Toronto 155 St Dennis | 184.8m | 56s | Cityzen | Hariri Pontarini

[AlvinofDiaspar]

I agree w/the concerns expressed above.

I will say, the distance to the Crosstown is ~300M (at the station at Wynford), which is served by elevators.
But the distance to the O/L is more substantial; as is the distance to most basic community amenities.

Unless I missed it, there is no on-site retail proposed, that to me is somewhat surprising. I think, at the minimum a convenience store, and perhaps a cafe of some type would be viable here, and a desirable amenity.

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There is an acknowledgement of the need for off-site active transportation improvements, (there were so many things I couldn't include in only 2 posts); with those falling under TBD. (negotiated with the City).
But I'm not sure that's sufficient. Additional retail, particularly grocery, needs to be closer at hand. It doesn't necessarily need to be on this site, but somewhere else is that a relatively short walk (let's say under 500M) and pleasant.

Right now, the closest grocery to the site is Marche Leo, north off Wynford at ~700M away; the Loblaws Super Centre at Don Mills, 1.4km away, and the supermarket in the Flemingdon plaza, also 1.4km away.
Clearly, the latter are entirely unreasonable in terms of a walking orientation for the development, while the former is not only still at the outer limits of a reasonable distance, it simply isn't large enough to deal with the demand growth if it had to serve said needs.

The distance to the elementary school (which will be swamped by all the intensification) is also ~1km; and about the same for the Library and Community centre which are next door.

There needs to be some thought as to how to bridge that proverbial walkability gap.

That said, the potential here in terms of ecological restoration and added parkland is as good (or better) than any development proposal we've seen.

The East Asian way of dealing with this would be building a pedestrian bridge - but I doubt it's viable here.

AoD

 

[Northern Light]

The East Asian way of dealing with this would be building a pedestrian bridge - but I doubt it's viable here.

AoD

Where are you envisioning such a bridge would go?

Some quick measuring suggests to me, that the most direct link to Wynford/Eglinton produces a distance savings of only 40M; and you don't do much better in drawing a line across the DVP either.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

Where are you envisioning such a bridge would go?

Some quick measuring suggests to me, that the most direct link to Wynford/Eglinton produces a distance savings of only 40M; and you don't do much better in drawing a line across the DVP either.

Ideally - cutting through the woodlot and the Pallisades - it's less about reducing the distance and more about providing a more benign walk to the stop. Not going to happen though!

AoD

 

[innsertnamehere]

even something to just improve the staircase access to the station from Wynford to a better condition would go a long way:

perhaps something like what Tridel did in Etobicoke:

That of course still doesn't address the need for additional community and commercial services in the area.

 

[Northern Light]

@innsertnamehere had me looking around for the elevators at Wynford, which were being looked at, at one point, and I had assumed (wrongly as it turns out) were still in the plan.

The elevators have been kiboshed.

https://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2021/ie/bgrd/backgroundfile-171902.pdf

Estimated cost of 7M, plus 50k per year operating as per the above.

Apparently Transportation settled on the sole improvement being constructing a sidewalk alongside the ramp to Eglinton.

The beginnings of said project can be seen here:

I concur that this is wholly insufficient.

The staircase should have a snowmelt system, lighting, and a bike channel for a start.

But I would argue that an elevator really is required given the substantial additional distance for anyone with a mobility aid or stroller entailed in using the ramp.

 

[Undead]

I'm psyched about the 40 acres public space. These sorts of opportunities don't come around very often.

 

[steveve]

Additional context (shown in yellow):

 

[A Torontonian Now]

Additional context (shown in yellow):

Amazing work, as always @steveve!

Looking at that future model, one has to wonder at the logic of the low-rise portion of the Celestica / Crosstown Community development. It is so well-located in this growing node, and when all is said and done, will be out of place from the outset.

 

[afransen]

Additional context (shown in yellow):

Is there any retail envisioned for the development on the north side of Eglinton? Seems like there would easily be 5000 units in that cluster. Should be enough for a small grocery store and some shops.

 

[Northern Light]

Is there any retail envisioned for the development on the north side of Eglinton? Seems like there would easily be 5000 units in that cluster. Should be enough for a small grocery store and some shops.

The cluster closest to Eglinton on the north side is 175 Wynford, it shows 3 retail units with a cumulative space just shy of 20,000ft2

 

[Northern Light]

The same person who led the charge against the GO layover yard in the Don Valley has come out against this proposal.

As someone who cares passionately about the environment, I think he's got a bad take on this one.

 

[UtakataNoAnnex]

I think I read somewhere there's a bit of an issue with the location of the proposal that may effect the runoff or something if built...

 

[Midtown Urbanist]

Amazing work, as always @steveve!

Looking at that future model, one has to wonder at the logic of the low-rise portion of the Celestica / Crosstown Community development. It is so well-located in this growing node, and when all is said and done, will be out of place from the outset.

Yup. Give me another tower and some public park space instead.

 

[Metroscapes]

Now, (mostly) stuff from the other Docs (non-renders)

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From the landscape plan (welcome to nature by CCxA)

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Whew..........ok, I'm done for now, LOL

Comments to follow later, along with a deep dive on some of the restoration/nature stuff!

Like most of you, I'm pretty stoked about the parkland aspect of this. This needs to be done with more golf courses across the city.

It's interesting that the River Walk B route is proposed, which would put it on the river's west bank. I thought sticking to the east bank would be better, but it's hard getting through here. You gotta avoid the outer bends of the river, steep slopes and wetlands.

 

[Northern Light]

Like most of you, I'm pretty stoked about the parkland aspect of this. This needs to be done with more golf courses across the city.

It's interesting that the River Walk B route is proposed, which would put it on the river's west bank. I thought sticking to the east bank would be better, but it's hard getting through here. You gotta avoid the outer bends of the river, steep slopes and wetlands.

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The east bank would involve going through and adjacent to an ecologically sensitive wetland that is a drinking water source for many animals. For that reason alone, the westbank is preferred.

Additionally, the guidelines on accessible trails indicate that wherever possible grades should be kept at or below 5%.; this is possible on the west bank, on the east bank there is at least one unavoidable 7% grade.