Hopes of Rail Deck Park ever coming to fruition in downtown Toronto may have been quashed by the former Local Planning Appeal Tribunal (LPAT) early last year, but a similarly styled park could potentially make its way to midtown.
On Thursday, the City and CreateTO held a public presentation of their plans to revamp the Davisville TTC yard by decking over it and creating a "multi-functional signature public park." Although the proposed park would be much smaller in size than the previously hoped for 8.3-hectare Rail Deck Park, it would add at least one hectare of green space to the midtown area.
City Council has been looking into the possibility of a park here since 2018 when it directed city staff to investigate the feasibility of "decking over the open subway trench located between Chaplin Crescent and Berwick Avenue for a new, major linear park space." It came about as part of the Midtown Parks and Public Real Plan, also endorsed in 2018, that highlighted the Davisville yard as a "major opportunity to deliver a mixed-use office district with a signature public park."
The City has also outlined plans to redevelop the TTC headquarters at 1900 Yonge Street, known as the William McBrien Building, and add high-rise towers containing office space and residential units. This is part of the ModernTO strategy that identified eight city-owned buildings to be consolidated, thereby freeing up the properties to be redeveloped into affordable housing, offices, and community infrastructure.
City Councillor for Toronto-St. Paul’s Josh Matlow approved of the proposed park and redevelopment plans, noting it as important opportunity to improve the neighbourhood. Many community members, he says, have been asking for increased green space for quite some time.
"I see a historic opportunity to expand Oriole Park, improve local streetscapes and infrastructure, and provide much needed social services, cultural and recreational spaces and affordable rental housing," Matlow said. "Midtown is a growing community and we can, if we choose to, deck over the subway tracks, improve the Davisville yards, and provide much needed services and green space to support a quality of life."
The biggest issue with getting Rail Deck Park built was a matter of air rights. The majority of the air rights needed to build Rail Deck Park were owned by a private developer who is planning their own multi-tower development for the space. Although the City tried to stop the development from moving forward by appealing it to the former LPAT, the tribunal sided with the developer, stating that the City hadn’t taken any substantive steps over the last nearly five years to advance its park plan.
The Davisville Yard park, however, won't face any similar issues as the site is already owned by the City.
Various ideas for what the park could include will be presented to the community to gather feedback once the ability to build a park there has been confirmed, Matlow said. And although the plans will include market housing in the residential redevelopment component, the portion of affordable units will be larger than what's seen in a typical condo development.
"The focus here will be on the community needs and any redevelopment will support investing into the community benefits," Matlow said.
