Christopher Hume
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Oasis of green smarts in grey sea
Metrogate's 2,000 units will form a sustainable community brightening Agincourt landscape
Jul 20, 2007 04:30 AM
Christopher Hume
If Tridel gets its way, we won't have Scarborough to kick around much longer.
One of Toronto's largest developers is set to launch the city's second built-from-scratch sustainable community. In industry jargon, that's a LEED DN (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Designated Neighbourhood).
To ordinary observers, it will look like a better-than-average post-suburban development that combines tall towers with townhouses, focused in this case around a small park less than a hectare in size.
But in many ways, what's most remarkable about the scheme, called Metrogate, is its location: in Agincourt where Kennedy Rd. meets Highway 401. The surrounding area offers a familiar mix of strip malls, office buildings, gas stations, postwar bungalows and traffic, lots of traffic. The most recognizable landmark is the Delta Hotel, situated just south of the Tridel property, which was formerly a trucking terminal.
The transformation of this sea of asphalt and concrete into a green community is one of those projects that manages to encapsulate its times perfectly. In a nutshell, this is what the 21st century will be all about – taking abandoned industrial sites, in city and suburb, cleaning them up and returning them to the land of the living.
But how crazy is it that even as Metrogate gets going, all around it to the north, east and west we're still turning farmland into subdivisions? Even as the lie has been exposed, it continues to be told.
To its credit, Tridel, which has the dubious distinction of having built half the condos in Scarborough, has decided to go green.
"It's a commitment," says Tridel president Leo DelZotto. "No matter how you look at it, this is going to cost us more to build. The product will be a little higher priced. But we know that the market and the industry are moving with us."
DelZotto likes to use the example of Metrogate's high-efficiency dual flush toilets. When Tridel first used this model, it had to be shipped from Australia. Now, he says, the toilet is made locally.
But it takes more than frugal toilets, special showerheads and the like to make a green community. More importantly, Metrogate's 2,000 units will be connected to a natural gas-fuelled district heating system. Rain water will be collected, cleaned and returned. According to LEED consultant Lauren Gropper, the buildings will produce 30 per cent less greenhouse gas emissions and use 40 per cent less water. In addition, 75 per cent of the demolition waste will be recycled.
"This kind of project is what we're going to be doing a lot more of," said Mayor David Miller, who travelled to Agincourt for the occasion.
He's right. For the moment, however, the only other such scheme is unfolding on Toronto's waterfront, with housing construction due to start this fall. In all, there are 30 such projects in Canada, 370 across North America.
But unlike at the waterfront, Metrogate's problem is its isolation. Sure, it's accessible, but mostly by car. Though plans call for it to become a transportation hub second only to Union Station, that's a long way off.
As is so often the case, the power to deal with these issues lies with the province; the city can only hope.
Given the car's enormous contribution to climate warming, no community can be considered green until its residents have full access to public transit.
On the other hand, space has been set aside for these future facilities; if and when they are built, Metrogate will be able to live up to its billing.
