Laneway coLabs is a new community-powered initiative that wants to turn underused laneways into vibrant, welcoming spaces in Toronto. We have a chance, as Bloor West Village residents, to bring new life to a laneway in our neighbourhood. Through an open application process, Laneway coLabs will partner with selected residents to co-design and create a revitalized laneway this coming summer.
Applications start on March 18 through to April 20. More details on next steps can be found here. There’s no doubt we have prospects in our area. Good luck!
The City wants to hear from you as it develops its strategy for parks and recreation. As we all know, Bloor West Village is home or adjacent to many of these spaces including High Park. Click here to visit the project website, which offers many different ways to engage or share feedback and ideas.
Our local bike lanes have been in the news lately and the BWVRA board supports them. If you’d like to share your opinion, please visit this link.
Our local bike lanes are becoming increasingly popular with bicycles and now, e-bikes, e-scooters and e-mopeds. Each are very different in size, weight, and speed. The latter three each pose an opportunity for transportation and exercise, but also issues for pedestrians and other non-powered cyclists. And regulation has not caught up. This Global and Mail article neatly sums up the story.
The City of Toronto has implemented the following changes for short-term rental operators like Airbnb and booking.com, effective June 30 of this year:
- Operators will need to post a physical copy of the emergency contact information and exit diagrams prominently in the rental for the duration of the guest’s rental period.
- The 40-day registration revocation process will be reduced to a 10-day process. The appeal process will remain to allow operators to provide evidence and information to explain why their registration should not be revoked.
- Revised definitions of short-term rental, principal residence and dwelling unit clarify the bylaw and make it easier for operators to understand the regulations.
- Licensed multi-tenant house operators will be prohibited from applying for a short-term rental registration.
Changes coming into effect in September 2024 will reportedly strengthen the principal residence requirements, authorize annual inspections and introduce a limit of one registration per dwelling unit. Starting January 2025, the operator registration fees will increase and operators will be required to choose between registering as either an entire-unit operator (i.e. short-term renting entire home) or as a partial-unit operator (i.e. short-term renting only rooms in the home) for the duration of their registration period.
More information on the bylaw changes and an updated Good Operator Guide are available at toronto.ca/ShortTermRentals. For any questions regarding the new rules, please email ShortTermRentals@toronto.ca.
If you walk or need a walking aid to get around Bloor West Village, this map is a great way to see where hazards, missing amenities or recent incidents have happened on our sidewalks and paths. It’s like Waze, but for when you’re not in a car.
Be sure to allow the site to access your location, so that you get the most accurate information.
Completed just this past week is a study on the recent effects of new bike lanes established along Bloor Street West in our neighbourhood. In short, the volume of bikes using the lanes has increased together with a reduction of bikes using our sidewalks. To read more and see the full stats, click here. As summer gets underway, the BWVA is very encouraged by these results.
In a recent episode of Architecturally Speaking, host Ryan Schwartz speaks with architect Craig Race about housing alternatives beyond traditional homes, condos, and apartments. Namely; laneway and gardens which have taken root in our neighbourhood. Tune in here.
blogTO put together a neat history of our neighbourhood, from its beginnings in the mid 1800’s. Did you know that Runnymede Road was originally a “driveway” to an estate owned by John Scarlett? Or that parts of our neighbourhood had prohibition from 1904 until very recently, in 1997? You can read about these stories and more, here.
Relief on the horizon for those who transfer to the UP Express at Dundas West Station. Learn more here.