The City is expanding Holmes Park with the help of local community feedback. The objectives of the park expansion are to enhance infrastructure and amenities in order to support its current and future use and to ensure park accessibility and safety. The expansion may include additional seating, lighting, a water feature and new plantings.
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The timeline is subject to change.
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This project has been classified as an Involve project based on the International Association of Public Participation Public Participation Spectrum. This means we work directly with the public, stakeholders, and rightsholders throughout the design process to ensure that ideas and aspirations are understood and considered in the design process.
During this phase of the community engagement process, the City worked with local community members to define a renewed overall vision for the park expansion, including a series of guiding principles that will lead the development of two design options in Community Engagement Phase 2.
The anticipated community engagement Activities in this phase included:
A vision statement is a short description of the ideal future park expansion. It inspires everyone toward a common understanding of the project’s overall goals. The vision for Holmes Park Expansion is:
Nestled in the heart of Willowdale, near Yonge and Finch, the Holmes Park Expansion area will be a beautiful green oasis for community members to relax and recharge, socialize and celebrate, and enjoy the outdoors. The park will be safe and accessible, welcoming people of all ages and abilities to actively and joyfully engage in exercise and wellness. The park’s landscape design will enhance the appearance and sustainability of the neighbourhood, while providing shade and comfort for families and friends to connect and create lasting memories.
Guiding principles are high-level directions that reflect the community’s most important values and ideas for how the park should look and feel. They help guide how the park should be designed so that the vision statement can be achieved. The guiding principles for Holmes Park Expansion are:
Big moves are the main priorities for the design of the park. They are specific directions to the design team that flow from the vision and principles and help to make them a reality. In no particular order, the big moves for Holmes Park Expansion are:
From October 6 to October 30, an online thought exchange activity collected 77 thoughts and 1,246 ratings from 107 participants. The feedback collected has informed the vision statement, guiding principles, and big moves and will guide the creation of design options for the park expansion.
Key feedback included the following.
The most popular park character ranked from one to four:
The most popular park activities were:
The most important features for providing a sense of safety were:
When asked to complete the following statement: “The Holmes Park Expansion Area will be a place that has/is…”, the following themes were rated highest by community members:
Review a full summary of the results in an interactive report.
In October, over 150 community members participated in two pop-up events in Holmes Park. The first pop-up took place during the official park opening event, hosted by the local Councillor, and the second pop-up took place on the following weekend with Play Mobile, who helped activate the park. Two team members were available to collect feedback through family-friendly activities including a voting activity, where participants used popsicle sticks to share their preferences for different park characters and activities such as creating more spaces for socializing and feeling connected to water and nature.
Key feedback included the following.
When community members were asked to share their preference for park character using popsicle sticks, Active was the most popular choice (66 sticks), followed by Green (44 sticks), Calm (21 sticks), and Social (15 sticks). In total, community members cast 146 votes.
The most popular park activities were:
The least popular park activities were:
Other ideas included:
Words that reflect the vision for the park expansion:
In this phase of the community engagement process, the City and its design consultant used the outcomes of Community Engagement Phase 1 to develop two design options for the park expansion. These were presented to the community for feedback, and the input collected will be used to develop a final design.
The anticipated outcome of this phase is the selection of a final design.
This design option features an angular layout leading to various active and passive zones. The multi-purpose lawn offers a versatile green space for recreational activities, while vertical misters provide cool relief and visual interest. The fitness nook caters to older children and adults, and game tables double as dining areas near Yonge Street. A variety of seating options encourage socializing, and horticultural plantings enhance both aesthetic and ecological diversity. The park’s edges feature distinct unit pavers and porous granite chip pavement to sustainably manage stormwater runoff.
This design option features a curvilinear form that connects various active and passive zones. The multi-purpose lawn serves as a versatile green space for activities. The combined shade structure and multi-level misters provide cool relief and enhance visitor comfort on hot days. The adventure play corner offers play structures and fitness equipment for older children and adults. Game tables double as dining areas, while a variety of seating options, including benches, lounge chairs, picnic tables, and seating cubes, encourage socializing. Horticultural plantings line the edges of the park and the pathway that runs through its center, complemented by unit pavers and porous resin granite chip pavement for sustainable stormwater drainage.
From July 22 to August 12, 99 community members provided feedback on the design options for the new park expansion in an online survey. The feedback collected in this survey will be used to develop a final design.
Overall, 29 per cent of respondents preferred this option.
Key feedback, with the total number of ‘agree’ responses in parentheses, follows:
When asked whether this option aligns with the community’s vision and guiding principles, 71 per cent of respondents said yes, 19 per cent were unsure and 10 per cent said no.
For those who selected no, feedback was collected on how this design option could be improved to better align with the community’s vision and design principles. Five respondents provided the following feedback:
Overall, 57 per cent of respondents preferred this option.
Key feedback, with the total number of ‘agree’ responses in parentheses, follows:
When asked whether this option aligns with the community’s vision and guiding principles, 71 per cent of respondents said yes, 22 per cent were unsure and seven per cent said no.
Those who selected no were asked to provide feedback on how this design option could be improved and no responses were provided.
Based on the percentage of responses that identified park features as either very important or important for the new park design, the ranking was:
Respondents were asked if they had additional ideas for creating a park design that achieves the vision statement and design principles for the park. The following major themes emerged in the responses:
On July 22, the project team hosted a pop-up event at Holmes Park from 4 to 7:30 p.m. to engage with park users. Community members had the opportunity to meet the project team, ask questions and participate in various fun activities. Four team members were present to collect feedback and answer questions.
Key feedback, with the total number of ‘agree’ responses in parentheses, follows.
Overall preference with Design Option 1: Meeting Commons (seven):
Participants provided additional feedback using self-stick notes and suggested adding a community board to enhance communication within the community. They also recommended adding lighting for safety, shade and canopies and seating with backrests. The increased greenery in this design option was well-received, with participants expressing their approval of the design’s natural elements.
Overall preference with Design Option 2: Flow (25):
Participants provided additional feedback, expressing satisfaction with the game tables, water feature, and the park’s room-like areas. There was strong support for the shade covering, particularly over the water feature, to provide comfort and protection from the sun. The decorative fencing was not favoured by two participants as they were concerned it might obstruct sightlines. Public washrooms were also mentioned, though the project team noted that this is outside the project’s scope and budget.
In this phase of the community engagement process, the City will share the final park on this page and with those subscribed to the project mailing list. The project will then move into the detail design phase, where the design team will work through the technical details and develop detailed plans and drawings to be used by the construction contractor.
Holmes Park is a new 1,000m2 park located at the southwest corner of Holmes Avenue and Doris Avenue. The design for the park was determined with the help of community feedback in fall 2020. The park includes:
Key project milestones from the design and development process for Holmes Park are listed in reverse chronological order.
The new park will open to the public in late September. The community engagement process to design the park expansion area will start in October 2023.
The new park at 25 Holmes Ave. is officially named Holmes Park.
Construction for the new park continues and is anticipated to be completed by June 2023.
Construction for the new park begins. The new park is planned to open in spring 2023.
From November 22 to December 11, 2020, feedback on the proposed park layout, playground equipment and general feedback on the design was collected in an online survey. The survey received 41 responses, which included feedback from 92 people of various ages.
Download the survey summary.
On November 23, 2020, the proposed park design was presented to the community and feedback was collected. Feedback from this meeting will be considered for the final park design in advance of construction.
Download the meeting presentation.
