Shuter Street

With the large Moss Park Apartments on the south side and a Hooker Stroll on the north side there is lots of room for improvement along this stretch.  The large parking lots surrounding Moss Park need to be rethought and street level housing would be a much better fit  along the south side of Shuter Street.  Recreating the street grid allowing Seaton, Ontario and Berkeley to run down to Queen and beyond should be considered.  The small commercial building above center is one of the more interesting buildings on Shuter near Parliament street. 

The notion of placing large social housing projects in a park like setting with no relation to the surrounding streets just does not work.  Huge high rise buildings with too many units per floor does not work.  Residents need to know who their neighbours are.   The scale needs to be much smaller and a mix of housing and income levels makes for a much healthier community.  The buildings have no street presence and the entrances to the apartments are hidden away behind parking lots.  The complex sits on a huge piece of real estate and there is great potential for better development.

There is also potential for the north west corner of Seaton and Shuter Streets.  The Dancap apartments sit on  a large lot and the Seaton Street section could easily be severed to free up development potential.  Townhouses similar to these pictured right in Corktown would be a excellent addition to the streetscape on that block.  City Council recently relaxed rules around the severing of lots surrounding high rise buildings. Three to four storey infill townhouses could help balance the streetscape along this stretch making the corner more attractive and less deserted especially at night.  

Hooker Strolls do not belong in residential neighbourhoods and should be better policed.  Such activity needs to be moved to areas where the activity does not impact on area schools, parks and residential streets.   

Pictured above a street in Moss Park before demolition for the late 50's construction of the Moss Park towers and the moss Park playing field.  Pictured below stacked infill townhouses and mid rise residential building which would be a welcome fit to Shuter Street south side parking lots.   

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