Mayor John Tory is sending a message to condo developers that they can't get what they want all the time.
Council voted in favour of his motions to defer three requests from builders who wanted to close a lane of traffic on Bathurst and Richmond Sts for two to three years during construction.
"(That's) a disruption that goes on for too long," he said at Friday's council meeting.
Staff have been told to go back to the developers and ask them reduce the timeline as much as possible.
Moving forward, mayor Tory wants to go further in easing the disruption that highrise construction can create.
"Certainly my wish would be that we could actually say, with the exception of the very rare case, this just can't be done," he said.
Last year, council increased the fee that developers pay for closures from $5.77 to between $26.35 to $105.41 per square metre, each month.
So far, Tory says that has not reduced the number or duration of requests the city gets for lane closures. Tory told council Friday that he would consider raising the fee further.
"The public interest has to play a greater role."