Toronto City Council today unanimously adopted staff recommendations to continue negotiations to acquire approximately 1.2 hectares (three acres) of air space above the Union Station Rail Corridor for Rail Deck Park. Should negotiations stall, Council has directed staff to move forward with an expropriation for this air space between Spadina Avenue and Blue Jays Way, south of Front Street West.
Discussions with the owners to acquire air space in the Rail Deck Park project area at fair market value have been ongoing since 2018.
Rail Deck Park is a City-led proposal for a new park of approximately eight hectares (20 acres) above the Union Station Rail Corridor between Bathurst Street and Blue Jays Way. The downtown rail corridor area is the last remaining site suitable for a large park to support growth in the downtown and serve as a city-wide asset. Implementation of this park is intended to be phased to help manage the anticipated cost and complexity of the project.
Together with the City’s existing Northern Linear Park property, acquisition of the air space sought by the City at this time would create the opportunity to pursue the development of a new park of up to 1.6 hectares (four acres) of the proposed eight-hectare (20-acre) Rail Deck Park.
This portion of Rail Deck Park would be adjacent to the development proposal for “Union Park” from Oxford Properties Group Inc, which together would transform under-used air space into a combined park area of about 2.8 hectares (seven acres).
The acquisition of this air space will guide the future development of this area of the rail corridor within the City’s Official Plan policies. Additional air space in the Rail Deck Park project area (between Spadina Avenue and Bathurst Street) will be pursued at a time when staff are confident it can be acquired at fair market value.
Staff will bring a report to Council by the third quarter of 2020 to authorize the next stage of the Rail Deck Park project, including a funding and financing strategy for acquisition of the air space and capital delivery of the project.
More information about Rail Deck Park is available at http://www.toronto.ca/raildeckpark.
Images of Rail Deck Park are available at https://www.toronto.ca/home/media-room/video-b-roll-images/rail-deck-park-images/.
Quotes:
“Today, City Council decided to take the next important step to advance Rail Deck Park, which will provide critically needed park space for our residents and visitors. Torontonians today and for generations to come will benefit from this transformative investment, and moving to acquire this air space brings us closer to getting this once-in-a-lifetime project underway.”
– Mayor John Tory
“Rail Deck Park is a once in a generation city-building opportunity for our city. Transforming underused air space into green space for future generations of Torontonians is the right thing to do, and now is the time to do it. I applaud my Council colleagues for their endorsement of moving one step closer to make it a reality.”
– Councillor Joe Cressy (Ward 10 Spadina-Fort York)
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