Last week, the City released its report from the December 11th meeting and survey that closed on January 4th.
Throughout 2018, we pushed repeatedly for the public consultation that had been promised and were extremely disappointed when the December drop-in event, not a consultation, was announced.
At that event, the City announced that to comply with provincial regulations, the dog park could not return to the top of the reservoir. That created an opportunity to expand the tennis courts and develop a better dog park.
Tennis Courts
There is more demand for court time than the club can provide from both the local community and surrounding areas. Across the city, demand is overwhelming for racquet sport courts. Increasing available court space aligns with the City’s sports plan and Tennis Excellence Framework. The reservoir rehabilitation offers a unique opportunity to expand an important local asset.
Dog Park
Moving the dog park off the top of the reservoir down to the grassy area just east of the Spadina Bridge could be a wonderful solution. There is a lot of space, varied terrain and shade. Like the tennis courts, the old dog park was extremely busy and accommodated a large number of dogs. Unfortunately the proposed off-leash will be half the size of the previous space. It will be surfaced with pea gravel, a material widely disliked, and tough to access for anyone with mobility limitations. We have repeatedly requested the rationale for the plan since it was unveiled on December 11th.
The City ran a simple survey at the event that was also available online until January 4th:
Dog Park
Option A: Dogs Off-Leash Area is relocated to proposed area
Option B: Dogs Off-Leash Area is removed from park (proposed location would be planted with grass and restored to previous condition)
Tennis Courts
Option A: Two (2) or three (3) tennis courts are added to the proposed area
Option B: No tennis courts are added to the proposed area
Despite its simplicity, it took a full six weeks to release the results [February 15th].
On the 20th, we met with Councillor Josh Matlow to discuss our concerns about the process. It was an excellent meeting and we are looking forward to working with him. He asked thoughtful, incisive questions and a second meeting is planned for next week.
Please send us your thoughts about the December event and what the City has proposed.
