With detached homes in Toronto reaching unattainable prices and an abundance of high rise condos taking over the city skyline, most of which are either purchased and sitting empty or demanding rent that is extremely high, could midrise development within some of Toronto’s neighbourhoods be the answer to the homeownership struggle many Torontonians are facing?

Toronto planners think so, as they claim it would not overwhelm neighbourhoods and at the same time, will provide housing for thousands. Midrise buildings are typically four to eleven storeys, that many NIMBYs are opposed to having populated their neighbourhoods. To find out more on NIMBYs and their influence on Toronto’s real estate, check out two of our previous blogs:

Affluent Boomers are Taking Pressure from ‘YIMBY’ Groups in the GTA

Reasons Why A Starter Home is No Longer an Option

Midrise development is, unfortunately, becoming tougher for developers to propose and carry out, as these so-called NIMBYs, or locals to the neighbourhoods in which the midrise development is being proposed, fight these developers to try to halt their project. In the most recent fight against a midrise development, these angry residents feature some of Toronto’s elite, such as Margaret Atwood, Galen Weston Jr., Scott Mcfarland, and his wife, Cleophee Eaton (yes, the department store). Some of their claims to the government include simply, ruining the Annex and destroying their quality of life.

An excerpt from Weston’s email to Toronto city councillor Joe Cressy reads:

“The development, designed as is, will change the neighbourhood in such a negative capacity and will devalue all of the assets we currently love about living here; it will no longer be the ideal place for our young family to grow up. This building is an invasion of our privacy, our community, and an environmental assault on our neighbourhood.”

Now, they are probably concerned mostly about their privacy. With success comes money, with money comes entitlement (for the most part). As columnist Emma Teitel puts it, “they’ve chosen to make a stink about the possibility that someday down the line, someone standing on a balcony will be able to peer into their yards and see them barbecuing corn.” They are failing to see the benefit of such a development.

Their blurred reasoning and understanding of this development proposal, maybe due to the fact that they are very successful and don’t want peering eyes into their backyards as Teitel said, or it could merely be because they don’t know what it is like to not own a home in the fourth-largest city on the continent, thus they cannot fathom what it is like to be an average Torontonian in this day and age, and how much these midrise developments really do benefit not only the city but the area it is situated in as well. As much as people don’t like change (take the recent renaming of the ACC to Scotiabank Arena as a prime example) you are forced to either adopt, adapt, or leave. As many like to put it, you better shape up or ship out.

In the past, NIMBYs have fought against an Ossington midrise, that they took all the way to the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB). In 2015, the OMB approved the project but made minor modifications to the plans. It was a six-storey, 85 suite building. Now that it is up, it is clear that it is the best thing to happen to Ossington in the last century, and many of the so-called NIMBYs are starting to realize that.

With the outrage for the proposed Davenport midrise, will it surprise anyone if the fight goes all the way to the OMB? Probably not. Based on Galen Weston’s email to Cressy, it sounds like he will take it upon himself to make sure the OMB does review it.

Yes, the Annex is home to a number of notable figures, but it is also a central neighbourhood with a subway, shops, and is walking distance to a major university in the city. The fight to limit the accommodation of people who inhabit Toronto, especially a region within Toronto that is already a bustling metropolis, therefore, seems foolish of the elite to be against. You’d think with all of their smarts and success, along with the results of past challenges presented to the OMB, our influential Annexers would think twice and let it be.

If you are in need of a planning and development lawyer or real estate lawyer, please contact our Planning and Development lawyers or Real Estate lawyers today. If you have any other questions, you can contact our office directly at (416) 449-1400.

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