parks in crisis part 4 - a tale of two parks

8/19/2019 PARKS in CRISIS Part 4 - A Tale of Two Parks

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PARKS IN CRISIS part 4:A tale of two parksAPRIL 16, 2015 | BY JOHN LORINC

By John Lorinc and Alex Steep

Over the past few years, the city has seen a handful of examples of

park construction that oer impressive illustrations of how

intensication and forward-looking public space planning can proceed

hand-in-hand. Waterfront oronto developed !orktown !ommon not as

an afterthought, but rather as a focal point for the !anary "istrict, in

the West "onlands.

http://spacing.ca/toronto/2015/04/16/parks-crisis-part-4-tale-two-parks/http://spacing.ca/toronto/author/john/http://www.friendsofcorktowncommon.com/sample-page/about-the-park/http://spacing.ca/toronto/author/john/http://www.friendsofcorktowncommon.com/sample-page/about-the-park/http://spacing.ca/toronto/2015/04/16/parks-crisis-part-4-tale-two-parks/


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#ot far away, the !ity and oronto !ommunity $ousing, with strong

encouragement from developer "aniels !orp., established the

eponymously named %egent &ark, on "undas 'ast west of &arliament,

as an anchor space in the middle of the mixed use(mixed income

pro)ects going up on the old %egent &ark lands.

*ut for each of these examples, there are many more where high

density development has no obvious connection to any kind of public

space ac+uisition strategy. nd there are also cases where the citys

parkland investment plan seem troublingly disconnected from existing

policy goals.

$erewith, a tale of two such parks.

College Park: A missed opportunity

*esides the parkette in iberty /illage, the oddly-shaped swath of open

space south of !ollege &ark may serve the highest concentration of

local residents anywhere in oronto. butted on three sides by high rise

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Liberty+Village+Park/@43.638682,-79.413957,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m2!3m1!1s0x882b351cb1503b45:0x4a8f7b5fa8930a61https://www.google.com/maps/place/college+park+toronto/@43.661355,-79.383113,15z/data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x0:0x70608591c9ba10d2?sa=X&ei=oBMvVfH1FMmtyASXroHIAQ&ved=0CI8BEPwSMA8https://www.google.com/maps/place/Liberty+Village+Park/@43.638682,-79.413957,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m2!3m1!1s0x882b351cb1503b45:0x4a8f7b5fa8930a61https://www.google.com/maps/place/college+park+toronto/@43.661355,-79.383113,15z/data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x0:0x70608591c9ba10d2?sa=X&ei=oBMvVfH1FMmtyASXroHIAQ&ved=0CI8BEPwSMA8


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condos, including the two %esidences of !ollege &ark condos 012 and

23 storeys4 and the massive 562-unit 7% tower 0!anderel

8toneridge4, and !ollege 8treet o9ce complexes on the fourth side,

!ollege &ark is an outdoor room that serves thousands of condo

dwellers.

:t should be one of orontos great urban s+uares. ;et !ollege &ark has

limped along for years as an increasingly neglected space, and,

according to documents obtained by Spacing under access to

information re+uests, planned improvements will be done on the

cheap, with no contribution from the citys vast parkland reserves, 256 and 31.

fter consulting with the residents stakeholder committee, F*W, a

landscape architecture rm retained by the !ity, produced a C1.2

http://canderel.com/residential/aura-condominiums-college-parkhttp://canderel.com/residential/aura-condominiums-college-parkhttp://news.nationalpost.com/toronto/toronto-plans-to-scrap-skating-rink-dedicated-to-barbara-ann-scott-months-after-olympic-champions-deathhttp://www.mbtw.com/http://canderel.com/residential/aura-condominiums-college-parkhttp://canderel.com/residential/aura-condominiums-college-parkhttp://news.nationalpost.com/toronto/toronto-plans-to-scrap-skating-rink-dedicated-to-barbara-ann-scott-months-after-olympic-champions-deathhttp://www.mbtw.com/


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million plan that called for re-establishing the rink and the change

house. *ut in pril, 3D, a design review panel tore into F*Ws

concept, saying it couldnt be built for the approved budget and didnt

meet the residents desire for a tran+uil green space, such as eardrop

&ark, a >Wellesley happen. ?We have to be very strategic about how we deploy

8ection 13 local park improvement HfundsI.A

http://asla.org/2009awards/001.htmlhttp://asla.org/2009awards/001.htmlhttp://www1.toronto.ca/City%20Of%20Toronto/Parks%20Forestry%20&%20Recreation/02Parks%20and%20Trails/Park%20Projects%20and%20Improvements/Files/pdf/final_concept.pdfhttp://asla.org/2009awards/001.htmlhttp://asla.org/2009awards/001.htmlhttp://www1.toronto.ca/City%20Of%20Toronto/Parks%20Forestry%20&%20Recreation/02Parks%20and%20Trails/Park%20Projects%20and%20Improvements/Files/pdf/final_concept.pdf


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81 S!eppard: S"!ool sites and opa#ue land deals

:n 3


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partnership scheme that remains unresolved many years after it was

initially disclosed to the public.

:nitially, the city wanted to buy >.2 ha on the southern portion of the

site, and sought to partner with he oronto $eschel 8chool, a fast-

growing Jewish parochial academy that wanted the school building on

the northern portion. 0he oronto "istrict 8chool *oard had declared

the school surplus.4 7nder the proposed agreement, the city would buy

the entire site and the private school would buy back the building on

the northern half, leaving the city with new community park space on

the rest of the large tract.

:n a 8eptember 3


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s for the park, &asternak remains optimistic it will receive even more

investment from the parkland improvement fund M play structures,

landscaping and some other programming N once the ownership

issues are ironed out. ?heres enormous potential there to take the

southern part and turn it into a ne neighbourhood park,A he says. ?:n

the long run, it will be a ma)or community asset.A

Part 1: All built up but no place to grow

Part 2: Where the money fow

Part !: "he peril o# cah$in$lieu

Part ! idebar: Section %2 explained

Part %: "he tale o# two par&

Part ': "he ytem wor&ed (lowly) #or a wet end par&

Part *: Are pri+ately$owned public pace the anwer to par& de,cit-

top and middle photo by Wylie Poon

3 COMMENTSNeither the author nor Spacing necessarily agrees with posted comments. Spacing reserves theright to edit or delete comments entirely. See our !omment &olicy.

>. Sean Galbraith

11 ON!HS AGO

We must be strategic in our paralysis in how not to create a plan for spending themoney on desperately, and obviously, needed improvements. Clearly, this is thebest way to proceed.

3. !ri"ha

11 ON!HS AGO

If parks fees are supposed to be used on the creation of new parks, KristynWong!am is totally right to use the funding towards "" Wellesley. !hese articles

are technically about the creation of new park spaces, not renovating our e#istingones. !he renovation of college park would do little to actually resolve any parkscrisis.

I$m also not sure you can blame the city about a landscape firm creating a parkdesign that e#ceeds the city budget they were supposed to stick to by nearly%&'.

D. #a$

http://spacing.ca/toronto/2015/04/13/parks-in-crisis-part-1-all-built-up-and-no-place-to-go/http://spacing.ca/toronto/2015/04/14/parks-crisis-part-2-money-flows/http://spacing.ca/toronto/2015/04/15/parks-crisis-perils-cash-lieu/http://spacing.ca/toronto/2015/04/15/parks-crisis-sidebar-section-42-works/http://spacing.ca/toronto/2015/04/16/parks-crisis-part-4-tale-two-parks/http://spacing.ca/toronto/2015/04/17/parks-crisis-wabash-park-system-actually-worked/http://spacing.ca/toronto/2015/04/21/parks-crisis-part-6-privately-owned-public-spaces-answer-parks-deficit/http://spacing.ca/comment-policy/http://www.seangalbraith.com/http://spacing.ca/toronto/2015/04/16/parks-crisis-part-4-tale-two-parks/#comment-783672http://spacing.ca/toronto/2015/04/16/parks-crisis-part-4-tale-two-parks/#comment-783675http://spacing.ca/toronto/2015/04/13/parks-in-crisis-part-1-all-built-up-and-no-place-to-go/http://spacing.ca/toronto/2015/04/14/parks-crisis-part-2-money-flows/http://spacing.ca/toronto/2015/04/15/parks-crisis-perils-cash-lieu/http://spacing.ca/toronto/2015/04/15/parks-crisis-sidebar-section-42-works/http://spacing.ca/toronto/2015/04/16/parks-crisis-part-4-tale-two-parks/http://spacing.ca/toronto/2015/04/17/parks-crisis-wabash-park-system-actually-worked/http://spacing.ca/toronto/2015/04/21/parks-crisis-part-6-privately-owned-public-spaces-answer-parks-deficit/http://spacing.ca/comment-policy/http://www.seangalbraith.com/http://spacing.ca/toronto/2015/04/16/parks-crisis-part-4-tale-two-parks/#comment-783672http://spacing.ca/toronto/2015/04/16/parks-crisis-part-4-tale-two-parks/#comment-783675


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11 ON!HS AGO

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