I understand that Bill 17…

I understand that Bill 17 aims to streamline municipal planning applications made under the Planning Act and the City of Toronto Act, by establishing consistent engineering and planning study requirements. The Bill also aims to reduce the number of studies required when proponents submit development proposal applications to municipalities for Official Plan Amendment (OPA), Zoning By-law Amendment (ZBA), and Site Plan Control (SPC).

It is my opinion that removing the ability of municipal planning authorities to request wind studies as part of complete applications will have a negative effect on the public realm. By not considering wind studies within the context of a development applications, the province and municipalities will be allowing potentially unsafe and uncomfortable wind conditions to occur. By conducting wind studies, appropriate design and mitigation can be planned for and implemented to avoid these unsafe and uncomfortable wind conditions. I urge the government to reconsider eliminating the need for these studies.

Within urban areas of Ontario, I understand that significant wind safety and wind comfort issues occur in limited areas. This is not a coincidence, and it is due primarily to to the evolving requirements of municipalities over the last 30 years, wherein it was realized that these problematic wind conditions are detrimental to the public and yet can be relatively easily addressed early in the design phase of a building. It is my understanding that buildings taller than 20 storeys have the highest potential to create uncomfortable or unsafe wind conditions., and require the most detailed studies. These studies are not asked for to be an inconvenience to owners, they are intended to protect the public

Addressing wind such issues once a building is constructed can be extremely costly. No building should create unsafe or uncomfortable wind conditions. Municipalities should still be able to require wind studies as part of planning applications in order to assess and reduce the impact of wind on pedestrian safety and comfort within the public realm, and I urge that the aspect of Bill 17 removing this study requirement be reconsidered.