Toronto City Council has approved a plan for York that provides for development of 56 hectares of surplus land owned by the university. It includes high-density residential and office towers along main streets, but also calls for sustainable neighbourhoods, with ground-floor retail, parks and open spaces.
In 25 years, York could be a university surrounded by a community.
The playing fields and parking lots that now form the campus perimeter at Steeles Ave. and Keele St. could be replaced by office towers, a research park and 9,000 homes in a high-density residential development, including 1,100 units of affordable housing. Almost 25,000 people could be living in the area and another 20,000 working there.
The existing campus, including bike lanes and 7.5 hectares of parkland, would be preserved.
This is the vision set out in the city's new plan for the university, approved in December after four years of consultation with the institution and surrounding communities.
It provides a framework for possible future development by setting standards for density, parklands, schools and transit.
With those guidelines in place, the school can now work on its own business plan, said Bud Purves, president of the York University Development Corporation.
At the heart of future growth is the extension of the Spadina line through the campus. When complete in 2015, the subway will be the spine for a high-density corridor.
When the city adopted its official plan in 2002, it simply carried forward the 1991 blueprint for the university, with no provision for a subway extension.
Purves said a concerned York filed an appeal with the OMB saying a subway line was likely, causing the city to agree to update its plan.
Purves says York may sell, lease or develop surplus land itself with research partners.
http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/article/758960--subway-key-to-building-community-around-york-university
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