« Planning, Development and Management of Underground Space in Canada»

1. « Planning, Development and Management of Underground Space in Canada» Mr. Jacques Besner, urban planner City of Montreal

2. Table of contentsIntroduction The Toronto walkways The Montreal pedestrian networkThree basic conditions to go ahead with the underground Projects and people Design criteria Favorable land development policy Incentive development tools The beneficiaries of the underground city Recommendations to develop the urban underground space

3. INTRODUCTION Why underground pedestrian networks in Canada Montreal and Toronto? : because of our climate and our underground transportation systems Underground space : as valuable as the streets and the parks The underground ‘invisible’ space is part of our future, a legacy for the next generations

4. We can no longer plan the city without also planning the underground space Make the pedestrian, the shopper, the student and the elderly the focus of our planning preoccupation

5. Montreal and Toronto : skyscrapers and shopping centers interconnected beneath the streets by pedestrian corridors Toronto Montreal Option of living in the city completely indoors, without spending even thirty seconds outside

6. THE TORONTO WALKWAYS 27 km of walkways, under the street level, also over the streets, as bridges 50 buildings connected through PATH, the name of the Toronto walkways network 20 parking garages, 5 subway stations, a railway terminal, 2 major department stores, 6 hotels, plus many tourist and entertainment attractions

7. 1,200 shops and services inside PATH employ about 5,000 people 100,000 daily commuters, thousands of tourists and residents Eaton Centre: Toronto’s main shopping destination

8. Subway opening: 1954 Mid-sixties: mid-block overhead walkways 1969: plan to build also pedestrian tunnels beneath the streets, linking towers with subway Cost of the first tunnels shared between the City and the connected property owners

9. Early 1980's: 3 kilometers in length, but as a series of independent shopping centers Toronto had to make that space more useable and understandable, with a coherent directional signage Most people were interested but no one felt responsible

10. 1986: the City fund a feasibility study on a directional signage Toronto’s underground city : "PATH" Simplified map of the system designed to identify entrances and what building lay ahead in each direction PATH installed in 1992 Total cost: about $2 million, half paid by the City and the other half by the private property owners

11. THE MONTREAL’S INDOOR PEDESTRIAN NETWORK Almost entirely underground

13. Indoor pedestrian network, known internationally as the Underground city 1962 : opening of Place Ville-Marie, Subway opening in 1966 Fueled by a public-private partnership Only the private sector is paying for the public utilities Let’s take a look now at three basic conditions or criteria explaining the development of this indoor city

14. THREE BASIC CONDITIONS 1) climatic justification: Winter: 4 to 5 months –30 degrees C Summer: hot temperature + 25 to + 35 degrees C and 100 % humidity Indoor city widens over 12 months the commercial and socio-cultural activities of its CBD, otherwise only possible during the warm season

15. 2) convenient urban fabric, CBD compact, squeezed between the St-Lawrence River and by the Mount Royal 15 square kilometers / rectangular shape East west orientation of the main arteries and 2 of the subway lines in the center Parallel subway lines distant of 750 meters

16. 3) subway Montreal indoor pedestrian network connected to 10 of the 65 stations of its subway Stations accessible from the street, through the lobby of the nearby buildings From the subway stations, spread the 32 kilometers of the network

17. PROJECTS AND PEOPLES Indoor city began in 1962 with Place Ville-Marie Ieoh Ming Pei Basic conditions, plus: Opportunity to plan at a large-scale, to have visionary people make decisions at the right time.

18. Innovation : multifunctional and multi-level with an underground commercial galleria and complete segregation of pedestrians and cars. The beginning: Project linked to the Central Station with two pedestrian tunnels under a major boulevard Open in 1962: 465,000 m2 of interconnected floor spaces

19. EXPROPRIATION & DESIGN OF THE STATIONS 1962: Choice of the new subway lines location 2 parallels lines located under secondary and undeveloped streets, with less expensive land to buy or to expropriate

20. Expropriation City can use the land it owns to extend its underground subway without formalities City cannot encroach on private property, on the surface or underground Expropriation law allows the City to dig a tunnel for the subway under any private property at a depth of more than 10 meters

21. City becomes owner of the tunnel as well as of a thickness of 5 meters surrounding the interior concrete wall of the tunnel, all this without formality or indemnity to the landowner City becomes holder of a legal servitude established in favor of the volume of the tunnel and restricting the stress applied to the upper surface of the volume to 250 kilopascals City has to advise the private owner of the date work will begin Recourse for the private owner : bring a lawsuit against the City, if he can prove that his building have been damaged as a result of the metro work

22. If the planned station and tunnel not deeper than 10 m., City acquire the property right of this lot by an agreement with its owner or by expropriating him Expropriating: long process that may end two or three years after the City has expropriated City can begin work, having not to wait for a decision of the court City become owner of the expropriated property three months after the notice of expropriation A provisional indemnity equal to 70% of the initial offer made to the expropriated party must be paid Court usually renders its decision and City pays the final indemnity, with interest

23. Design of the stations City bought more land than necessary both side of the planned subway lines Stations built in an open trench then covered (cut-and-cover) Stations feature wide mezzanines, at the second or third basement levels of the nearby buildings

24. Access to stations through the buildings lobbies Architectural variety Stations’ architecture to different consultants Variety of volumes and atmospheres improving the underground image Corridors’ minimal dimensions: 3 meters height and 5 meters width and more if with commercial shops along

25. Stations are public places Obligation to avoid treating the subway stations like an interior Resistant materials as outside Visual experience

26. Generous indoor volumes Plenty of natural light 1% of the station construction budget to artworks Montreal subway is one of the most interesting underground art galleries in the world

27. FAVORABLE LAND DEVELOPMENT POLICY In 1964, the City put excess expropriated land located on both sides of the subway lines up for sale. Also: Sale by public tender of air rights

28. Subway opened in 1966, just in time for the Expo ’67 1969: Ten buildings already connected to the subway stations

29. Olympic Games planned for 1976 East downtown: the 1stPlan d’ensemble - a step to inter-connecting the 2 subway lines by a continuous series of buildings with their indoor pedestrian corridors

30. 11 kilometers in 1984 Network has grown to 21 km in 1989 New phenomenon: linkage of new buildings to already linked existing buildings Need, in the CBD, for new commercial investments to compete with suburban shopping centers

31. Early 90s three major office tower projects connected to a subway station, using this plus-value in the marketing of their renting spaces

32. 2001 – 2005 : Latest addition to the pedestrian network : International District (QIM) Concentration of international activities and a high-standard concept QIM : involvement of the district property owners, organised in an association

33. QIM: Voluntary contribution of $8 million made through a local improvement tax for the improvement of the public domain, and to the extension of the pedestrian network

34. Underground City is a realization of the private sector Developers continue to build their projects with new pedestrian links to the network Montreal possesses a unique urban infrastructure Montreal’s underground network : a model of public-private partnership

35. INCENTIVE TOOLS Win-Win development approach Simple municipal planning tools: - land banking and the long term leases - occupation of the public domain under streets - closing and the granting of unused laneways - non-calculation of the basements in the FAR of a project development agreement

36. Long term leases: Granting by public tenders, with long-term leases of 63 years, of the excess land expropriated for the subway stations Aerial rights to the best project above or beside the Metro stations Advantageous to both the City and developers

37. Conditions stipulated in the leases: - minimum and maximum height of the building - minimum FAR (floor area ratio) direct access to the Metro station with an entrance from the street - a bus bay near this entrance - a public right of way, into the building, from the station to the street to obtain a protected access to the subway - number of indoor parking spaces in the basement reduced because of the link to the Metro

38. Coordination amongst its own Departments involving: the planners, the engineers and the architects of the City, the Metro operator, the public utilities operators the departments of the police, the firefighters and the law

39. Occupation of the public domain: Permission to occupy the public land with a tunnel, beneath street level, in return of an annual rent

40. Public domain of a municipality is inalienable, non-transferable and unsizeable How private owners have been able to build pedestrian passageways under public property belonging to a municipality? In the Charter of the City: private owners may build pedestrian passageways under public property, for the greater benefit of the citizens and only by renting the required space under certain conditions

41. Special by-law allowing the Public Works Department to prepare a contract with the developer Content: description of the permanent or temporary occupation of the public domain, above as well as under sidewalks, streets, lanes, parks and rivers conditions and the amount of the rent list of technical and financial obligations to the developer, such as removing and relocating the water pipes, sewage system and gas pipes and the repairing of streets and sidewalks measures to ensure the protection of the public, as the quality of the materials used, the installation of firebreak doors, the roll-up gate, the waterproof membranes

42. Authorization not transferable without the express agreement of the City In force for 75 years Rent established accordingly to the market value of the lands located in the same area Applicant assume the entire responsibility for any damages that could result from the tunnel he intends to dig City requires a public right of way in the building to access the subway station during operation hours , from 6 AM to 1 AM Right-of-way at each level of the proposed building indicated in the drawings and annexed to the contract Time limit to begin the works

43. Any future linkage to the surrounding buildings indicated in the construction drawings, and knock-out panel in the foundation walls provided by the applicant Applicant cannot refuse or ask any indemnity from a neighboring owner wishing to be linked Applicant assumes the cost of maintenance for the whole duration of the agreement Applicant will benefit from the pedestrian flux coming from and to the subway stations: potential consumers and profits

44. Granting of laneways Selling of unused laneways for a re-allotment required for large real estate complexes Adjacent owners of such a lane have to agree to its closing City transfers the lane from the public to the private domain After, a sale to the developer can be done by the City Developer has an obligation to build a tunnel and give a public right of way into its building

45. Floor area bonus Until 1990, City never calculated the floor area under the ground level in the FAR of a new project A floor area bonus for developers Since 1990, Master plan demands that the commercial floor areas under the street level be included in the FAR calculations

46. Development agreement(Plan d’ensemble) The most powerful tool : development agreement Softening of the zoning rules, regarding the allowed density and the number of required indoor public parking spaces In return of urban and architectural improvements to their projects, and a direct linkage to a Metro station or to an already connected building

47. Negotiations take form of a By-law adopted by the City Council Public consultation required before its adoption

48. POLICIES AND GUIDELINES Stakeholders: by maintaining an open dialogue and setting a partnership between the City and the Metro operator, but also between the City and the developers; by setting the rules clearly; by giving (non monetary) incentives to private developers in compensation to their financial involvement;

49. Planning process: by putting the users, namely the downtown employees, the students, the elderly, the women, the handicapped persons and the tourist in the center of our preoccupation; by keeping a good balance between the three functions of the network, namely the commercial, the transportation and the social ones; by careful planning, taking care of the future; by monitoring its activities and by identifying any potential problems;

50. Network design: by renting the public space, beneath streets, to the developers; by imposing public access servitude on private property in order to insure the full openness of the network; by linking the two subway lines together with buildings providing a continuous corridor; by linking two subway stations of a same line with pedestrian corridors, if one is overcrowded