Item - 2025.TE27.29

The Director, Urban Design, City Planning and the Director, Community Planning, Toronto East York District recommend that:

1. City Council adopt the Bloor West Village Urban Design Guidelines and direct staff to apply the Urban Design Guidelines during the review of current and future development applications.

2. City Council identify the properties listed in Attachment 3 as having cultural heritage value or interest, as identified through the Bloor West Village Heritage Conservation District Study and the Bloor West Village Avenue Study.

3. City Council adopt the High Park Neighbourhood Area Biodiverse Landscape Manual in Attachment 6 of this report and direct staff to make it available to landscape professionals and members of the public in the vicinity of High Park.

This report recommends that City Council adopt the Bloor West Village Avenue Study Urban Design Guidelines (the “Guidelines”), endorse the High Park Neighbourhood Area Biodiverse Landscape Manual and identify the specified properties within the Study Area as having cultural heritage value or interest.

On July 8, 2014, City Council adopted a motion which requested that the Chief Planner and Executive Director undertake a review of the current built form, density, height and heritage value of properties on Bloor Street West between Keele Street and the Humber River. The Bloor West Village Avenue Study Final Consultant Report (the “Consultant Report”) was completed in 2018, which suggested a range of development policies and guidelines to allow for gentle, mid-rise intensification within the Bloor West Village Avenue Study Area.

Bloor West Village has a unique and active retail character that serves the local community and also as a destination. It includes existing and potential heritage properties, as well as important linkages to natural and cultural heritage resources. The Guidelines focus on the pedestrian-oriented scale of Bloor West Village as draw for residents, employees, and visitors. They support the integration of new development into Bloor West Village in a manner that builds on this attractive, livable community with a mix of uses, walkable streets, distinctive neighbourhoods, and access to a variety of open spaces, including parks and publicly accessible spaces.

The following document formalizes the previous work by providing direction and Urban Design Guidelines that have been developed to align with the current planning policy framework, which will inform new development in the Bloor West Village Urban Design Guidelines Area (the “Area”). Key objectives of the Guidelines are compatible intensification along a transit line, protection of sunlight in public spaces, celebrating natural and cultural heritage of the area, and enhancing the public realm.

The Development Review Division and City Planning Division confirm that there are no financial implications resulting from the recommendations included in this Report in the current budget year or in future years.