New Neighbours in the Urban Village

 

“Transforming Lives Here”, CAMH’s vision for the redevelopment of our Queen Street site, is that of an integrated and mixed-use urban village. This community integration will be achieved through a variety of means: extending the local street network onto our 27-acre site, creating three new public parks, and the addition of new non-CAMH land uses into our site, side-by-side with our new facilities.

Ultimately, the urban village is to be welcoming and comfortable for everyone – CAMH clients, members of the community and CAMH staff. The normalized living environment that the urban village provides will be an important component of client recovery and healing. The village will contain a balance of uses that will draw people into the site, promote street-level activity, help reduce the lingering stigma of ‘999 Queen’  and add to the energetic and dynamic neighbourhood of Queen West. Furthermore, the inclusion of non-CAMH lands will also contribute to other important goals such as promoting client employment and providing the financing necessary to complete the redevelopment.

The proportion of CAMH to non-CAMH development blocks will be roughly equal across the site. In some cases, there will be non-CAMH land uses at street level, with CAMH operations atop. Block C (see below) will be the first non-CAMH site to be developed. The diagram below shows the distribution between new CAMH facilities, and non-CAMH development areas.

The redeveloped Queen Street site — Non-CAMH Development blocks are shown in red, while CAMH's new facilities are in purple. The narrow red rectangles within CAMH buildings represent non-CAMH uses (e.g. retail) at ground level with CAMH facilities above.

Given their crucial importance to the success of CAMH’s vision for the Queen Street redevelopment project, the questions of how these lands are to be developed and what sorts of land uses would be appropriate have been studied and discussed extensively. In January 2007, the CAMH Board of Trustees established the Guidelines for the Development of non-CAMH Lands. These Guidelines set out the broad vision and goals for non-CAMH development and a series of conditions defining how CAMH will proceed with such development. The Guidelines were developed through a consultative process with CAMH staff, clients, neighbours and experts from Toronto's urban planning, architecture and land development community.

 

Institutional research (left) and commercial office (right) are but two examples of possible land uses that will sit side-by-side with CAMH's new facilities in the urban village.

The Guidelines, while helpful, are only the first step towards the actual development of new non-CAMH buildings. Following the completion of the Guidelines, a pair of studies were launched to better define two crucial elements of the emerging urban village. The first is a Development Strategy for Non-CAMH Lands (prepared by Urban Strategies) that tests the possible land uses against the non-CAMH development blocks using examples from across Toronto, and offers a series of recommendations as to how CAMH can make decisions for each non-CAMH block. The second is a non-CAMH Retail Study (prepared by Urban Marketing Collaborative) that surveys the local retail environment, identifies where it may be headed in the near future and summarizes the opportunities and constraints to creating a successful retail environment in this area. Key findings from these reports were presented to the local community in January 2008.

 

New residential buildings are a likely addition to the emerging urban village. 

An issue of great interest is, of course, whether non-CAMH lands will be developed through a sale or a long-term lease arrangement. The Guidelines for the Development of non-CAMH Lands reserve this decision to the CAMH Board of Trustees and set-out a case-by-case approach: "While it is CAMH's intention to retain land title for the non-CAMH development blocks, the Board of Trustees may choose to sell certain lands if the sale is deemed to be in CAMH's best interests." CAMH has decided that the first non-CAMH block will be developed via a long-term ground lease, with CAMH retaining ownership of the property.

Other important issues that have been, and will continue to be, given major consideration in non-CAMH decision-making include:

• The retail mix — CAMH’s goals with respect to retail are to create a lively pedestrian-friendly environment, in keeping with the atmosphere of Queen Street West, and to offer a variety of retail outlets that will cater to the preferences and needs of CAMH clients and staff, and the wider community;
• Training and employment opportunities for clients — Land use proposals that offer an opportunity for the creation of a significant number of training and employment opportunities for CAMH clients will be looked upon favourably;
• Community and neighbourhood fit — Queen Street West and the surrounding areas are in a period of significant transition and rapid change. Artists have established studios and galleries throughout the area; to the south of CAMH, a media and design hub as well as a new residential area are taking shape. Development proposals that reflect the emerging character and specializations of the local area are encouraged.

Detailed presentations based upon the Development Strategy for Non-CAMH Lands and the non-CAMH Retail Study are posted below:

• Development Strategy for Non-CAMH Land
• Non-CAMH Retail Study

Next Steps

The planned 2010 demolition of CAMH’s existing Administration Building, as part of Phase 1B of the CAMH Queen Street redevelopment “Transforming Lives Here” project, will make the first block of land available for non-CAMH development. This parcel, called Block C1, is located at the southwest corner of the intersection of Queen Street West and Ossington Avenue (which will continue as ‘Freedom Drive’ south of Queen Street). This prominent location will be an important gateway into the emerging urban village.

Block C1 will be the first non-CAMH development and will be an important gateway into the urban village

It is CAMH’s intention to have non-CAMH development of this block roughly concurrently with the three CAMH buildings of Phase 1B, so that the Queen Street façade can be delivered as early as possible and so that construction activities (and disruptions) can be contained in one period.

Prospective buildings on this Block (shown above) are permitted to have a height of 13m (approximately three stories) along Queen Street West, stepping up to 25m (six stories) for the remainder of the property. Also, the ground level of any building is required to have publicly accessible uses (e.g. retail stores, restaurants) along the majority of the Queen Street frontage. The municipal zoning for this property permits a wide range of residential and commercial uses, but requires any development to provide for the required number of parking spaces, either underground or within the building. Non-CAMH Site Plan Applications will be reviewed by the Site Plan Review Committee and will be the subject of a later Public Meeting, just as CAMH’s Phase 1B Site Plan Application was.

• Print Share