The City is improving Christie Pits Park by redesigning the playground and converting the wading pool to a splash pad. The playground improvements are part of the Playground Enhancement Program. The wading pool to splash pad conversion is informed by the Parks and Recreation Facilities Plan. The community will have opportunities to provide input and help shape the design.
The timeline is subject to change.
This project has been classified as an Involve project based on the International Association of Public Participation Spectrum. This means we aim to work directly with the public throughout the process to ensure that public concerns and aspirations are consistently understood and considered when developing design options and a preferred design for the playground and splash pad.
In this phase, the project team will collect design ideas from the community for the playground improvements and new splash pad, which will guide the development of design options in Phase 2.
The community engagement activities in this phase include:
From June 8 to July 12, an online survey collected feedback on the community’s vision for the future playground and splash pad at Christie Pits Park.
A summary of the feedback will be shared on this page.
The City held two classroom workshops with over 40 local elementary school students including:
The workshops introduced students to the playground design process and gathered ideas for the future playground and splash pad.
Each 60-minute workshop included an introductory presentation, followed by a playground bingo activity, individual user experience worksheets and a group sharing and reflection session.
During the playground bingo activity, students built their ideal playground using tiles that represented different play features, amenities, planting and gathering spaces. On the user experience worksheets, students shared how they currently use Christie Pits Park, what improvements they would like to see and their playground experiences.
The tiles students chose for the playground bingo activity represent the features they most want to see in the new playground. The total number of tiles for each feature is shown in parentheses below.
Popular play features:
Popular nature and planting elements:
Popular site amenities:
Students expressed enthusiasm for splash pad experiences. Access to water play was associated with excitement, fun and for cooling off purposes during the summer.
Students demonstrated consideration for accessibility and advocated for everyone’s participation, expressing that playgrounds should be enjoyable for all users. Across both workshops, students discussed:
At both workshops, students expressed a desire to retain some of their favourite existing play features such as the group spinner and the net climbing structure. Students also wanted to expand play opportunities by adding larger climbing structures, additional monkey bars, climbing nets, towers, bridges, roller slides and zip lines.
Many students highlighted the importance of having room to move and shared that they enjoy running, playing games and using open green space, reinforcing the importance of balancing play features with flexible areas for active play and recreation.
Students shared additional ideas through discussions and user experience worksheets.
Grade 2/3 students focused on:
Grade 5/6 students focused on:
Across both workshops, students shared a common vision for the Christie Pits playground and splash pad as a welcoming and inclusive place for adventure, challenge, exploration, recreation and fun.
In this phase, the project team will use the outcomes of Phase 1 to develop two to three design options for the playground and splash pad, which will be presented to the community for feedback. This input will then be used to develop a preferred design.
The community engagement activities in this phase include:
In this phase, the preferred design for the playground and splash pad will be shared with the community on this page and through the project mailing list. The project will then move into detailed design, where the team will work through the technical details and plans for the construction contractor.
The playground and wading pool at Christie Pits Park are located in the middle of the park, south of the baseball diamonds. This project will improve the playground and wading pool area. It does not include new lighting or changes to other parts of the park.
The playground currently includes:
The playground redesign is proposed to include:
The play equipment and pathway connecting to the playground area will comply with the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA). Learn more about how playgrounds are made accessible.
The existing wading pool will be replaced with a splash pad and is proposed to include:
The decision to convert the wading pool to a splash pad is informed by the Parks and Recreation Facilities Plan. The City reviewed splash pad locations across Toronto to find areas where new splash pads would improve access to residents.
Through this review, University-Rosedale was identified as an area lacking splash pad facilities. Christie Pits Park was chosen as the best location for a new splash pad in the ward based on: