Viva Towns (19-41 Mill St) | 4 + 3fl | U/C

[dtkmelissa]

About 11 of the apartments in the subdivided houses along there that were to be demolished are considered to be affordable housing, but in Polocorp's plan they only offered to make 5 of the units as affordable.

Yes. Five isn't much, and I really would have hoped that the city would have pushed for more, at least 11 to make up for the ones that will be lost. (Note: it's unclear whether those new units would have been for sale or for rent.) But, as things went, there will be none at all.

I am still mystified how the neighbourhood character would have been impacted, when there are only half a dozen residential houses within 100m of this project. Mostly it's bounded by Queen St S (commercial), Mill St (a few residential houses, most were recently donated by the region for affordable housing) and the IHT (which has a railway and a commercial facility on its other side). Where were these concerned neighbours from?

This touches on some of my issues with all of this. I think there's value in encouraging developers to improve/adapt their proposals - but I so wish those conversations were less about height and traffic and more about affordability, a robust plan for displaced neighbours, etc. How wonderful it would be to have neighbourhood character mean we care about current and future neighbours so let's make sure the developer has a plan to support existing neighbours who will be displaced and ensure affordable options for future neighbours moving in to the area.