Three new parks are coming to the neighbourhood around Bathurst Street and St. Clair Avenue West to meet the needs of the growing community. The new parks will be located on parts of land at 1528 to 1530 Bathurst St., 32/40 Raglan Ave., and 498 St. Clair Ave. W. The park designs will be developed with community input.
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Timelines are subject to change.
Summer 2022: Community engagement to develop a park vision.
Further community engagement and design timelines are to be determined.
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If you are an Indigenous community member who would like to be involved in community engagement process for the park design development, please email William Skura at William.Skura@toronto.ca.
These parks do not have names yet. At the end of the design process, parks are often given names that describe the park’s features or location (e.g., Princess Street Park). These names, developed by City staff, make it easy for residents to identify and locate parks in their neighbourhoods and around the city. Alternatively, community members can develop and submit proposals for a commemorative park name before the end of the park design process. A proposal to give a park a commemorative name instead of a location-based name is first reviewed by City staff and then needs to be approved by Community Council.
Visit Property Naming to learn more and submit a commemorative property name.
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.
A new 468 m2 park (about the size of a basketball court, or slightly smaller than two doubles tennis courts) is coming to 1528 to 1530 Bathurst St. on Bathurst Street, north of St. Clair Avenue West. The new park will connect to a Privately Owned Publicly-Accessible Space, together creating an east-west connection between Raglan Avenue and Bathurst Street.
This section is organized as follows:
In this phase of the community engagement process, feedback was collected to develop a vision, to understand preferred features and seating styles, and to gather local knowledge to inform the design considerations for each park.
Based on the outcomes of this phase, the vision for this new park is a green and calm thoroughfare that feels safe and has visual appeal.
Preferred features:
Key design considerations:
From September 16 to October 9, feedback on the vision for each park was collected in an online survey. This feedback will help the project team develop a draft design for each park. The survey received 1,300 responses, which included participation from 1,629 individuals.
Feedback Summary:
On October 7, pop-up boards were set up at two locations in the local neighbourhood to share information about the project and collect feedback on the vision for each park. Participants were asked to select their preferences for each park’s character, features, and seating options, and provide additional comments or suggestions. Approximately 100 people participated. One of the pop-ups was outside of Na-Me-Res to encourage feedback from Indigenous community members.
Feedback Summary:
Indigenous placekeeping (discussions with Na-Me-Res staff):
In this phase of the community engagement process, a draft park design will be presented to the community for feedback and revision.
From August 4 to September 17, an online survey collected feedback from 384 community members.
Feedback Summary:
On September 12, pop-ups took place at various locations in the neighbourhood where approximately 40 people participated by reviewing and providing feedback on two draft park designs.
Layout 1:
Layout 2:
In this phase of the community engagement process, a proposed design will be presented to the community for feedback and revision.
From January 5 to January 28, an online survey collected feedback from 256 community members.
Feedback Summary:
On January 8 and January 18, two pop-ups took place at the Wychwood Public Library to provide information and collect feedback on the preferred design for the new park. The events were offered as an in-person alternative to the online survey. Approximately 40 people participated in the pop-ups.
Feedback Summary:
The preferred park design was developed using feedback in Community Engagement Phase 2. Key updates based on community feedback to date include:
The Moccasin Identifier is proposed as an Indigenous placekeeping feature. The proposed Moccasin Identifier could include images of culturally specific moccasins that can be permanently set into a park feature (e.g. through carving, stone etching, or other) and are intended to promote public awareness of the ancestral presence of Indigenous Communities. Signage would accompany a marker to provide more information about the Moccasin Identifier and Indigenous placekeeping.
The Moccasin Identifier project was created by Carolyn King, former Chief of the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation.
The proposed Moccasin Identifier’s location and form will be determined based on further engagement with Indigenous community members. If you are an Indigenous community member who would like to be a part of these discussions, please email William Skura at William.Skura@toronto.ca.
A new 773 m2 park (slightly smaller in size than two basketball courts) is coming to 498 St. Clair Ave. W., on the northeast corner of Bathurst Street and St. Clair Avenue West.
This section is organized as follows:
In this phase of the community engagement process, feedback was collected to develop a vision, to understand preferred features and seating styles, and to gather local knowledge to inform the design considerations for each park.
Based on the outcomes of this phase, the vision for this new park is a green, sustainable, eventful, and social place.
Preferred features:
Key design considerations:
From September 16 to October 9, feedback on the vision for each park was collected in an online survey. This feedback will help the project team develop a draft design for each park. The survey received 1,300 responses, which included participation from 1,629 individuals.
Feedback Summary:
On October 7, pop-up boards were set up at two locations in the local neighbourhood to share information about the project and collect feedback on the vision for each park. Participants were asked to select their preferences for each park’s character, features, and seating options, and provide additional comments or suggestions. Approximately 100 people participated. One of the pop-ups was outside of Na-Me-Res to encourage feedback from Indigenous community members.
Feedback Summary:
Indigenous placekeeping (discussions with Na-Me-Res staff):
In this phase of the community engagement process, a draft park design will be presented to the community for feedback and revision.
The draft park design presented below was developed based on feedback collected through broad community engagement in 2022 and focused on Indigenous communities engagement in summer/fall 2023. Community feedback to refine the draft design is being collected from November 30 to December 21, 2023. Visit the Get Involved section for information.
The park layout includes four circular spaces that connect to allow for easy access, fluid circulation and comfortable spaces for social interaction while creating a powerful sense of place. Paved gathering spaces and a variety of seating areas for socializing are balanced by raised planting beds and trees that will bring nature to this busy intersection (the park will be too high-traffic for grass lawn to survive). Indigenous placekeeping and culture are reflected and celebrated throughout the space. This includes mosaic paving that references the Turtle Island creation story; a large, raised circular ring light that symbolizes sacred fire and helps create an inviting circular gathering space; projection lighting as an eastern gateway marker and a feature wall that can bring Indigenous patterns, motifs, or teachings into the space; a circular seating area for smaller, more intimate gatherings; and interpretive signage to explain these placekeeping features. The park provides connections to bus shelters on both St. Clair and Bathurst, generous pedestrian sidewalks around the park, and a connection to a Privately Owned Publicly Accessible Space (POPS) to the north that leads to St. Michael’s College School and new residential tower developments.
From November 30 to December 21, an online survey collected feedback from 250 community members.
Feedback Summary:
On December 9 and December 11, pop-ups took place at Wychwood Library where approximately 45 people reviewed and provided feedback on the draft design.
Feedback Summary:
Additional feedback included:
In this phase of community engagement, the final design will be shared with the community on this page and the subscribers on 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.
Including Indigenous placekeeping in the new park was an outcome of Phase 1 community engagement. Responding to this, Tawaw Architecture Collective were hired to join the project team to lead the Indigenous Communities Engagement process and integrate Indigenous placekeeping into the park design.
On August 2, 2023, two half-day sessions were hosted to create a Cultural Interpretation Strategy to guide and root the park design in Indigenous values and perspectives. One session took place with Na-Me-Res residents, while the other took place with Sagatay residents. The sessions began with a cultural song and prayer followed by introductions, an overview of the project, and activities. Activities included a discussion about what is special about this place, which Indigenous narratives and features participants would like to see in the park, a visual preference collaging exercise and a value identification exercise. The Cultural Interpretation Strategy, which includes a summary of these sessions will be posted here when available.
The design team then used the feedback collected through the community-wide Phase 1 engagement in 2022, and the Cultural Interpretation Strategy developed through engagement with local Indigenous community members, to develop draft design options for the park.
The draft designs were shared at two half-day sessions with Na-Me-Res and Sagatay residents on November 2, 2023. At these sessions, preferences between designs and suggestions for improvement were collected. A single draft design was selected to be shared with the wider community for further feedback and refinement.
The final Indigenous Sharing Circle took place in August 2024 at Sagatay, and was attended by over 20 residents from both Na-Me-Res and Sagatay. Participants shared excitement for the current design, and very positive responses were received, overall. There was desire for the park to be a sacred and safe place – a place to gather, smudge, and celebrate with community. There was hope for ongoing community stewardship with Na-Ma-Res and Sagatay, and the potential to do a collaborative mural for the accordion wall with Na-Me-Res, Sagatay and a local Indigenous artist.
Participants expressed the importance of having the appropriate signage included to inform park users of Indigenous medicines, protocol, and connection to the land (historically, and currently). Inclusivity, respect, connectivity, tradition, and language are all themes that were highly supported by the Circle. A Cultural Interpretive Strategy will be posted when it is available.
A new 426 m2 park (about the size of a basketball court, or slightly smaller than two doubles tennis courts) is coming to a part of 32/40 Raglan Ave., near Bathurst Street, just north of St. Clair Avenue West.
This section is organized as follows:
In this phase of the community engagement process, feedback was collected to develop a vision, to understand preferred features and seating styles, and to gather local knowledge to inform the design considerations for each park.
Based on the outcomes of this phase, The vision for this new park is a green and sustainable park, with separate calm and playful spaces.
Preferred features:
Key design considerations:
From September 16 to October 9, feedback on the vision for each park was collected in an online survey. This feedback will help the project team develop a draft design for each park. The survey received 1,300 responses, which included participation from 1,629 individuals.
Feedback Summary:
On October 7, pop-up boards were set up at two locations in the local neighbourhood to share information about the project and collect feedback on the vision for each park. Participants were asked to select their preferences for each park’s character, features, and seating options, and provide additional comments or suggestions. Approximately 100 people participated.
One of the pop-ups was outside of Na-Me-Res to encourage feedback from Indigenous community members.
Feedback Summary:
Indigenous placekeeping (Discussions with Na-Me-Res Staff):
In this phase of the community engagement process, a draft park design will be presented to the community for feedback and revision.
In this phase of the community engagement process, a proposed design will be presented to the community for feedback and revision.
