Friday, January 21, 2011

Chinatown Towers: my suggestion to the Planning Department



I note that Council has pulled the proposal for the new heights in the DTES, but is sending the Chinatown increased heights, including the tower proposals to Public Hearing. So here's my suggestion.

While I'm sure the buildings will not look like the 16 storey buildings illustrated above, I think I'm right that 150 high (16 storey) buildings will be out of scale on most if not all of the proposed Chinatown sites, but I could be wrong. So, in advance of the Public Hearing, it would seem entirely appropriate for the city planning department to prepare drawings illustrating what buildings of this height would look like from different angles on each of these sites. Then we'll all be able to formulate more informed opinions.

So far, I have seen the long term view impact of the proposed height increase, and would note that while the additional height doesn't obliterate the top of the mountains, it does reduce the amount of mountains visible from the designated viewpoint. However, I think the neighbourhood views are more important, and we should be able to see these...

This seems quite reasonable, doesn't it. Perhaps if enough people make this suggestion to the city staff and members of council, it may happen.

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