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Understanding CDP's: Community Design Plans

COMMUNITY DESIGN PLANS: WHOSE DESIGN IS IT, ANYWAY?

credit: ddpavumba

Community Design Plans, also called CDP’s, are a hot-button topic these days. It’s important that we educate ourselves on how these plans work, what they cover, and how they’ve come to be.

CDP’s are intended to recognize that the next 20 years will not be the same as the last 20 years; consequently, to manage change effectively, the CDP process was born. CDP’s are conducted in areas that are expected to have major growth and intensification, so naturally they are not meant as a tool for maintaining the status quo. They are produced, most specifically, to manage changing needs and visions; and as such, they wouldn’t be of 

much use in an area not geared for new development.

THE EVOLUTION OF THE CDP

CDP’s have evolved over the years. These policies used to be written in broad language, and they used to allow for developers (and community groups) to flex their interpretation of the language quite a lot. For instance, an older CDP may simply state that “higher buildings will be built around transit stations, and lower developments will be built in the rest of the area”. The developer was then able to propose a building of any height...and on the flipside, a community group would be able to oppose a building of any height.

As the learning curve of CDP’s continued, we learned to tighten up the policy so that wild interpretations weren’t as easy to get away with. New CDP’s will state clearly that, say, “buildings up to twelve storeys will be built around transit stations, and lower developments under six storeys will be built in other areas.”

CDP’s have also evolved to become known as secondary plans, and consequently they are a part of the Official Plan for the entire city; this means that the policy frameworks are approved by City Council, and are implemented by the zoning by-law.

THE BENEFITS OF THE MODERN CDP

As the CDP evolution has continued, these policies now provide several benefits:

-They provide certainty for the community experiencing growth and make it easier to manage community expectations. With more clarity built right into the CDP, community groups don’t need to take such extreme interpretations of CDP policies in their attempt to have development proposals rejected or amended.

-They also provide certainty for the developers, should be happy that the approval process has been made faster and easier by only requiring a building permit and site plan—unless, of course, they are attempting to amend the plan and zoning to add height and density; and the new CDP policy framework makes it very difficult-to-impossible to get this type of approval, given the newer, more stringent policy wording.

-Developers are learning, and quickly, that the old ways of proposing height changes anywhere they like is not going to work.

THE CREATION OF A CDP: COOPERATION

credit: AMBRO

The process of developing a CDP has also evolved over the years. In the past, CDP’s have been solely community-driven, without any input from the landowner. The new CDP’s take a much more balanced approach, involving both the community and the landowner in discussions, and consequently fostering a more realistic view of development. With this new inclusive process, our most recent CDP—the Bank Street CDP—may not generate even one appeal from either side. And that’s an amazing result.

LEANING AT WINDMILLS: COMMUNITY NEEDS FAITH

When CDP’s are adhered to, despite some very determined and audacious developers, is it because there are vocal community groups making a loud fuss from the start? Not necessarily. The concept of the ‘squeaky wheel getting the grease’ doesn’t really apply here. With the newer, clearer, more stringent CDP’s, the reality is that the ‘grease’ is already there, and often the ‘wheel’ has been squeaking for nothing. Yet time and again, we end up with a pitched battle between the panicked community group, and the panicked developer, both who just want to ensure their vision is upheld. With the new CDP’s, the goal is to have the vision made so clear that no one need worry about what the outcome will be; both sides will know from Day One what will and won’t be allowed in their area.

-Peter