Brandon Donnelly — Daily insights for city builders. Published since 2013 by Toronto-based real estate developer Brandon Donnelly. — Page 1278

Last week Oliver Moore of the Globe and Mail announced that Toronto mayor John Tory’s SmartTrack transit plan is evolving to feel less like SmartTrack and more like what Metrolinx had been planning all along.

Here’s the map from the Globe and Mail:

The 3 big changes are as follows (and numbered accordingly on the above map):

1. 

The western end of the line will be replaced by an extension of the Eglinton-Crosstown LRT (currently under construction) running from Mount Dennis to Pearson Airport. This is what was originally proposed.

2. 

The “U” running from Mount Dennis in the west, down through downtown, and up to Kennedy in the east is what remains of the original SmartTrack line and will operate as some sort of “heavy rail” service on existing GO Transit lines. The original election campaign plan was to run trains every 15 minutes, but that was deemed too infrequent to attract riders, so now Metrolinx and everyone is trying to figure out how to get it down to every 5-10 minutes and feel more like subway.

3. 

The extension north of Eglinton Avenue to suburban Markham (in the northeast) is being pushed out and will be dealt with sometime in the future. Keeping the first phase of SmartTrack south of Eglinton on both ends is beneficial in avoiding the issue of SmartTrack and the Scarborough subway extension cannibalizing each other. (In my opinion, this issue is a perfect example of what happens when transit planning becomes too political.)

The net result is a plan that is looking less and less like the original SmartTrack. I’m not complaining though because I have never been a big supporter of SmartTrack. I have always thought we should be focusing on the downtown relief subway line and on allowing Metrolinx to just execute on its regional express rail (RER) strategy.

For more on this topic, check out Steve Munro’s post, SmartTrack: Now You See It, Now You Don’t! He’s far more of an expert than I am on these sorts of issues.

https://500px.com/embed.js

On Thursday night I spoke at an Urbanism Lab event in Ottawa put on by the National Capital Commission.

The event was all about the interconnection between the online world of blogging and social media, and the offline world of tangible city building.

More specifically, one of the goals was to help inspire institutions, such as the National Capital Commission, to better leverage these new channels in order to get their message out.

Social media and blogging may be ubiquitous, but lots of organizations are still getting their heads around it.

So today I thought I would do my part and share something with all of you that, truthfully, I didn’t know was underway until I visited Ottawa.

But first, how many of you (Canadians) are exactly aware of what the National Capital Commission does?

The NCC is a federal Crown corporation that is focused on 3 specific mandates:

1. They are the long-term urban planner of federal lands in Canada’s Capital Region. They are also the largest landowner in the region.

2. They are the principal steward of nationally significant public spaces and buildings, including the Capital’s six “official residences.” Residences such as 24 Sussex Drive .

3. And they are a “creative partner” on initiatives that tie into both development and conservation.

To this end, the NCC is now working on a  Plan for Canada’s Capital, 2017-2067 . This is a 50-year plan that will outline what they do with federal lands, buildings, parks and other symbolic spaces in the Capital. And it will identity which projects would best craft and represent our national identity, as well as strengthen Canada’s influence in the world.

This is all pretty important and interesting stuff. But unfortunately I didn’t know it was underway. And I also didn’t know what they were looking for “big ideas” from Canadians. These are ideas that will directly shape the 50-year plan.

So if you have an idea – big or small – for the National Capital Commission, I would encourage you to click here and share it with them. Not only is this city building in the Capital, it’s also nation building.

Please also feel free to copy and paste your idea(s) in the comment section of this post. These ideas definitely deserve a fulsome discussion. I will post mine once I write it.

I woke up this morning at 5:30 am in a hotel in Ottawa.

I then drove to Brébeuf, Quebec to meet some friends for a ski and snowboard weekend. (It’s beautiful here.)

Upon arriving I was faced with a large hill that my rear-wheel car with all season tires was absolutely not prepared for. So that sucked up about an hour of time.

After we unstuck my car, we then spent the day skiing and snowboarding at Mont-Tremblant. (First day of the season for me.)

At this point all I can think about is a good night’s sleep, so I’m afraid that there won’t be much of a post today on Architect This City.

But please feel free to hijack the comment section and talk about whatever you would like. Maybe we can get some action started there.

I would actually be really curious to see what topics interest all of you.