The City is looking to make improvements to St. James Town West Park at 589 Sherbourne St., as a result of redevelopments in the neighbourhood.
The timeline is subject to change.
St. James Town West Park is a 1-acre public park located between Sherbourne Street, Bleecker Street and Howard Street in the heart of the St. James Town neighbourhood. Most of the land is currently leased to the City by Medallion Developments Inc. who owns the parking garage that lies beneath it.
Medallion will be redeveloping properties at 591-601 Sherbourne St. and repairing the parking garage roof below the park. Due to this work, the majority of the park will be removed, creating an opportunity for a fresh design of the park that meets the needs of the local community. The improvements are being funded by the development and are coordinated by the City of Toronto. The design of the park must consider the parking structure below and the future development beside it.
Download a project backgrounder.
In spring 2021, the City gathered feedback on two concept design options for St. James Town West Park, to help inform the development of a Preferred Concept. Feedback was collected through an online survey, virtual public meeting, engagement with Indigenous rights-holders and input from a Youth Resource Group.
Download the Phase 2 Consultation Summary report.
A virtual public meeting was hosted by City staff to invite community members to learn more about the project, see the concept plan options for the park redesign, and gather feedback through a virtual question-and-answer session. 54 community members attended, as well as the local Councillor.
Download the meeting presentation.
An online survey was conducted to gather community feedback on the concept design options for the park. Print copies of the survey were available at the St. James Town Community Corner (200 Wellesley Street East).
The survey received a total of 220 survey responses. Overall, participants were generally supportive of both designs with slightly more participants leaning towards Option 1 – Green Refuge. Many participants also indicated strong agreement with the way design elements were conveyed in Option 2 – Paths.
Indigenous Community Sharing Meetings are led by Bob Goulais, an Indigenous facilitator, and are meant to engage with Indigenous rights-holders and communities to understand and actively incorporate Indigenous perspectives into the design of the park. The first community sharing meeting was held on April 22, 2021.
Key feedback highlights from this meeting included:
The City led its second Youth Resource Group meeting on May 3, and conducted virtual classroom sessions with students at Jarvis Collegiate Institute and Rose Avenue Public School. Key feedback highlights from conversations with youth included:
To help understand how the park is currently used, and what the community vision for the future was, the City conducted early consultations with local residents and stakeholders. Feedback was collected through an online questionnaire, engagement with Indigenous rights-holders and input from a Youth Resource Group.
An online questionnaire was conducted to gather community thoughts, ideas and experiences on how the park is currently used, and to identify park features and amenities to be prioritized for the park redesign.
Download the questionnaire result summary.
Indigenous Community Sharing Meetings are led by Bob Goulais, an Indigenous facilitator, and are meant to engage with Indigenous rights-holders and communities to understand and actively incorporate Indigenous perspectives into the design of the park. The first community sharing meeting was held on February 18, 2021.
Key feedback highlights from this meeting included:
The Youth Resource Group (YRG) is an important element of community engagement for this project, and will reflect the significant role that youth play in the St. James Town community. The YRG is comprised of individuals aged 15-24 representing local community organizations, including St. James Town Community Ambassadors, the Wellesley Youth Council, Jarvis Collegiate Institute, and students from the Daniel’s Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design.
The first YRG meeting took place on March 23, 2021, and focused on gathering feedback, ideas and perspectives on the future vision for the park. Key feedback highlights from this meeting included:
Led by an Indigenous facilitator, the Indigenous community sharing meetings will engage with Indigenous rights-holders and communities to understand and incorporate Indigenous perspectives into the design of the park.
These are called “community sharing meetings” as these meetings would usually be conducted using Indigenous protocols within a traditional sharing circle and using ceremony. However, given current public health directives, these will be held virtually.
City staff are hosting two interactive virtual workshops for community members to see the preferred concept designs that have been created as a result of stakeholder and community feedback, and to share their perspectives, ideas and feedback on the designs in breakout rooms. Participants are encouraged to pre-register for the meeting in advance.
Review the meeting presentation.
Pre-register or join either meeting online or review the following Workshop sections for specific meeting call-in details.
This workshop will be conducted entirely in English.
Call-in details:
This workshop will be conducted in English, Arabic, Amharic, Tamil, Tagalog, Hindi, Urdu and Mandarin.
Share your feedback for the park redesign – at the park! Pop-ups will be hosted at St. James Town West Park where community members will be able to chat in-person with the project team, see the designs and provide feedback.
Take the survey in:
Share your feedback on the preferred concept design through an online survey, available in English, Arabic, Simplified Chinese, Nepali, Tamil and Tagalog.
If you can’t join us for a workshop, there are other ways to get involved! The presentation will be posted on the project webpage, and copies of the presentation and survey will be made available at the St. James Town Community Corner on July 27, 2021 (200 Wellesley St. E.).
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