Held on Wednesday September 20, 2017 at Grace-Church-on-the-Hill, 300 Lonsdale Avenue, Toronto, M4V 1X4, 7:00pm – 9:00pm
A special thanks to Chris Leonard and Grace-Church-on-the-Hill for hosting us gratis.
Many thanks to Ken Kosen, Kate Nelischer, Carolina Vecchiarelli, Cllr. Joe Mihevc, Beth Gosnell and Diane Tomlin.
And thank you to everyone who joined us for the kick-off of the Sir Winston Churchill Park Association [SWCPA].
The meeting drew about 40 people.
Agenda Item #1: Welcome and introduction to the association
The objectives of the SWCPA is “To create, keep, and continue to develop the best park possible for residents and users”
The objectives for the meeting were outlined:
Get an update on the state of the reservoir rehabilitation and find out what is coming back and what isn’t.
Understand what the park users and residents want (from the park)
Find other volunteers to work with us.
Agenda Item #2: “What do we want?"
We began by asking what aspects of the park people in attendance were interested in.
Responses were:
1. Natural / Green space
2. Dog Park
3. Tennis
4. Sports fields / sports play
5. Accessibility
Agenda Item #3: St. Clair Reservoir Rehabilitation Update and Schedule
Ken Kosen, Senior Project Manager Engineering and Construction Services, presented an update on the renovation and rehabilitation project. The powerpoint he used is available on the city website (Toronto.ca/stclairreservoir) and is also here: Link to presentation from the City Engineering
In brief:
1. The renovation is on schedule with the park scheduled to reopen Fall 2019
2. The park will come back in the same general configuration as before with the same amenities
3. There are limitations due to the shallow depth of the park [approximately 2 ft] required to maintain the integrity of the water in the reservoir: in particular, there will be no trees or bushes with deep root systems. Planters with bushes are being considered.
Agenda Item #4: The park we want & how to get it
Councillor Mihevc outlined the process to working with councillors with regards to any changes we might want to work towards.
He urged us to see this as a blank canvas: an opportunity to create a wonderful, vibrant park.
He reminded us that time was of the essence:
1. March 2018 is the deadline for putting forward applications for any significant changes requiring budget.
2. Sir Winston Churchill is currently in Councillor Josh Matlow’s ward [22]. It is expected that boundaries may change in 6 weeks and the park will be part of Councillor Joe Mihevic’s ward [21].
Agenda Item #5: Q&A
Questions were taken from the floor. These are the broad outlines:
1. Plans for the south facing hill planting: Foliage will be planned and contain native species.
2. Plans for accessibility: Portal building stairs at the south of the park will be to new code for risers and width. Wheelchair access via a ramp was addressed: because of the gradient there may be only one or two access points for a ramp. There is a limitation to what is possible given that it is foremost a reservoir and a structure under the park.
3. Aesthetics: There was much discussion around the children's playground art structure, the possibility of creating flower gardens, and creating a park with more than just tennis courts and sports fields. (All good ideas that SWCPA could work towards)
4. Lighting: The issue of security, light pollution, and location of the posts were discussed. The relocation of the posts for sports play has already been considered in the rehabilitation.
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5. General planning for parks: The City has landscape and urban planners that can wor with SWCPA. Also, if necessary, they do hire them for specific projects.
6. Access to monies from developers currently building condos at St Clair and Avenue Road: These are and will remain outside of Councillor Mihevc's ward and maybe already assigned but there may be opportunities re: the new development at St Clair and Bathurst.
The main message was that WE need to work together and bring forward our great ideas and create a vision for the park — and we need to begin quickly.
The city and its landscape planning staff will help once we present an initial plan.
Agenda Item #6: Next steps
A number of people came forward at the end of the meeting offering to help establish the association’s formal structure, work on committees.
We would like to move quickly and have our next meeting soon.
A. Topics
The next meeting will be a working meeting, with the topics governed by the feedback we receive from you though the website.
B. Timing:
Please let us know your availability the week of October 16th using this form: https://goo.gl/forms/g4r3egqgmq21OVEG3
(Tuesday, October 17th, 7pm, Wednesday, October 18th, 7pm, Sunday, October 22nd, 3pm)
C. Venue
We are looking for a free venue that can accommodate 5-60 people. If anyone can help with this, please let us know.
And please spread word about the Association and its website at swcpark.org
We’d like to thank everyone who came out and helped us with setting up this meeting including Kevin Connelly and Paul Cuthbert.