A new 14,570 m2 park is coming to 160 McAllister Rd., south of The Toronto Heschel School at Faywood Boulevard and Sheppard Avenue West.
The timeline is subject to change.
This project has been classified as a high-level Consult project based on the International Association of Public Participation Public Participation Spectrum. This means we invite ideas and aspirations for the design and obtain public feedback on existing analysis, alternatives and/or proposals.
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In this phase of the engagement process, the project team collected community feedback to develop a draft vision statement for the park and a series of guiding principles which will guide the development of design options in Community Engagement Phase 2.
The vision is co-created with the community to describe the ideal future park or facility. It is a big-picture statement that should inspire everyone toward a common understanding of the project’s overall goals and objectives.
The new park at 160 McAllister should provide opportunities for sports and imaginative play. The new park should also provide the opportunity to relax and reflect in nature, and to socialize with friends and family. The park should be accessible and welcoming to community members of all ages and abilities.
The 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 to clarify the vision statement and guide how the park should be designed by describing the desired outcomes.
Preferred features:
From November 13 to December 5, 309 community members completed an online thought exchange activity where they shared 288 ideas and 6,594 idea ratings. The project team will use the feedback to create draft park design options, which will be shared for further feedback in Community Engagement Phase 2.
In this activity, many community members wanted the neighbouring Heschel School to continue to have access to the space to use and enjoy. The project team has reached out to the school to help establish continued access.
The following summarizes the most popular ideas collected in the activity that were within the project scope. Review a full summary of the results in an interactive report.
The highest-rated responses to the main question, “The new park at 160 McAllister Road should be a place where…”:
The survey included multiple-choice questions in addition to the main open-ended survey question. Those questions, and the responses that scored over 40 per cent, follow.
The preferred character for the new park was:
The most popular park uses were:
The preferred park features were:
The preferred playground features were:
The preferred sports to play in the park were:
The preferred seating was:
On November 13, pop-up boards were set up at the entrance to Dublin Heights Elementary and Middle School to share information about the project and collect feedback on the vision for the park. Participants were asked to select their preferences for the park’s character, features and seating options, and provide additional comments or suggestions. Approximately 75 people, mostly youth, participated using stickers to indicate their preferences, with the total number of responses in parentheses.
On November 13, the project team supervised four University of Toronto Urban Studies students while they facilitated a classroom workshop at Dublin Heights Elementary and Middle School. Grade eight students discussed their favourite parks in small groups and worked together to illustrate their vision for the park’s character and features. Sixteen students participated.
Download a shortened version of the students’ report.
In summary, based on their discussions, the students want the new park to be:
In this phase of the community engagement process, the City and its design consultant will work off the outcomes of Community Engagement Phase 1 to develop two to three design options for the new park. These will be presented to the community for feedback, which will be used to develop a preferred design for the park.
The anticipated community engagement activities in this phase include:
The anticipated outcome of this phase is the selection of a preferred design.
In this phase of the community engagement process, the City will share the preferred design with the community to collect feedback. When the preferred design is confirmed, the project will move into the detail design phase, where the design team will finalize the design by working through the technical details and developing detailed plans and drawings for the construction contractor.
The anticipated community engagement activities in this phase include:
The anticipated outcome of this phase is a refined preferred design.