integrated into Neighbourhoods.

4. City Council direct the Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning to monitor the implementation and effectiveness of the Zoning By-law Amendments in facilitating the creation of new retail, service and office uses in Neighbourhood-designated and Residentially-zoned sites, and to report to the Planning and Housing Committee two (2) years following the date the Zoning By-law Amendments come into full force and effect, in order to review and recommend any necessary revisions to the policy, zoning, and/or other changes to improve implementation.