Why are we doing a Secondary Plan for Masonville?
Need for a Secondary Plan
The London Plan identifies four Transit Villages, which are intended to be exceptionally designed, high density, mixed-use urban neighbourhoods connected by rapid transit to the Downtown and to each other.These Transit Villages are intended to support intense forms of mixed-use development. While these Transit Villages are located in existing built-up areas, these locations have opportunities for significant infill, redevelopment, and overall more efficient use of land to support transit.
The lands around the intersection of Richmond Street and Fanshawe Park Road, including lands fronting on portions of North Centre Road and Sunnyside Drive, in the Masonville neighbourhood are identified as one of the Transit Villages in The London Plan, referred to as the “Masonville Transit Village”. The Transit Village Place Type permits a broad range of residential, retail, service, office, cultural, institutional, hospitality, entertainment, recreational and other related uses, with a range of permitted heights between two to 15 storeys, up to 22 storeys with Type 2 Bonus Zoning. Mixed-use buildings are also encouraged.
Currently, the area within the Masonville Transit Village is primarily occupied by low-rise retail, attached residential uses and large expanses of surface parking. It is anticipated that the area will undergo redevelopment through infill and intensification over time to realize the vision of the Transit Village Place Type. The development of a Secondary Plan is intended to provide a greater level of detail and more specific guidance for the Masonville Transit Village than the general Transit Village Place Type policies, to create a plan for the future development of a Transit Village that is unique to the Masonville community. The Secondary Plan will also address issues of compatibility and transition to existing uses within the Transit Village and the surrounding neighbourhood.
The development of a Secondary Plan allows for a proactive and coordinated approach for evaluating future development. It is anticipated that secondary plans will be developed for all four Transit Villages. The Masonville Transit Village, given the recent development pressure in that area, will be the first of these four Transit Villages to undergo the development of a Secondary Plan.
What are some of the questions the Secondary Plan seeks to answer?
- How can connectivity be improved throughout the Transit Village in the future?
- What is an appropriate built form to allow high density development and transition to the surrounding neighbourhoods?
- How can the area be designed to support transit?
- What is an appropriate land use mix?
- What community services and facilities would be required?
- Where should parks and publically accessible open space be provided?
- How can the provision of a range and mix of housing types be encouraged?
- What infrastructure will be required to support the community in the future?
- How can the effects of traffic and parking be mitigated?
- How can the Masonville Transit Village be developed in the future as a complete community? What does this look like?
