1. Slessor Development Zoning Request Planning 2011-45By
Dan Desson

2. Social Capital in Development
Jane Jacobs, believed, that:
Good cities encourage social interaction at the street level;
They are pedestrian friendly, that favour walking, biking and public transit over cars;
They get people talking to each other.
Enterprise has a social dimension that economists tend to overlook. It determines much of the flow of social interaction in daily life– the way, for example, that street-level enterprise promotes pedestrian traffic, which in turn deters crime. Such enterprise also can promote a kind of informal safety net.

3. Jane Jacobs, believed, that:
Sidewalks and parks should have benches (street furniture). Livable neighborhoods require mixed-use buildings – especially first-floor retail and housing above.
She saw how “eyes on the street” could make neighborhoods safe as well as supportive, prefiguring an idea that later got the name “social capital.”
She favoured newsstands and pocket parks where people can meet casually. Cities, she believed, should foster a mosaic of architectural styles

4. Innovative Architecture
Seagram Building
When we consider open space for social interaction, we need to look at Mies van der Rhoe’s design for the Seagram Building. New York City has to have some of the most expensive real estate in the world, yet the architect designed with this concept in mind. Due to the plaza’s success, New York City put forward a proposal to encourage developers to build “privately owned public spaces.” Also see the Toronto Dominion Centre complex.
Seagram Building in NYC – set back from property lines

5. Innovative Architecture
Stepback from street
Regent Park Redevelopment.
On the post war site the city of Toronto has embraced the new urban design principles. Max is storeys buildings with a number of 5 and 7 storey low rise buildings. It has parkets, mews, intermixed with small commercial stores.
Regent Park Redevelopment - Toronto
Max is storeys buildings with a number of 5 and 7 storey low rise buildings. It has pocket parks and mews, intermixed with small commercial stores.

6. Innovative Architecture
Bloor St. West Redevelopment
Tall buildings provide open space at street level and street-level enterprise to add to a communal sense. This makes for a more vibrant area to live and shop.

7. Example of 1960s BAD PLANNING
A Bad Example of development social plannig is the St. James Town built during the 1960s
St. James town is the largest high-rise community in Canada. It is in located in the inner-city part of Toronto and is one of Canada's poorest neighborhoods, and a haven for street crime (drug dealing, muggings, shootings and stabbings), It consists of 19 high-rise buildings (14 to 32 stories). Approximately 17,000 people live in the neighbourhood's 19 apartment towers and 4 low rise buildings officially,
The development was inspired by Le Corbusier's - Towers in the Park concept. Each tower accommodated thousands of residents surrounded by green space, but with few amenities.
St. James Town – Toronto

8. Elements of Social Dimension Development
Setbacks are defined between the front property line and the front of new developments. New developments should build a significant percentage of their frontage to the setback line.
Stepback: An additional setback that applies to upper stories of a building. Stepbacks can be effective in reducing the perception of building mass at ground level, reducing potential “wind tunnel” effects,
Transitional Height Plane: p82
Protect adjacent stable residential communities with a transitional plane that limits building height. Extend this plane three dimensionally to limit building heights of the entire block.
Designate an angular plane for the street to protect sky views and sunlight access. The angular plane will limit the height of the podium.
Queen’s Quay Residential Development
Setbacks
Stepbacks
Transitional Planes
Tower Separation
Pocket parks
Transitional Planes

9. Elements of Social Dimension Development
5.2.5Tower Separation
An angle of separation should be used to separate towers based in relation to height. Towers in clusters should be separated by a minimum separation buffer. This includes an offset area where new towers should not be located. Without knowing what the accepted angle of separation is I cannot be exact, but at 30d, the height level would be at Level 15.
5.2.4 Podiums p80
Podiums help improve the scale of the street and mitigate the effect of tall buildings and preserve sky views. They also help improve micro-climate conditions by deflecting winds off the sidewalk.
Podiums help improve the scale of the street and mitigate the effect of tall buildings and preserve sky views
Tower Separation
An angle of separation is be used to separate towers based in relation to height. Towers in clusters should also be separated by separation buffer.

10. Individual Generating Systems - Geothermal
Cooling in Summer Warming in Winter
Architectural Esthetic Rooftop
While the Official Policy does not mention Geothermal, I believe a development of this scope would benefit not only the present owner but owners far into the future as well as Newmarket as a whole.
1.8.2 Increased energy supply should be promoted by providing opportunities for energy generation facilities to accommodate current and projected needs and the use of renewable energy systems and alternative energy systems, where feasible.
Efficiency & Lower Operating Costs - Annual energy savings are estimated to be reduced from 30 to 70% in heating mode and 20 to 50% in the cooling mode compared to conventional systems
Value security - Geothermal systems can also provide increased energy security protection from inflation in the cost of volatile fossil fuel (natural gas) commodity prices. The Government of Canada says systems last 20% longer and have lowest life cycle cost.
Environmentally Responsible, Green Technology - geothermal systems eliminate the combustion of fossil fuels on site and dramatically lower the need to generate power significantly reducing the emission of greenhouse gasses and the environmental damage associated with non-renewable resource extraction.
Esthetics/Architectural Advantage - No outdoor condensing units or cooling towers on roof or ground provide architectural freedom and less structural concerns from weight of roof-top equipment.
Some Benefits to Geothermal Energy
Environmentally Responsible – reduces greenhouse gases
Energy Security – mitigates fuel cost swings, last 20% longer
Efficiency in Operating - Annual energy savings reduced from 30 to 70% in heating mode and 20 to 50% in the cooling mode
Esthetics of Architecture – Cleaner roof suitable for solar panels

11. With these Social Dimension Elements in mind, I urge you to turn down Slessor’s request for Zoning By-Law Amendments:
Setbacks
Parking Requirements
Floor Space Index
Maximum Height
The Town Planning Department has done an excellent job of commissioning and addressing urban social dimensions with such documents as:
Visualization, Massing and Height Study 2010
Adopting a Newmarket Official Plan in line with the Provincial Policy Statement 2005

12. The architect's best working tools are the eraser at the drafting board and the wrecking bar at the site.
Frank Lloyd Wright – architect
So let’s make the changes while they are at the planning stage before they are poured in concrete.
Any changes you make to Newmarket’s built environment, should be done with consideration to generations of future citizens and to the ability of future councils’ to make improvements.