The City is improving Anniversary Park with the help of local community feedback. The objectives of the park improvements are to enhance the infrastructure and amenities in order to support its current and future use and to improve park accessibility and safety. The proposed improvements may include additional seating, water bottle filler and new plantings.
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The timeline is subject to change.
Draft design options were developed based on the feedback collected during Community Engagement Phase 1. In Community Engagement Phase 2, these designs were presented to community members for feedback. Based on this input, the design team will develop a single preferred design option that will also takes into consideration the available budget, site conditions, and operational requirements for the park.
During this phase of the community engagement process, the City and the design consultant worked with residents and stakeholders to define a renewed overall vision for the park, including a series of Design Principles to guide the development of design options in Phase 2.
Community Engagement Activities in this phase included:
Anniversary Park will be a green and calm urban oasis that supports community safety and comfort. It will be a welcoming place for people of different backgrounds, ages, and interests to meet and spend time, creating a vibrant new entrance to the Cabbagetown neighbourhood.
In April 2023, the project team held an in-person workshop with community stakeholders. Participants included representatives from local neighbourhood organizations that serve patrons of the park. The workshop allowed participants to share their thoughts about opportunities, challenges, and ideas for the future Anniversary Park. Approximately 13 community stakeholders provided feedback at this workshop. Three members of the project team were available to collect feedback and answer questions.
Review the workshop summary board.
From April 6 to April 23, 2023, over 120 people responded to an online visioning survey. The feedback collected in this survey has informed the Vision Statement and Design Principles, and will guide draft design options for the park.
Download the survey summary.
In April 2023, over 80 community members participated in a pop-up event at Yonge Street Mission Davis Centre, located on Gerrard Street East, north of Anniversary Park. The pop-up allowed community members to engage in dotmocracy exercises and provide feedback in person. Two members of the project team were available to collect feedback and answer questions.
Key feedback, with the total number of ‘agree’ responses in parentheses, follows.
In this phase of the community engagement process, the City and the design consultant used the outcomes of Phase 1 to inform two design options, called concept options, for the park improvements. These designs were presented to the community for feedback, with the input collected used to develop a preferred design for the park.
Community Engagement Activities in this phase:
The anticipated phase outcome includes the selection of a preferred design option.
From July 6 to July 30, 2023, 342 community members responded to an online survey. Participants were able to review and provide feedback on the draft design options and their components. They were also able to select their preferred design option and share ideas on how to improve the designs so that they better align with the community-led park vision and design principles.
Download the survey summary.
On July 20, 2023, the project team held a pop-up event from 3 to 5 p.m. at Yonge Street Mission, located at 270 Gerrard St. E., close to Anniversary Park to engage patrons of the community facilities at Davis Centre and Genesis Place. That same day, the team visited Anniversary Park from 5 to 6 p.m. to hear directly from park users and those passing by. The pop-up events allowed community members to engage in dotmocracy exercises and provide feedback in person. Three members of the project team were available to collect feedback and answer questions.
Key feedback, with the total number of ‘agree’ responses in parentheses, follows.
In July 2023, the project team held an in-person workshop with community stakeholders representing local neighbourhood organizations. The workshop included a presentation of the design options followed by a facilitated roundtable discussion with participants who shared their feedback on the options and their specific components.
Review the workshop summary board.
Some of the comments shared by participants included:
Several participants liked the water bottle filling station proposed in both designs.
A participant liked the low barrier fence on the south side of the park along Gerrard Street and felt it would be important to deter unsafe jaywalking across the busy street, but noted that it also needs to be visually appealing for views to the park from the south.
During this phase of the community engagement process, the City will share the preferred design option to the community. Once the preferred design is confirmed, the project will move into the detail design phase, where the design team will finalize the preferred design by working through the technical details and developing detailed plans and drawings to be used by the construction contractor.
Community Engagement Activities anticipated in this phase will be shared at a later date.
The anticipated phase outcome is the refined preferred design.