Ensuring schools are part of Toronto’s new neighbourhoods
Paul Nichols, M.A.Sc., MCIP, RPP, TLC Planner
The pace and scale of residential development in Toronto poses challenges and opportunities for the TDSB. These challenges and opportunities are a key area of focus in TLC’s Modernization Strategy, which supports TDSB’s goal of providing equity of access to learning environments for all students. The Modernization Strategy is positioned to provide modern, innovative and accessible schools in which students can learn and grow. What happens when the growth occurs in an area where the schools are full or are not there? In areas of the City that were historically commercial, industrial, or employment-focused – like Downsview, the Port Lands, and Scarborough’s Golden Mile – TLC has and continues to actively work with the City to ensure that as these areas transition to residential and mixed-used communities, families have new local schools for their children as part of a complete community.
This process begins long before shovels ever hits the ground. TLC’s Land Use Planning team monitors a wide range of City planning initiatives from residential intensification to the revisioning of non-residential portions of the City. A key aspect of the TLC land use planning function is to participate in City-initiated studies, like Secondary Plan Reviews and Area Studies, where significant residential development may be an end-result of the process. In these situations, the TLC planner may be part of the City’s Technical Advisory Committee that reviews the community services, including schools, in the area. This provides TLC, in collaboration with TDSB’s student accommodation planning team, with the opportunity to highlight any concerns around overcapacity in the surrounding schools or lack of schools within a reasonable distance.
When TDSB identifies a need for a new school, TLC planners work with City staff to draft planning policy language and zoning permissions/regulations that provides opportunities and flexibility for the TDSB to secure a school within the redeveloping area. This can include ensuring that schools are a permitted use within the area, that non-compatible uses (eg – heavy industrial uses) are not permitted in the area, that optimal locations for a school are identified, and that sufficient parkland / open space is available to support the future school community. In addition, TLC may suggest or support policy language that can encourage or require local landowners to integrate public schools into their redevelopment plans.
TLC planners (in collaboration with TLC’s real estate team and TDSB staff) may also work directly with local landowners, to help them understand the potential benefits and process of having a school as part of their redevelopment plans. Areas of engagement with local landowners can include discussions around the potential for density incentives where a TDSB school is integrated into their proposal, the relationship between development phasing and the need for schools, opportunities for shared facilities and public/community partnerships, the importance of adequate outdoor space for new schools, and more.
As these areas of residential growth are being planned and redeveloped, it creates opportunity for TLC and TDSB to consider how its existing assets in the surrounding areas and broader portfolio can be reimagined and leveraged to support the growth of the new communities. Thoughtful planning frameworks provide the basis and opportunity for new school sites. At times this may result in a reimagining of existing TDSB properties, or it may be the realization of new schools integrated into a denser urban form. Regardless of the form, as new residential development emerges in areas like Downsview, the Port Lands, and Scarborough’s Golden Mile, the planning policy frameworks secured by TLC will ensure that TDSB schools are part of Toronto’s complete communities.