David Godley comments regarding “Time for courage in transit crossroads” – Oct. 10, 2014 Toronto Star

With regard to an Oct. 10, 2014 Toronto Star article by Bryan Tuckey, David Godley has submitted the following letter to the editor to the Toronto Star:

Places to Grow

The Building Industry group led by Bryan Tuckey is essential to creating a great city such as Toronto.

The article paints a picture of how well this organisation’s members are doing and how they are hard done by with municipalities standing in their way.

As Mr Tuckey knows from Economics 101 it is demand which determines the price of housing not the cost. Consequently the building industry rather than the homebuyer picks up the tab for development fees.

Since Toronto’s infrastructure from growth is severely underfunded it goes without saying that the development fees are too low.

The building industry in the past pushed for low density, the most expensive form of housing for the community, and at the same time covered the best agricultural land in Canada.

Admittedly municipalities resisted New Urbanism which the Province supported. This has twice the density of conventional detached housing and creates real neighbourhoods.

As for current development, municipalities are encouraging high densities but not at the expense of destroying amenity and neighbourhood character.

Since the Ontario Municipal Board tends to be development rather than planning oriented there is no effective check on ensuring Official Plan policies are followed.

Yours truly

David Godley