Members of Council and Staff:  Please keep this agenda and the accompanying material until the City Council meeting dealing with these matters has ended.  The City Clerk’s Office will not provide additional copies.

Special Assistance for Members of the Public:  City staff can arrange for special assistance with some advance notice. If you need special assistance, please call 416-392-6662, TTY 416-338-0889 or e-mail pec@toronto.ca.

Closed Meeting Requirements:  If the Parks and Environment Committee wants to meet in closed session (privately), a member of the Committee must make a motion to do so and give the reason why the Committee has to meet privately. (City of Toronto Act, 2006)

Notice to people writing or making presentations to the  Parks and Environment Committee:   The City of Toronto Act, 2006 and the City of Toronto Municipal Code authorize the City of Toronto to collect any personal information in your communication or presentation to City Council or its committees.

The City collects this information to enable it to make informed decisions on the relevant issue(s). If you are submitting letters, faxes, e-mails, presentations or other communications to the City, you should be aware that your name and the fact that you communicated with the City will become part of the public record and will appear on the City’s website. The City will also make your communication and any personal information in it – such as your postal address, telephone number or e-mail address – available to the public, unless you expressly request the City to remove it.

The City videotapes committee and community council meetings. If you make a presentation to a committee or community council, the City will be videotaping you and City staff may make the video tapes available to the public.

If you want to learn more about why and how the City collects your information, write to the City Clerk's Office, City Hall, 100 Queen Street West, Toronto ON M5H 2N2 or by calling 416-397-7769.

Declarations of Interest under the Municipal Conflict of Interest Act

Speakers/Presentations:  A complete list will be distributed at the meeting

Confirmation of Minutes - February 4, 2010

Communications/Reports

Expert panel to discuss ideas and opportunities for a strong sustainable and longer term vision for our parks.

The panel members will be Luigi Ferrara, Director, Arts + Design, George Brown College; Jane Farrow, Executive Director, Centre for City Ecology, Jane’s Walks;  Adele Freeman, Director, Watershed Management, Toronto and Region Conservation Authority; Uzma Shakir, Atkinson Economic Justice Fellow, Atkinson Foundation and Claire Hopkinson, Executive Director, Toronto Arts Council.

A.        Moved by Councillor Howard Moscoe:

That the General Manager, Parks, Forestry and Recreation be requested to:

1.         develop a qualitative measure of existing parks and green spaces;

2.         evaluate the physical condition of parks space, including equipment and amenities and establish minimum standards for each classification with a view to upgrading those below standards and ensuring that all citizens have access to quality park space irrespective of their location within the City of Toronto; and

3.         evaluate the degree to which local park design and amenities relate to the diverse and evolving character of its neighbourhood and changing demographics, and develop policies and procedures that will allow the park space to reflect changing demographics and neighbourhood ethnicity so that local parks can best serve local needs.

B.        Moved by Councillor Adam Vaughan:

That the General Manager, Parks, Forestry and Recreation be requested to report to the Parks and Environment Committee, during this process, on the possibility of using the local levy provisions of the City of Toronto Act to create Parks Improvement Associations (PIAs), and to bring forward other ideas that might facilitate community partnerships aimed at assisting neighbourhoods as they participate in the design, maintenance and programming of local parks.

City Council on February 22 and 23, 2010, adopted this Item (10-PE28-3) as amended, and referred the above motions to the Parks and Environment Committee for consideration at its March 10, 2010 meeting.