{"id":55656,"date":"2016-08-03T22:56:47","date_gmt":"2016-08-04T02:56:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/?p=55656"},"modified":"2016-08-04T12:08:26","modified_gmt":"2016-08-04T16:08:26","slug":"ambitious-rail-deck-park-proposal-announced","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2016\/08\/03\/ambitious-rail-deck-park-proposal-announced\/","title":{"rendered":"Ambitious rail deck park proposal announced"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today, Mayor John Tory and Ward 20 Councillor Joe Cressy announced plans for the protection of 21 acres of land in the downtown core for future use as a major city park. Or perhaps more accurately, Tory and Cressy, with Jennifer Keesmaat, MP Adam Vaughan, and Councillor Glenn de Baeremaeker on hand, announced plans for the creation <\/em>of 21 acres of land: the ambitious park plan calls for decking over the railway yards between Bathurst Street and Blue Jays Way and the creation of a \u201csignature Toronto park,\u201d which the city is calling the Rail Deck Park, on top that would connect Front Street with the CityPlace condo neighbourhood to the south.<\/p>\n

The proposed rail deck park would bring a badly-needed infusion of green space into the downtown core. \u201cAround the rail corridor, the city has been growing very quickly,\u201d said Tory at a press conference, noting that the downtown population is estimated to reach 500,000 in the next 20 years. \u201cWe\u2019ve allowed a lot of development to take place without taking a step like this,\u201d said Tory. \u201cWe cannot allow the development to take place [\u2026] and not have adequate parkland.\u201d<\/p>\n

Parklands are a badly needed infrastructure investment for downtown residents, who have far less parkland than other parts of the city. With over 18,000 families living with children downtown, and the population of Ward 20 estimated to reach as high as 70,000 in coming decades, \u201cIf you live in a condo tower, the park becomes your backyard,\u201d said Cressy. \u201cPublic spaces and community facilities, they make our cities livable and they make our neighbourhoods livable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cressy also reiterated his continued commitment to a plan to buy or expropriate<\/a> a Richmond Street parking lot for a new downtown park, near John Street. The rail deck park, however, is a larger, bigger-picture project, that Cressy and other city staff (including Keesmaat) hope will be an iconic \u201ccentral park for all of Toronto.\u201d (This they say with both implicit and explicit capitalization on \u2018central park.\u2019) \u201cThis is something special,\u201d said Cressy. \u201cUnless you plan big and invest big, you won\u2019t get the city you want.\u201d<\/p>\n

The backdrop to the announcement, made in the shadow of CityPlace, made the potential benefits of a railway-spanning park poignantly clear. As a former resident of the neighbourhood, I can say that the railway yards are an ever-present reminder of the boundary, spiritual and physical, between the largely self-contained CityPlace community and the rest of Toronto. Residents of the development are, according to Cressy, \u201cover the moon\u201d about the proposal, which would seamlessly connect Front Street with the condos along Fort York Boulevard and would deck over the primary factor in the community\u2019s physical isolation. As well, it would make the neighbourhood more attractive to families living downtown.<\/p>\n

\"Screen<\/p>\n

At the moment the proposed rail deck park isn\u2019t much more than a twinkle, albeit a substantial one, in the mayor\u2019s eye; Tory merely announced plans\u00a0to put forth an official report, which will be released and voted on in Council\u00a0later this September. The City would still need to negotiate air rights above the track, which are currently owned by CN Rail and TTR, and use of the land, which is operated in part by Metrolinx, though Tory did say that rail companies have \u201ccertainly indicated no desire to stand in our way.\u201d City Council will vote on an amendment to the Official Plan that would see the area above the railway zoned for parkland development, such that no other developments could be approved in place of the proposed park.<\/p>\n

It is further unclear, beyond the mayor, Keesmaat, and the decidedly urban-positive Cressy, what sort of political support an infrastructure project of this scope and nature would enjoy\u00a0\u2014 especially when the costs of the project are as yet unclear. Mayor Tory worked hard to dodge questions about cost, claiming that even rough estimates would not be available until the official report is put before city council this September. \u201cCost can\u2019t be outlined with precision,\u201d said Tory, \u201cbecause to some extent it\u2019s uncharted territory.\u201d (Tory\u2019s comment that Toronto too often gets hung-up on the cost of necessary infrastructure projects, in the wake of the protracted Scarborough subway extension debate, wasn\u2019t exactly an unbreakable code.)<\/p>\n

Tory, who has in recent months pushed hard for budget cuts, was also mum when it came to any questions about the source of funding for this development. He did, however, suggest that looking to similar supra-rail development projects in other large cities might give an indication of costs. The closest analogue in terms of size and scope is Chicago\u2019s Millennium Park, which cost in the ballpark of $33 million per acre, nearly 15 years ago. If this plan costs roughly the same per acre as Millennium Park did, the total cost of the park could easily surpass $600 million.<\/p>\n

If instructive, the comparisons may also be cause for concern, since the Millennium Park<\/a>, and Federation Square<\/a>\u00a0in Melbourne (another comparable project), were both beleaguered by cost overruns into the hundreds of millions of dollars; it isn\u2019t unforeseeable that such an ambitious infrastructure project may run into similar challenges in Toronto.<\/p>\n

Despite the details being fuzzy, and the scope being ambitious, there was certainly no shortage of enthusiasm among the City staff present, and a commitment to see what was being called a \u201clegacy project\u201d through to completion. \u201cIt won\u2019t happen overnight,\u201d said Cressy. \u201cIt will take years.\u201d Tory seemed especially committed, politically speaking, to the proposed park. \u201cI see a place that, once transformed,\u201d he said, \u201cwill change the Toronto landscape, and the livability and sustainability of our city.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

Photos\u00a0courtesy of Jennifer Keesmaat<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today, Mayor John Tory and Ward 20 Councillor Joe Cressy announced plans for the protection of 21 acres of land in the downtown core for future use as a major city park. 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