Proposed 21-Acre Raildeck Park Could Bring Much-Needed Green Space to Downtown Toronto

Torontoist

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Proposed 21-Acre Raildeck Park Could Bring Much-Needed Green Space to Downtown Toronto

Cost and timeline have not yet been determined.

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Photo courtesy of Jennifer Keesmaat on Twitter.

Photo courtesy of Jennifer Keesmaat on Twitter.

The growing downtown core could become increasingly connected with the addition of a 21-acre park above the rail corridor between Bathurst and Blue Jays Way.

Invoking the image of Toronto as a “city of parks,” John Tory noted that in recent years the city’s downtown core has not seen adequate growth in parkland despite its rapid development.

Tory told media the park, which would span across Bathurst Street to the Rogers Centre, would take at minimum four to five years to build, and a cost has not yet been calculated. (Other parks, by comparison, have cost upwards of tens of millions of dollars per acre.) But the City says adding more green space, especially in building-dense downtown areas, is the main priority. “We need to ensure we’re building neighbourhoods, building communities, not just building towers,” says Councillor Joe Cressy (Ward 20, Trinity-Spadina), who has been advocating for more city park space. In July, Cressy proposed un-paving a parking lot near King and Spadina to create more green space downtown. Online, Torontonians are already championing the plan.

Tory’s proposal will be brought before the City’s Executive Committee in September, where implementation and public consultation plans will be unveiled.

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