Lower Don Trail Master Plan Refresh

Public Open House_September 17 2019

1 Lower Don Trail Master Plan Refresh 2018-ongoing Partnership between City of and Evergreen Corktown Common to the Forks of East and West Don

8.1 kilometres of Trail 2.4x size of

2 Project Purpose

The Master Plan Refresh: yy Provides high level direction and identifies potential future projects. yy Considers that each project (or bundle of projects) will have its own design process and engagement activities. yy Does not make commitments to funding or timing.

3 Process

4 2003 Plan Context + Continuum Precinct Plan 2006 Evergreen Brick Works

2007 Lower Don Lands Competition late 1980s Task Force 2015 to Bring Back Evergreen_Don River Charrette the Don 2016 DRVP Case for Support “Super Park” Announcement

2019 Lower Don Phase 2 Improvements

2018 Parkland Strategy early-mid 90s TO Core Parks + Public Realm Lower Don Trail Unilever Precinct Plan Queen St. Staircase Port Lands Planning Framework Restoration Efforts Lower Don Trail MP Update 2017 Ravine Strategy 2014 Lower Don Phase 1 Improvements

2013 Lower Don Trail Access, Environment and Art MP

5 Context: Why This is Important.

6 Love/Hate/Love

7 8 9 1890 to c.1910 Lower Don Straightening and Don Roadway

10 1890 to c.1910 Lower Don Straightening and Don Roadway

11 1890 to c.1910 Estuary Draining for Port Lands

12 1950s Don Valley Parkway

13 1960s Baseball Stadium Location Study

14 1989 Task Force to Bring Back the Don

15 1991

16 80,000 + New Residents

The intensification and development of new communities in the Lower Don Valley neighbourhoods will bring over 80,000 estimated new residents into the core of the city.

17 West Don Lands

18 West Don Lands/Pan Am Village

19 Corktown Common

20 Evergreen Brick Works

21 Lower Don Lands

22 Lower Don Lands

23 Lower Don Trail Access, Environment and Art Master Plan 2013

24 Lower Don Trail Access, Environment and Art Master Plan 2013

Themes Conceptual Framework Demonstration Plan yy Access + Connectivity yy Landscape Connectivity yy 21 Potential Projects in 2 Main Categories yy Environment + yy Parallel Routes Habitat Restoration »» Management and yy Links + Loops Improvements to yy Public Art + Interpretation Existing Infrastructure yy Precincts + Nodes »» New Infrastructure yy Phased Implementation yy Opportunities for Future Exploration

25 Improve the Trail

26 New River Crossings

27 New Access to Valley

28 Rethink

29 New Parks

30 Charrette 2015

DESIGN CHARRETTE STUDENT 31 PARTICIPANTS PARTICIPANTS Group 1: RYERSON Claude Cormier UNIVERSITY Alex Bozikovic Anthony Smith Alissa North Andrea Mantin Group 1: David O’hara DON RIVER Andy Gavel John Hillier Taylor Marquis Marc Hallé Scott Torrance Group 1: Mark Wilson Wayne Coutinho DESIGN CHARETTE Meg Graham Kelly Graham Mark Ross / FALL 2015 Greg Smallenberg Group 1: Kara Riggio Emma Abramowicz Kristina Reinders Neil Loewen Group 2: IN FALL 2015, Evergreen brought together over 75 landscape architects and designers, STUDENT architects and urban planners, City and Toronto Region Conversation Authority staff, Brian Denney PARTICIPANTS artists and students from Ryerson University’s Ecological Design Lab and the University of Craig Lametti UNIVERSITY David Leinster Toronto’s Master of Landscape Architecture in a design charette to ‘Imagine a Don Valley OF TORONTO: Marc Ryan Group 1: Neighbourhood’. The groups were asked to address a big question: how can the Lower Mary Tremain Afshin Afshari Netami Stuart Don landscape from Corktown Common to Evergreen Brick Works be the centrepiece for Jordan Duke Canada’s largest city and how can it inspire the world? Over three days, three design teams Ruthanne Henry Shirley Blumberg Jasper Flores strategized creative solutions to imagine a bold design vision for the Lower Don River – Nina-Marie Lister Nicholas Gosselin not as a linear corridor, but as a vast river valley in the centre of our city, a vibrant urban Andy Chisholm Ameneh Kadivar park with a coherent and strong identity, and the collective backyard for over 250,000+ Chris Veres Kono Asuka Jianing Chee Torontonians. The energy and ideas generated by charette participants was outstanding Carolyn Woodland Aisling O’Carroll Andrey Chernykh and has significantly shaped the vision for the Don River Valley Park. Evergreen gratefully Deanne Mighton Sandra Cook acknowledges the contributions of all of the charette participants. Leo Desorcy Leonard Flot Michael Van Valkenburgh Wenting Li

Group 3: Group 2: Ferrucio Sardella Jordan Lypkie Chris Pommer Anita Manitius Garth Armour Emma Mendel Heidi Campbell Tamar Pister Jeffrey Staates Kamila Grigo Lisa Prime Andrew Hooke Mark Reid Shui Ko Janet Rosenberg Tom Kwok Chris Glaisek Kaitlyn Pelletier Ralph Giannone Brent Raymond Group 3: Julia Murnaghan Anna Rosen Gary Miedema Dayne Roy-Caldwell Harold Madi Jaclyn Ryback Jim Sackville Nate Wilner Shan Yang Floaters: Rachel Salmela Alun Lloyd Hannah Soules Brenda Webster Natasha Varga-Papp Cam Collyer Julie Wong Cathy Jonasson Shaine (Grace) Wong James Paul Gifford Judy Matthews Jane Welsh Anthony (Tony) Yates

Imagine the Possible at donrivervalleypark.ca IN PARTNERSHIP WITH: 550 Bayview Avenue, Suite 300 Toronto, ON. M4W 3X8. 416-596-1495 32 DRVP_Case for Support TORONTO’S LARGEST URBAN PARK IS HIDING IN PLAIN SIGHT The Don River Valley Park will be the centerpiece of Toronto’s rapidly growing downtown: a 200-hectare park spanning Pottery Road to Corktown Common. Underutilized, unsound and largely inaccessible land will be transformed “A bold idea is in motion… into a remarkable new civic space that A city-wide ravine strategy to connects neighbourhoods and new developments to parkland, brings people name the system and engage back to the river’s edge, revitalizes an ecologically degraded and flood-prone partnerships to help restore, valley, and introduces opportunity for solitude, recreation, bicycle commuting, connect and animate the art and culture. Built on a solid foundation of past 11,000-hectare system…that community-engagement efforts, this vision boldly looks to the future and holds the promise to define serves as the proverbial first mile of a Toronto, offer a significant broader city-wide ravine revitalization strategy. Prototyping new collaborative “place making” opportunity ways of reimagining and realizing the potential of our ravines, the Don for those of us who live here River Valley Park will demonstrate and to share our unique what’s possible across Toronto. natural assets with visitors from around the world.” ~ MAYOR JOHN TORY Photo: Vito Riccio Photo: Vito

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2 DON RIVER VALLEY PARK /3 Don River Valley Park

34 “Super Park”

35 Evergreen Public Art Program

36 City of Toronto Ravine Strategy

37 City of Toronto Parkland Strategy

38 North: Davenport TOCore: Core Circle, 2018 Road Bluff

East: Don River Valley Ravine / Rosedale Valley Ravine

West: Garrison Creek Corridor

South: / Toronto Bay 39

Diagrammatic representation of the diversity of species and vegetation communities including forests, wetlands and meadows that comprise the Core Circle landscapes, Toronto, Canada

1 North: Davenport Road Bluff 2 East: Don River Valley Ravine and Rosedale Valley Ravine 3 South: Toronto Islands and Toronto Bay 4 West: Garrison Creek Corridor

PUBLIC WORK 33 TRANSFORMATIVE IDEA 1. THE CORE CIRCLE East: Don River Valley Ravine

TOCore Lower Don Trail Meets River Street Segment West Riverdale Park East Rosedale Valley Future Road Broadview Don River Avenue Valley Park

Primary Lower Don Bayview Avenue Trail Re-allocate East Lane to Pedestrians and Cyclists Bayview Avenue ‘Great Street’ Trail Segment

Evergreen Brickworks

Trail

Street 40

Don River Valley Ravine and Rosedale Valley Ravine, Proposed Concept

Toronto’s unique ravine landscape was carved into the Toronto’s ravine landscape has been neglected and land more than 12,000 years ago by the retreat of the abused for the past century. Now is the time to restore Wisconsinan glaciation. On the edge of the Downtown, and re-harmonize the ravine landscape, to leverage the with dramatic topography and a rich and layered dramatic topography and Indigenous cultural heritage physical, natural and cultural heritage landscape history, landscape for creative placemaking and interpretation.

56 TOCore

41 Port Lands Planning Framework

42 East Harbour

43 Keating Channel Precinct

44 Villiers Island

45 Mouth of the Don Naturalization

46 Mouth of the Don Naturalization

47 Port Lands: River Park

48 Wonscotonach Parklands Naming Event / Indigenous Placemaking

49 2013 to 2019, Looking Forward.

50 Lower Don Trail Access, Environment and Art Master Plan 2013

51 Phase 1 Improvements: Completed

52 Phase 1 Improvements: Completed yy Pottery Road Pedestrian Bridge yy Bayview Avenue Multi-use Path (Pottery Road to Rosedale Valley Road) yy Belleville Underpass yy Pottery Road Trailhead yy Trail Improvements

53 Phase 2 Improvements: 2019

54 Phase 2 Improvements: 2019

55 Phase 2 Improvements: 2019 yy Riverdale Bridge Ramp yy Dundas Staircase yy Trail Improvements in the Narrows

56 Lower Don Trail Master Plan Refresh 2019

57 2019: MP Study Area

2013: Corktown Common to Pottery Road 2019: Corktown Common to the Forks of East and West Don

8.1 kilometres of Trail 2.4x size of High Park

58 2019: MP Structure

Re-engaging Embracing Re-imagining the River Neighbourhoods Infrastructure yy Opportunities to see, yy The Park as a meeting yy Tying trail and parkland experience and perhaps place for communities, improvements to future even touch the river with greater opportunity infrastructure replacement for programming yy Will include discussion of yy Reconsidering aging Indigenous programming yy Links and loops, parallel infrastructure in the Park: trails and highlighting opportunities for reuse or yy The river as the focal point ‘ravine portals’ where the redesign of the Park Park is accessed

59 2019: Projects + Implementation

Five Segments from North to South yy Crothers-Coxwell yy The Mills yy Riverdale yy The Narrows yy East Harbour

60 2019: Projects + Implementation

Recommended Projects Future Engagement yy 96 Individual Projects Each individual project/phase of projects will include its own engagement activities yy Improvements / New Infrastructure with stakeholders and the public. »» Portals »» Lookouts/Rest Areas »» Water Approaches »» Canoe Launches »» Rotating Public Art Sites

61 2019: Projects + Implementation

Phased Implementation yy Recently Completed (2013-2019): 18 Projects yy Approved / Under Construction: 12 Projects yy 1 to 5 Years: 23 Projects yy 5 to 10 Years: 28 Projects yy Future Consideration: 25 Projects

62 63 Demonstration: Re-engaging the River Snowdrop Park

64 Demonstration: Re-engaging the River Snowdrop Park

65 Demonstration: Re-engaging the River Snowdrop Park

66 Demonstration: Re-engaging the River Snowdrop Park

67 Demonstration: Re-engaging the River Water Approaches

68 69 Demonstration: Embracing Neighbourhoods Broadview Riverdale Promenade

70 71 Demonstration: Embracing Neighbourhoods Thorncliffe Ravine Portal

72 Demonstration: Embracing Neighbourhoods Thorncliffe Ravine Portal

73 Demonstration: Re-imagining Infrastructure Inner Portal

74 75 Demonstration: Re-imagining Infrastructure Improved Trails

76 Demonstration: Re-imagining Infrastructure Improved Crossings

77 Demonstration: Re-imagining Infrastructure Bayview Avenue as Scenic Street

78 Next Steps

Phase 3: Master Plan _FINAL End of September 2019

Document Layout: Technical and Promotional October 2019

79 Questions for Clarification

80 For More Information

Contact Brendan McKee, Project Manager Parks, Forestry and Recreation | Horticulture City of Toronto Scarborough Civic Centre 150 Borough Drive Toronto, M1P 4N6 t: 416-396-4192 e: [email protected]

Website www.toronto.ca/lowerdon

81 FINI

credit: Vitto Riccio

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