‘Downtown has not kept up at all’: Pressure on Toronto parks grows as population climbs

For a agelong time, nan parks, parkettes and ravines scattered astir Toronto were regarded arsenic “nice to have” and arsenic “frills,” advocator Dave Harvey says, but now he believes group person travel to spot them arsenic captious infrastructure akin to schools, roads and hospitals.

Harvey, nan co-executive head of Park People, told Global News nan pandemic was a cardinal infinitesimal for galore successful nan city, who went from appreciating their section greenish spaces to categorizing them arsenic 1 of nan astir important things successful their lives.

“We heard those stories during nan pandemic of group saying that parks virtually were their lifesavers,” he said.

But entree to those lifesavers successful Toronto is slow dripping away.

The metropolis is each but built up, pinch a slew of caller towers increasing crossed nan city, peculiarly successful nan downtown. Those caller buildings are expanding Toronto’s organization and reducing nan mean magnitude of parkland disposable to each resident.

Data shows that, while nan full magnitude of parkland successful Toronto grew marginally successful nan past decade, nan city’s organization grew overmuch faster.

Between 2011 and 2021, nan census shows astir 180,000 caller group came to telephone Toronto home. At nan aforesaid time, information from nan metropolis shows it added astir 19 acres of parkland. Over nan past decade, nan magnitude of parkland per 1,000 group dropped from 31 to 29 hectares — and it could get worse.

“My ward is full, there’s nary vacant unused onshore aliases almost none, truthful to get caller parks we person to bargain and tear down buildings, that’s wherever we are now,” downtown Ward 11 Coun. Dianne Saxe told Global News.

The creation of caller parks successful nan city’s halfway is simply a costly workout pinch nary abstraction near to build. To build a caller parkland aliases caller parkland, nan metropolis mostly has to find existing buildings, bargain them astatine marketplace rates and bulldoze them.

“The caller hold to Yorkville Park is going to beryllium by tearing down an agency building,” Saxe said. “I americium moving astatine having an important, again, mini caller parkland by tearing down different agency building. There are places we tin grow parks by buying and tearing down houses but location isn’t anyplace else.”

The mostly of caller homes successful Toronto besides don’t person backyards. Census information shows that betwixt 2016 and 2021, astir 48,000 caller homes were occupied successful Toronto — 49,000 were caller units successful flat buildings complete 5 storeys, while nan metropolis mislaid a number of apartments successful buildings nether 5 storeys successful that clip and added conscionable complete 1,000 statement houses.

The City of Toronto admits that a increasing organization intends much group utilizing existing greenish space.

“Toronto is experiencing important organization growth, which places unit connected nan parks strategy to supply capable abstraction for progressive recreation uses and entree to greenish space,” a spokesperson said.

Harvey said nan “downtown has not kept up astatine all” pinch its parkland needs arsenic caller towers person sprung up.

Some judge changes successful really developers money parkland brought successful by nan provincial authorities will person a devastating effect connected greenish abstraction and will make nan problem worse.

Through a bid of lodging laws — known to nan state arsenic Housing Supply Action Plans — nan Ford authorities has changed nan parkland developers request to connection to cities, aliases really overmuch rate they request to connection successful lieu of land. The magnitude of onshore condo buildings person to offer, successful particular, was reduced.

“Our parks are nether tremendous unit — a mates of things person happened successful nan past 2 years that person made it overmuch worse,” Saxe said.

“The first is for Doug Ford; he has slashed nan magnitude of parkland that caller developers are required to springiness to nan city, which is horrendous because we desperately request that parkland. He has slashed by hundreds of millions of dollars a twelvemonth nan magnitude of money that nan metropolis gets from developers for infrastructure of each kinds…. We request that money to build caller parks.”

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Similarly, nan City of Toronto said changes from nan Ford authorities person “negatively affected” really overmuch onshore it receives to build caller parks.

A spokesperson for nan curate of municipal affairs and lodging said an overhaul of nan rules was made to “increase transparency and accountability of these parkland dedication requirements” and suggested that adding nan costs of parkland to developers could worsen location prices.

“We besides cognize that nan state is successful nan midst of a lodging proviso situation which tin only beryllium solved by building much homes,” nan spokesperson said.

“This is why nan authorities has made changes to parkland dedication requirements to trim home-building costs and promote nan building of much homes.”

Harvey from Park People said greenish abstraction successful a metropolis is “way much than conscionable a spot of writer and immoderate trees” and is among nan astir important things that tin beryllium provided.

“Parks person go perfectly basal municipality infrastructure,” he said. “It’s wherever we spell to get a break from things, it’s basal for our beingness and intelligence health. So they service truthful galore different functions.”

He said Toronto is “quite lucky” pinch nan magnitude of parkland it has, peculiarly compared pinch different cities successful North America. Along nan rima of nan Don River, for example, he lauded ongoing efforts to build acres of caller parkland arsenic portion of nan eager Portlands naturalization project.

Both Saxe and Harvey besides raised concerns astir entree to nan parks Toronto already has.

“We person an unthinkable valley strategy successful Toronto … but for galore communities, peculiarly successful equity-deserving areas, they’re rather adjacent to nan ravines, they could beryllium successful building communities overlooking a beautiful valley but it’s really difficult to get down there,” he said.

Saxe said encampments for group experiencing homelessness successful nan downtown had besides dramatically reduced entree to existing greenish space.

“(One) large situation to our parks is nan encampments — we’ve done a very mediocre occupation of defending and looking aft our parks and taking them backmost for nan mostly of people,” she said.

“Almost each nan group successful my ward are terribly park-deficient and a number of nan parks and nationalist spaces that we do person have been taken complete truthful that group for illustration maine aren’t safe there.”