A new Community Recreation Centre and Child Care Centre is coming to the Lawrence Heights neighbourhood as part of the Toronto Community Housing Lawrence Heights Revitalization project. The community engagement process will focus on the design for the new Community Recreation Centre since the building program for the Child Care Centre is determined by the Province.
Toronto Community Housing (TCH) is leading the wider revitalization process for Lawrence Heights, including the relocation of tenants at 5 Leila Ln. To learn more, visit the TCH project webpage or contact TCH at 416-981-5626 or LHRelocation@torontohousing.ca.
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The timeline is subject to change.
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This project has been classified as a Collaborate project based on the International Association of Public Participation Public Participation Spectrum. This means we aim to partner with the public, stakeholders, and rightsholders in each aspect of the design process, including the development of design options and the identification of a preferred design.
This project has a Community Advisory Committee (CAC) with a mandate to provide feedback, guidance and advice to the project team at key decision points during the community engagement process to ensure the perspective and needs of the neighbourhood are reflected in the designs. The CAC will meet at least once during each phase of the community engagement process. The CAC consists of 34 members, including individual community members and representatives from community organizations. The individual community members were selected through a civic lottery to represent the diversity of the community and includes:
The CAC also includes representatives from the following community organizations:
Between September 2023 and January 2024, community members provided shared their programming and activity preferences for the new Community Recreation Centre (CRC), and provided feedback on the project’s draft vision statement, guiding principles and big moves.
Download the Phase 1 engagement report.
The draft vision statement, guiding principles and big moves for the new CRC were developed based on community feedback collected over the last 15 years through consultations and engagements relating to the Lawrence Heights Revitalization.
A vision statement is a forward-looking, inspirational narrative that captures the ultimate purpose, goals and aspirations of a project.
The new Lawrence Heights Community Recreation Centre will be:
Guiding principles are overarching guidelines or ‘big and important rules’ that direct the design process towards realizing the vision statement of a project. These principles reveal the community’s most important values and ideas that help the project team understand how things should look and work.
Big moves are important design decisions that bring the project vision and guiding principles to life.
On January 18, 2024, the first Community Advisory Committee meeting took place at the Lawrence Heights Community Recreation Centre.
Download the January 18, 2024 CAC meeting summary.
From September 15 to November 12, an online survey collected community feedback on program and activity preferences and the draft vision statement, design principles, and big moves for the new CRC. Paper copies were available upon request. In completing the survey, participants could share program and activity preferences and provide feedback on the draft project vision, design principles and big moves for the new CRC.
Download the November 2023 survey summary.
Multiple pop-up events took place where community members could learn about the project and provide feedback to guide the CRC design.
Download the 2023 pop-up summary.
On October 4, the first Indigenous Communities Virtual Sharing Meeting took place.
Download the October 4, 2024 indigenous communities virtual sharing meeting summary.
A Community Advisory Committee (CAC) will meet in each phase of the community engagement process to review and discuss key project elements. Members will support the project team by providing feedback and sharing information about the project with their networks and communities. Four CAC meetings are planned from fall 2023 to winter 2024, each meeting will be approximately two to three hours, and a $50 honorarium will be provided per meeting. Professional experience is not required and all community members 16 years or older are welcome to apply.
Applications have now closed, and applicants will be notified if they are a member of the CAC by the end of October. The CAC is selected through a civic lottery process.
Two community workshops took place on Wednesday, September 27, 2023, at the Lawrence Heights Community Recreation Centre to collect feedback from community members to guide the design of the new CRC.
Download the September 27, 2023 community workshop summary.
This phase of the community engagement process will start in winter 2024. In this phase, draft design options for the new Community Recreation Centre (CRC) will be presented to the local community for feedback and revisions.
This phase of the community engagement process will start in spring 2024. In this phase, a final proposed design for the new Community Recreation Centre (CRC) will be presented to the local community for a final round of feedback and revisions.
Lawrence Heights Community Recreation (CRC) and Child Care Centre (CC) will be one of the City’s largest new Centres. The new facility will replace the existing Lawrence Heights Community Centre, which will remain open until the new facility is built. The new CRC will be a free centre.
Both the CRC and the CC will meet Accessibility for Ontarians with Disability Act (AODA) accessibility standards and target Net Zero emissions building design.
The new Centre will be located at a new location near Varna Drive and Ranee Avenue, north of Flemington Public School. This location was chosen during the Lawrence Heights Secondary Plan process in 2011, to become a well-connected future hub in the growing community. The site will connect to a new road extension and other infrastructure.
The design of the CRC will be determined with the help of City staff and community feedback collected during the community engagement process. Based on the City’s Parks and Recreation Facilities Master Plan and initial feedback from community members and recreation staff, the proposed CRC features include but are not limited to:
The CC is an 88 space facility that includes spaces for infants (10 spots), toddlers (30 spots) and pre-school children (48 spots) up to four years old. The number of child care spaces available has been maximized based on the City-Council approved budget, provincial design requirements and provincial staffing ratio requirements. The design is planned to include: