Great Streets are Great for Business...Great Streets are Great for Business We have to make the case to increase funding for our streets …. We can not afford NOT to invest in Complete

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Great Streets are Great for Business Mark Van Elsberg

Project Manager – Pedestrian Projects

Public Realm Section

Transportation Services, City Toronto

NACTO – Designing Cities

October 24, 2014 NACTO 2014 – DESIGNING CITIES

Page 2

Great Streets are Great for Cities

Evidence is mounting…

Great streets are great for health, quality

of life, and for business.

The question for our Transportation

division is not about what constitutes a

great street, but how we fund them

The disconnect between those

responsible for funding great streets and

those who ultimately benefit must be

addressed.


Spadina Avenue & Adelaide Street West

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Great Streets are built by Transportation

Transportation Services operates and

maintains our ROWs :

• Largest property manager in the City

• Responsible for the construction,

maintenance and operations

• Limited budget for reconstruction

Not in the business of Economic

Development….

Show 25% map


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Great Streets are great for Intensification

Intensification is great for business

Provincial and Municipal policies promote

intensification on our Avenues Avenues :

• Designated for growth

• Support the majority of our :

•Transit improvements,

•Retail activity

•Cycling infrastructure

• Make up approx 5% of our street

network

Significant redevelopment and regeneration

is expected creating

• Opportunities to leverage public realm

improvements

• Increased opportunities for businesses


Page 5

Great Streets are great for Health

Pedestrians are great for business

Our Public Health Department is making the

evidence-based case for a built environment that

promotes :

• Active transportation to fight chronic illnesses

• Pedestrian safety and mortality

• Reduced vehicle speeds and emissions

• Personal safety - “eyes from the street”

Studies show that Health benefits have

significant economic impacts:

• Returns on investment are many multiples

of capital costs vs. long term health costs

• Correlation between access to transit and

walking and health


Toronto Public Health Study

Relationship between Transit and DIabetes

CABE/UK

Value of good street design

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Great Streets are great for Businesses

Business Improvement Areas Promote Great

Streets

• Cover approximately 40% of our Avenues and

continue to expand.

• Promote business development and area identify

• Engage business owners to invest in our streets

• Cost share funding with the City and invest in public

realm enhancements

• Provide higher levels of maintenance and funding

partnerships


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Great Streets are great for Neighbourhoods

Real estate and the media are exploiting

streets as a factor for investment

Real estate and marketing material are creating new

competition indicators:

• Safety and walk-ability

• Proximity to

• Main streets

• Bike lanes

• Transit

• Bike and Car Share

Main streets are rebranding neighbourhoods

with new “hipness” indicators :

• Unique shops and cafes

• Arts and culture

• Patios and cuisine

• Farmers markets and food trucks

“buyers are starved for great housing stock,

prices that mortals can afford, walkable

blocks with great restaurants and green

spaces”

“GTA home buyers prefer walkable

neighbourhoods, study says,,, they’d

choose a walkable, transit-oriented

location over a larger home, …”

“Toronto's West Queen West

rated No. 2 on Vogue list of hip

districts Fashion magazine likes

area's mix of boutique hotels…”,


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Great Streets need money

How does the Transportation Division create great streets?

Great streets/Complete streets do cost more:

• Min 5-10% premium on reconstruction,

depending on elements

But…

Majority of streets are not at the end of their

life cycle - do not require reconstruction

• State of good repair budgets do not

include funding for “upgrades”

• “Stand alone” interventions cost more

• Maintenance partnerships can be difficult

to secure and enforce

These issues undermine many great opportunities!


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The Great Street ROI Disconnect

The benefits do not return to the funding

source • Costs are not recovered by Transportation

Municipal Property tax revenues

• Subsidize general city expenditures rather than returning to

local area

Federal and Provincial/State tax revenues

• infrastructure funding does not participate in localized

improvements

• Focus on transit and large infrastructure projects

• Healthcare funding models focus on treatment not prevention

• Cannot be used for local active transportation

improvements.

Private property values and retail revenues

• Benefit land owners

• Little incentive to reinvest in the public realm

• Red tape discourages innovation and participation


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How to create Great Streets

Look on the bright side!

Many of our streets are complete

• Minor tweaks can be done through repairs

and resurfacings

• Major reconstructions can be designed as

complete streets with proper guidance

• The biggest bang for the buck means

focusing on only 5%-10% of our streets


Sidewalk and Painted Shoulder - Simple Fix

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Find partners for funding Great Streets

Create opportunities to co-fund projects:

•Transform capital funding protocol to become

more flexible and nimble.

•Sell opportunities through visioning and

leveraging multiple interests

• Improve co-funding opportunities:

• Working with other City Divisions

• Development charges and levies

• Connecting with private sector

• Other external agencies, community

associations

• Creating new revenue and cost sharing

tools


Great Retail Streets make Great Cities

October 24, 2014 NACTO 2014 – DESIGNING CITIES Page 12

Focus our investment on the Avenues and Main

Streets..(the 5%) and transform our Cities

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Great Streets are Great for Business

We have to

make the case to increase

funding for our streets

….

We can not afford

NOT

to invest in

Complete Streets


Page 14

Case Study –Market Street

Return On Investment:

Developer :

Cost: $1,000,000

Benefit:

• Transformed retail units from Class B to Class A retail

• Premium rent over the area standard (double)

• Retail tenants competed for space

• Property asset Value increased

• Financing from lenders preferred rate

City :

Cost: $500,000 (other sources)

Benefits:

• Transformed street to regional destination

• Complemented adjacent City facility (Market)

• Basement level to be transformed to street related retail

• Increased Property tax revenue

• Increased Patio permit revenue

• Created new streetscape standards to be replicated throughout the City and Country


Before

After

November 11, 2014 Transportation Services

Patio space Sidewalk Road Sidewalk Parking Large Pavers Small Pavers

Parking Drive Aisle Parking Sidewalk Sidewalk

Trench

drain

Tactile

strip Moveable

Bollard

Developer- West Side

• Narrow sidewalks no space for

Patios

• Limited marketability

• Parking both sides

City – East Side

• Under utilized covered area

• Basement retail

West-

private

East-

public

(m

ark

et)

Flush street – Flexible Parking/ Patio space



Sidewalk Drive Aisle Parking Sidewalk Patio Space

Trench

drain

Tactile

strip

Moveable

Bollard

Large Pavers Small Pavers

Developer- West Side

• Design and engineering of full

streetscape

• Construction and maintenance of

Phase 1

City – East Side

• Approvals for new standards

• Securing funding from the BIA and

development approvals for Phase 2

• Maintenance partners for east portion

West-

private

East-

public

(m

ark

et)

Flush street – Flexible Parking/ Patio space


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John St - Cultural Corridor

Before:

• Narrow sidewalks competing with

space for Patios

• Very high pedestrian volumes

• Significant development pressure

BIA

• Initiated a Vision for the Street

• Funded Environmental assessment

• Installed a Pilot for operational review

• Share maintenance upon completion

City

• Planning directed development levies

(sect 37) toward project

• Transportation and Engineering

manage and coordinate redesign of

street

• Development of new standards and

operations

October 24, 2014 NACTO 2014 – DESIGNING CITIES November 11, 2014 Transportation Services

Before

Page 18


Before:

• Narrow sidewalks competing with

space for Patios

• Very high pedestrian volumes

• Significant development pressure

BIA

• Initiated a Vision for the Street

• Funded Environmental assessment

• Installed a Pilot for operational review

• Share maintenance upon completion

City

• Planning directed development levies

(sect 37) toward project

• Transportation and Engineering

manage and coordinate redesign of

street

• Development of new standards and

operations


Pilot

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Result:

Narrowed street

• 40 million reinvestment

• Regional Destination

Flexible street-

Flexible use based on:

• Time of day

• Day of the week

• Time of the year


Proposal


Front Street – Pan Am Promenade Plan

Renderings and a landscape sketch resulted in a

transformation funded by the Fire Dept.

Simple Road resurfacing with 50%

sidewalk replacement- transformed into::

• Total sidewalk reconstruction with BIA

Branding

• Heritage pedestrian scale lighting

• Removal of most overhead wires

• Bumpouts at most local side streets

• Planters and seating in

bumpouts

• Incentive for new development

to continue road narrowing and

widened boulevard

• Right turn Channel removals

• Lane redistribution to favour bicycles

• Private property transformations to

complement streetscape

Sherbourne Street – Bike Lanes


Streetscape enhancements to proposed

separated bike lanes project

• Landscaped separation for Bikes and on

street parking

• Widened boulevard from Developer to

allow for street trees and ped clearways

Proposed

Existing


Pedestrian Zones

Temporary Road closure pilots resulting in :

• Permanent closures (Uof T and

Ryerson) and seasonal (Orchardview)

• Universities raising funds for

transformations


Undoing 60’s Block Busting

Reinstate a Public street network into

a 1960’s (block busted) the tower in

the park community

Providing:

• Connectivity to the City Grid

• Safety and Visibility

• Street Retail

• Community


Kensington - Pedestrian Sundays

Temporary road closures –

•Seasonal installation of moveable street closure

devices

•Planters for day to day use. Single handed road

closure on event days


Container Culture

Retrofitting Containers – Retail Start-up

Business Incubators

• Boulevard pop up cafes and retail

startups

• “Market 707 is Toronto’s most unique

street food and retail market.”

Improving Construction Hoarding


“Borrowed” Winning design from New York

to improve pedestrian experience during

construction

• Elegant Design

• Translucent roof

• LED lighting

Improved Pedestrian experience

• supported adjacent businesses

Page 27

Great Streets are Great for Pedestrians …..

Pedestrians are Great for Business

Thank you



Raised Cycle tracks

Retrofitting streetscapes with Separated

Raised cycle tracks

• Convince the “next level” of cyclist to ride

• Roll curb between Live lane and Cycle track

• Rumble strip between flush sidewalk and

track for Visually impaired

• Raised Bus stops ( full curb) for accessible

loading

Full curb Bus stop

Raised Flush Cycle track w/ tactile rumble strip

Layby for taxis, wheel trans, parking, and loading

Documents

Great Streets are Great for Business...Great Streets are Great for Business We have to make the case to increase funding for our streets …. We can not afford NOT to invest in Complete