December 24, 1999
To: Toronto Community Council
From: Acting Commissioner of Urban Development Services
Subject: 800 Fleet Street - Plan for Parkland and Re-integration with the rest of the Fort York and Garrison Common
Heritage Conservation District
(Trinity-Niagara)
Purpose:
The purpose of this report is to:
- initiate the design of the park on City-owned property at the north-east corner of Fleet Street and Strachan Avenue to
further implement the Bathurst/Strachan Part II Official Plan;
- support improvements to Fort York and the Fort York and Garrison Common Heritage Conservation District; and
- support the integration of the Fort York area into the City's systems of trails, parks and open spaces.
Financial Implications and Impact Statement:
There are no financial implications resulting from the adoption of this report.
Recommendations:
It is recommended that:
(1) City Council re-affirm its intent to develop the City-owned land at the north-east corner of Fleet Street and Strachan
Avenue, known municipally as 800 Fleet Street, as parkland consistent with existing City policy as expressed in the
Bathurst/Strachan Part II Official Plan, the Zoning By-law and its designation as a Heritage Conservation District;
(2) the Commissioner of Economic Development, Culture and Tourism, in consultation with the Commissioner of Urban
Development Services and Heritage Toronto be requested to prepare plans and cost estimates by September 2000 for the
transformation of 800 Fleet Street from a parking lot to a park;
(3) Heritage Toronto, in consultation with the Commissioner of Economic Development, Culture and Tourism and the
Commissioner of Urban Development Services, be requested to report further on the incorporation of additional
City-owned lands into the Fort York and Garrison Common Heritage Conservation District when land north of Fort York
is acquired from Canadian National Railways; and
(4) the Commissioner of Economic Development, Culture and Tourism, in consultation with the Commissioner of Urban
Development Services, Heritage Toronto and the Friends of Fort York be requested to report on an Open Space Master
Plan for the Fort York area.
Background:
Councillors Pantalone and Silva, in a letter to Toronto Community Council dated November 22, 1999, asked that I report,
in consultation with the Commissioner of Economic Development, Culture and Tourism, to the January 2000 meeting of
Toronto Community Council on how fast the land at the north-east corner of Strachan Avenue and Fleet Street (800 Fleet
Street) should be re-integrated with the remainder of the Fort York (and Garrison Common) Heritage Conservation
District.
Comments:
1. 800 Fleet Street - City owned land at the North-East Corner of Fleet Street and Strachan Avenue
Site Area: 8214 square metres (2 acres)
Official Plan: Existing Park - Bathurst/Strachan Part II Official Plan
Zoning: 'G' - open space or park - Zoning By-law #438-86, as amended
The site is currently laid out as an unpaved parking lot and used intermittently by the Fort York Armoury and as overflow
parking for events at Exhibition Place and Fort York.
The value of this site for a park include:
- linking the Fort York open space to Gore Park, Exhibition Place, Coronation Park and the Waterfront trail;
- expansion and improvement of the restored Garrison Common, consistent with the City's policy and its responsibility to
improve the fort and its setting; and
- providing playground and playing field space for the future school and Community Centre expected to be located in the
Fort York Armoury.
The City has a longstanding commitment to develop this site as a park, most particularly as set out in the Bathurst/Strachan
Part II Official Plan. I am recommending that Council re-affirm this commitment and that staff be requested to prepare a
plan and cost estimates for the development of a park on this site.
2. The Fort York and Garrison Common Heritage Conservation District
The City-owned land at 800 Fleet Street is part of the Fort York and Garrison Common Heritage Conservation District,
which was designated by the former City of Toronto in 1985 by By-law 420-85 under Part V of the Ontario Heritage Act,
R.S.O. 1980, Chapter 337. The District is comprised of those lands which the former City of Toronto owned inside the fort
and adjacent to the fort in the area bounded by Strachan Avenue, Fleet Street, Bathurst Street and the rail corridor and
includes land at the north-east corner of Strachan and Fleet. The Heritage Conservation District does not include the lands
under the Gardiner Expressway or the land occupied by the Fort York Armoury which is leased to the Federal Government.
Since 1985:
- the City has also acquired additional land adjacent to the fort through land exchanges;
- municipal amalgamation has combined the Metro and City of Toronto land ownership into one ownership; and
- the former City of Toronto has approved the Bathurst/Strachan Part II Official Plan and the location of Fort York
Boulevard which clearly demarcates the Fort York area from private development sites.
The City is in the process of re-acquiring land on the north side of Fort York from CN, which is now surplus to the
railway's needs, to add to the fort's land. Once that land has been obtained, it too should be added to the Heritage
Conservation District along with all the City-owned land north and west of Fort York Boulevard. A Heritage Conservation
Disrict Plan should be prepared, consistent with Official Plan policy.
3. Open Space Master Planning for the Fort York Area
The Friends of Fort York, with support from the City, have initiated a study of future improvements to the fort, a future
Visitor Centre, improvement of the historic landscape of the fort and how to integrate the fort area into the City's system of
parks, open space and trails.
In addition, the Friends of Fort York, with support from the City, have submitted an application for funding to the federal
Millennium Partnership Program for archaeological studies, landscape restoration, fort improvements and interpretative
programmes for the area between Fort York Boulevard and the southern edge of the fort. The work proposed in the grant
application also includes the construction of bicycle and pedestrian trails which are to be linked to the Waterfront Trail and
the future Northern Linear Park through the Railway Lands West.
I am recommending that the Commissioner of Economic Development, Culture and Tourism, Heritage Toronto and I, in
consultation with the Friends of Fort York, be requested to report back to Toronto Community Council on the means
necessary to prepare an Open Space Master Plan for the Fort York area to enhance the fort's historic value and to integrate
the Fort York Open Space areas into the City's network of parks, open spaces and trails.
Conclusions:
The City should:
- re-affirm its commitment to developing 800 Fleet Street as a park and prepare plans to transform it from a parking lot to a
park;
- add City owned land north and west of Fort York Boulevard and north of Fleet Street to the area designated as the Fort
York and Garrison Common Heritage Conservation District;
- prepare a Fort York and Garrison Common Heritage District Plan; and
- prepare an Open Space Master Plan for the Fort York area.
Contact:
Ian Cooper Waterfront Section
Telephone: 392-7572
Fax: 392-1330
E-Mail: icooper@toronto.ca
Beate Bowron
Director, Community Planning, South District
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List of Attachments:
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