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.
The City is conducting consultations on early Concept Plans for the park redesign, to help inform the development of Preferred Concepts.
A virtual public meeting was hosted by City staff to invite community members to learn more about the project, see the concept design options for the park redesign, and gather feedback through a virtual question-and-answer session. A summary of the meeting will be posted on this webpage in May 2021.
Download the meeting presentation.
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.
For more information, contact Bob Goulais (Nibissing Consulting) at info@bobgoulais.com.
Share your thoughts on the early concept designs through an online survey, available in English, Arabic, Simplified Chinese, and Tamil. The survey closes on Sunday, May 9, 2021.
The City is working with LURA – a community engagement studio – to provide a variety of ways to gather feedback from the community, local groups, and stakeholders on the park redesign. An important part of this multi-phase community engagement strategy will be to ensure that the diverse voices that live and shape this neighbourhood are heard, and all ideas and recommendations are heard.
As a part of Phase 1, City staff will be engaging the local community on their needs and visions for the park, which will be used to identify and refine design concept options for the park.
There are several ways to get involved in helping to shape the future of St. James Town West Park. Please check back on this page for these opportunities as more details are announced.
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