Osler Playground Park Improvements

We are making improvements at Osler Playground.

Project Timeline

  • Fall 2019 to Winter 2020: Park visioning (community workshop and survey)
  • Spring 2021 to Spring 2022: Design development
  • Summer 2022 to Spring 2023: Construction

This timeline is subject to change.

The primary scope of improvements for this project includes:

  • A new Dogs off-leash area
  • Playground enhancement
  • Waterplay area enhancement
  • Greenspace improvements
  • Pathways improvements
  • New Seating

Improvements to the adjacent school grounds are also being considered. The full scope of improvements will be determined through the consultation and design development process in response to budget and site constraints, as well as functional requirements for both the park and school.

Preliminary community consultation has taken place, and the feedback that we have received has been considered in the development of concept design options for the park and adjacent school grounds.

Public consultation will continue through 2021 and will inform the final design that will be implemented in 2022-2023.

While we aim to provide fully accessible content, there is no text alternative available for some of the content on this site. If you require alternate formats or need assistance understanding our maps, drawings, or any other content, please contact Rachel Weston at 416-392-3357 or Rachel.Weston@toronto.ca.

November 2021

Osler Playground Improvements Focus Group Application

In September 2021 the project team presented three concept design options to the community for input through a survey, public meeting and a pop up engagement. There was however, no clear preference identified by the community for any of the three options. In order to ensure that the final design serves the needs of the community, the City is inviting a group of local residents to a one-time focus group with the project team. The focus group will workshop the two most preferred concept design options providing the City with a design direction to advance, that will be shared with the community in the new year before going to construction. Members of the focus group will be identified through a modified civic lottery, a process that will pick applications at random based on the applicant’s existing uses of the park. The reason for this approach is to ensure that there is a representative cross-section of park users represented in the focus group. Civic lotteries are often used by municipal governments to bring communities together to find common ground on a specific issue.

Apply to be in the focus group.

Engagement Report

As part of phase two of engagement, the project team ran a survey, held a public meeting and conducted a pop-up engagement at Osler Playground to present concept designs and gather feedback.

Download the Phase Two Engagement Summary Report.

September 2021

Online Survey

September 13 to 26, 2021

An online survey was launched to present concept design options and collect feedback from the community. In total the survey received 546 responses. A summary of the survey findings will be posted here once it becomes available.

Pop-up Consultation in the Park.

A pop-up was held in the park on September 18.

Virtual Public Meeting

A Virtual Public Meeting was held on September 13, 2021 to present three Concept Design options for the park improvements and gather feedback from the public.

Download the meeting presentation.

Common Features of the Three Concept Options
  • Designed to meet Toronto’s Accessibility Design Guidelines
  • 3 metre wide main asphalt pathway connecting Argyle Street to Humbert Street with removable bollards to prevent unwanted vehicular access
  • 1 metre wide secondary asphalt pathway connections
  • Playground area with engineered cedar fiber safety surfacing, concrete playground borders, concrete ramp, and play equipment
  • Water play area
  • Off-Leash Area (OLA) with 1.5 metre high chain link fencing, double gate entrances, maintenance gates, concrete walkway, and seating
  • Maintaining an open green space area
  • Removal of chainlink fence that bisects the park, except for property line around school grounds, where a 1.8 metre high galvanized chain link fence will be installed between the School and Park properties, for safety.
  • Concrete pads for trash and recycling receptacles at park entrances
  • Replacing existing drinking fountain with bottle filling station/ drinking fountain/pet bowl combination located centrally in the park
  • New seating and seating areas
  • Bike/stroller parking area
  • New tree planting
  • New lighting and electrical service for special events
Concept One

Concept Design Option One for Osler Playground has a curvilinear form with asphalt pathways that meander and loop through existing mature trees and new tree plantings while providing connections to Argyle Street to the northwest and northeast and Humbert Street to the south. A new off-leash area about 700m2 in area is proposed at the southwest corner of the park with a similarly sized open green space at the northwest corner of the park. An approximate 470m2 sized playground area is proposed centrally located in the park with the water play area with a small splash pad and upgrades to the existing wading pool at the northeast corner of the park. In addition to benches along the pathways for the off leash area, playground, and the small splash pad, a seating area with patio style tables with umbrellas and bike parking is proposed between the playground area and the water play area. The existing fencing along the west and east park perimeters are proposed to be maintained and new chain link fencing is proposed between the park property and the school grounds to the southeast, as well as new decorative metal fencing between the park and Argyle Street. This design option includes 9 new tree plantings and requires 7 tree removals.

Concept Design Focus:

  • More curvilinear form
  • Inclusion of a wading pool/splash pad combination for the water play area

Key Features:

  • Park entrances located at the northwest corner, northeast corner and south end of the park
  • Asphalt pathway loop
  • New playground area (approx. 470 m2) slightly larger than existing playground with a concrete seatwall and new play equipment, including a swing set with six seats, senior play structure, junior play structure, and other freestanding play equipment
  • Wading pool upgrades, including:
    • Replacement of centre turret with new area drains
    • New overflow drain
    • New wading pool fill wall
    • Service chamber repairs and new lids
    • New wading pool storage shed
  • New small splash pad (approx. 75 m2) with splash pad drains, concrete paving and one upright and a couple ground spray features
  • New formal Off-Leash-Area (OLA) (approx. 700m2) located south of the existing Bell easement
  • Decorative metal fence along the park frontage on Argyle Street
  • New seating including City standard benches, concrete paved seating area with patio-style tables with umbrellas, and concrete seatwalls
  • Design includes nine new tree plantings and requires seven tree removals (two due to their condition)
Concept Two

Concept Design Option Two for Osler Playground has an irregular form with asphalt pathways that meander and loops through existing mature trees and new tree plantings while providing connections to Argyle Street to the northwest and north and Humbert Street to the south. A new off-leash area about 950m2 in area is proposed at the southwest corner of the park with a similarly sized open green space at the northwest corner of the park. An approximate 400m2 sized playground area wrapping around existing trees is proposed centrally located in the park with a new sandbox across the pathway. The water play area with a splash pad is proposed at the northeast corner of the park. In addition to benches along the pathways for the off leash area, playground, and the splash pad, a seating area with gamestables and bike parking is proposed between the playground area and the water play area. The existing fencing along the west and east park perimeters are proposed to be maintained and new chain link fencing is proposed between the park property and the school grounds to the southeast. This design option includes 17 new tree plantings and requires 8 tree removals.

Concept Design Focus:

  • More amorphic/irregular form
  • Replacement of the existing wading pool with a splash pad

Key Features:

  • Park entrances located at the northwest corner, north and south end of the park
  • Asphalt pathway loops
  • New playground area (approx. 400 m2) slightly smaller than existing playground with an armourstone seatwall and new play equipment, including a swing set with four seats, senior play structure, junior play structure, and other freestanding play equipment
  • New sandbox (approx. 20m2) with armourstone seatwalls
  • New splash pad (approx. 200 m2) with splash pad drains, concrete paving and upright and ground sprays with an opportunity for themed spray features
  • New formal Off-Leash-Area (OLA) (approx. 950 m2) located south of the existing Bell easement
  • Removal of fencing between the Park and Argyle Street
  • New seating including City standard benches, concrete paved seating area with games tables and armoustone seatwalls
  • Design includes 17 new tree plantings and requires eight tree removals (two due to their condition)
Concept Three

Concept Design Option Three for Osler Playground has a linear form with asphalt pathways that provide connections through existing mature trees and new tree plantings to the park features while providing connections to Argyle Street to the northwest and northeast and Humbert Street to the south. A new off-leash area about 1200m2 in area is proposed at the southwest corner of the park with a smaller sized open green space at the northwest corner of the park. An approximate 500m2 sized playground area is proposed centrally located in the park with a new sandbox to its west. The water play area with upgrades to the existing wading pool is proposed at the northeast corner of the park. In addition to benches along the pathways for the off leash area, playground, and the small splash pad, 2 seating areas with patio style tables with umbrellas are proposed between the off leash area and open green space and between the playground area and water play area. Bike parking is proposed between the playground area and the water play area. The existing fencing along the west and east park perimeters are proposed to be maintained and new chain link fencing is proposed between the park property and the school grounds to the southeast, as well as new decorative metal fencing between the park and Argyle Street. This design option includes 10 new tree plantings and requires 6 tree removals.

Concept Design Focus:

  • More linear form
  • Wading pool upgrades only for the water play area

Key Features:

  • Park entrances located at the northwest corner, northeast corner and south end of the park
  • New playground area (approx. 500 m2) larger than existing playground with a concrete seatwall and new play equipment, including a swing set with four seats and a group swing, senior play structure, junior play structure, and other freestanding play equipment
  • New sandbox (approx. 40 m2) with concrete seatwalls
  • Wading pool upgrades, including:
    • Replacement of centre turret with new area drains
    • New overflow drain
    • New wading pool fill wall
    • Service chamber repairs and new lids
    • New wading pool storage shed
  • New formal Off-Leash-Area (OLA) (approx. 1200 m2) crossing through the existing Bell easement
  • Decorative metal fence along the park frontage on Argyle Street
  • New seating including City standard benches, concrete paved seating area with patio-style tables with umbrellas and concrete seatwalls
  • Design includes 10 new tree plantings and requires six tree removals (two due to their condition)

Summer 2021

Concept design options are being developed and will be presented to the community for feedback at consultation events in September. More details about upcoming events can be found in the Get Involved section.

Spring 2021

The design consultant has been hired and is conducting background investigations and site analysis to inform the development of concept design options.

January 22 to February 10, 2020

An online survey was launched to collect feedback about community priorities for the park and the Community Vision Maps that were created in the December 11, 2019 workshop.

Download the Visioning Survey Feedback Summary Report.

Key Survey Takeaways

  • The most-favoured Community Vision Map among survey participants was Option 5, followed by Option 4. The least-favoured was Option 6.
  • Many participants felt that the redesigns should reflect a more balanced space distribution that caters to a variety of park users and age groups i.e. children, youths, families, dog-owners, and users who visit without dogs or children.
  • Many participants felt that a small dog area would be appropriate given the proximity to parks with larger off-leash areas like Trinity Bellwoods Park. They also noted that it would be important to fence off the off-leash area and separate it from the school and playground, to allow children and others to safely enjoy the park.
  • Many participants identified the running track as an important element to the park, not because it is a place where people run, but because it is a place where parents push strollers and kids learn to ride their bikes.
  • A key theme among survey responses was the need for the new design to prioritize, protect, and improve on the park’s existing trees and green spaces (e.g. adding trees to provide more shade).
  • A majority of survey participants preferred waterplay as a combination splash pad and wading pool.

December 11, 2019

A Community Visioning Workshop was held to discuss community vision for park improvements, and develop initial ideas for park uses, activities and layout, including the adjacent school grounds.

Community Visions

During the Community Visioning Workshop participants worked together to determine appropriate sizes and locations for the primary features of the improvements project and other amenities they wanted to see in the future design of the park and adjacent school grounds. Six community vision maps were created.