Proposal for residential development to pay for park

Anna Mehler Paperny – Globe and Mail

In 1943, it was the centre of Toronto’s Second World War aviation effort.

In 1994, the federal government announced its future as a massive national park.

Next week, the Downsview plan goes before North York community council when councillors vote on the latest iteration of the city’s proposals for the area, which make provision not only for 100 hectares of parkland, but for thousands of units of mixed-use residential development intended to pay for it.

If the vote passes and sends the proposed Downsview Secondary Plan to city council, it will set in motion plans 16 years in the making.

But Michael Baigel would really rather it didn’t.

“It’s a dreadful plan,” he said. “It was meant to be a national park … a real gem in the city.”

But plans for the Parc Downsview Park rely on turning much of the site – running from Keele Street in the west to Wilson Heights in the east and as far north as Sheppard Avenue – into intensified residential developments in order to raise money for the park itself, which is meant to be self-funding.

“They want to make it like downtown,” Mr. Baigel laments – something he moved to Toronto from Manchester, England, specifically to avoid.

“The reason people live in the suburbs is because they want to live in the suburbs. They don’t want to live in condos.”

Plans for the site have ruffled more than a few residential feathers in the various neighbourhoods bordering the park. But one of the most offensive is the proposal to remove ramps on and off Allen Road from Wilson Heights Boulevard.

The plan to foster “transit-supported mixed-use communities” includes 400,000 square metres of mixed-use development and a transportation plan that emphasizes transit use and provides for an internal pedestrian and bicycle network.

But residents argue this would add to already clogged traffic and force commuting motorists into residential areas.

Local councillor Mike Feldman is putting forward an amendment at the June 22 meeting asking city staff to shelve plans to remove the ramps, at least until residential development transforms the area enough for different traffic systems to make sense.

Apart from that detail, he said, the secondary plan is “a nice first step” for a project that, like a growing number of public initiatives across the city, will attempt to pay for itself by leveraging the real estate value of the land on which it sits.

But Mr. Baigel would rather see the plan scrapped altogether. He fears Torontonians “will never get that greenery back again.”

“They’ll make one area residential and then a few years later another bit will get developed. Eventually it’ll all disappear. Over 50 years, we’re going to lose that park in the centre of Toronto. … It’s going to be chipped away at.”

————————————————————————————————————–

Contact the Jeffrey Team for more information  –  416-388-1960

————————————————————————————————————–