Toronto Lower Don Lands Redevelopment | ?m | ?s | Waterfront Toronto

Where's the bike path connection from Cherry Beach to the Toronto Islands that Rob Ford promised during the election?

Or was Rob Ford lying to us again about that.
 
GraphicMatt said:
All of this, in less than 10 years somehow! Do you believe in magic? I hope you do.

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Cool -- were you at the unveiling? Is that finger piers off of the Leslie Spit? I like it -- if they can do this in ten years, I'm all for it. Or... maybe we should just buy out the Hearn lease for a major win for the Fords' backer, and call it quits?
 
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Riverdale Rink Rat said:
Cool -- were you at the unveiling? Is that finger piers off of the Leslie Spit? I like it -- if they can do this in ten years, I'm all for it. Or... maybe we should just buy out the Hearn lease for a major win for the Fords' backer, and call it quits?
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Nah, I stole that picture off Councillor Paul Ainslie's Twitter. It's a nice looking render, though so far beyond the scope of what's doable in ten years that it's crazy. They can totally get the mall -- or 'Town Centre' as they called it -- built and open within that timeframe, though.
 
Riverdale Rink Rat said:
Is that finger piers off of the Leslie Spit? I like it -- if they can do this in ten years, I'm all for it. Or... maybe we should just buy out the Hearn lease for a major win for the Fords' backer, and call it quits?
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The Spit is actually a major bird area and is under the control of the Conservation Authority (the TPA lease to dump there expires in about 5 years) so I doubt it will see piers or anything - I sure hope not. I think the piers at the Spit are 'rendering enhancement" to an already 'dream - or nightmare - rendering". (Wiki says: "Quite a number of bird species are also to be found on the Leslie Street Spit. More than 300 species of birds are to be found, 45 of which actually breed on the headland.[3] Among the birds that may be observed on the headland are the ring-billed gull, the black-crowned night-heron, the double-crested cormorant, the common tern, the Caspian tern, and the herring gull. [4]

Owing to the Leslie Street Spit's importance to so many bird species, it has been designated an Important Bird Area (IBA) by Nature Canada and Bird Studies Canada which are the Canadian partners of BirdLife International. Peninsula D has also become the site of a comprehensive bird research station, run by the TRCA. The Tommy Thompson Park Bird Research Station operates 7 days a week during spring and fall migration, and runs other projects within the Greater Toronto Area throughout the rest of the year. Visitors to the station are welcome on weekends when the park is open."
 
DSC said:
The Spit is actually a major bird area and is under the control of the Conservation Authority (the TPA lease to dump there expires in about 5 years) so I doubt it will see piers or anything - I sure hope not. I think the piers at the Spit are 'rendering enhancement" to an already 'dream - or nightmare - rendering". (Wiki says: "Quite a number of bird species are also to be found on the Leslie Street Spit. More than 300 species of birds are to be found, 45 of which actually breed on the headland.[3] Among the birds that may be observed on the headland are the ring-billed gull, the black-crowned night-heron, the double-crested cormorant, the common tern, the Caspian tern, and the herring gull. [4]

Owing to the Leslie Street Spit's importance to so many bird species, it has been designated an Important Bird Area (IBA) by Nature Canada and Bird Studies Canada which are the Canadian partners of BirdLife International. Peninsula D has also become the site of a comprehensive bird research station, run by the TRCA. The Tommy Thompson Park Bird Research Station operates 7 days a week during spring and fall migration, and runs other projects within the Greater Toronto Area throughout the rest of the year. Visitors to the station are welcome on weekends when the park is open."
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I'm a huge user of the Spit for exercise/annoying my teenagers by taking them for bike rides. Well aware of its status -- I was giggling at the whole project by pointing out a piece that absolutely cannot be done under any circumstances by this mayor or any other. Unfortunately, as usual, incredulous laughter doesn't come through in a separate font. ;-)
 
GraphicMatt said:
Nah, I stole that picture off Councillor Paul Ainslie's Twitter. It's a nice looking render, though so far beyond the scope of what's doable in ten years that it's crazy. They can totally get the mall -- or 'Town Centre' as they called it -- built and open within that timeframe, though.
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I think we'd have to go back and listen to what Doug Ford said was actually doable in the shorter time frame. I doubt he intended to say that the whole 1,000+ acres would be fully developed in 6 years, but they could probably get some or all of the flagship items they are touting complete, then continue to expand outwards from there.

Not that I'm suggesting this be part of it - but does anyone recall that proposal to build a permanent movie set type group of neighborhoods that would emulate other places? It would be a fully functional and living residential and commercial neighborhood, but would be geared specifically towards standing in for other cities. I don't want to see the movie studios go entirely and wonder what others think of this concept? If it's done on the eastern part of the port lands and not the premier parts, maybe that's another set of deep pockets they expect to help get things built down there?



nfitz said:
Where's the bike path connection from Cherry Beach to the Toronto Islands that Rob Ford promised during the election?

Or was Rob Ford lying to us again about that.
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You sure that was a 'promise' or just an idea?
 
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Disgusting, where are the recreation paths, where are the pedestrian bridges, what happened to the naturalization of the mouth of the Don? And it looks like only those with boats and access to private yacht clubs will get full use of this waterfront plan.

Shame on the Fords.

This
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vs.

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Doug's plan would be better over at Ontario Place.
 
I'm just waiting for someone to overlay an upside down star onto the streets in the render and pipe up with "Rob Ford is a Stone Mason!"
 
When this proposal comes to full council for debate, I wish someone would motion that no developers or investors that are personally know to anyone on the executive committee, should be allowed to participate in the development of the Portlands. Period. Bet you, if it were to pass, the Ford's would lose interest in their plans pretty quickly. If it's all about speeding things up, then why not try working with WT and doing it with the already approved plans? This smells of developers calling in their favours. That is the only logical reason for wanting to replace Waterfront Toronto.
 
toto said:
When this proposal comes to full council for debate, I wish someone would motion that no developers or investors that are personally know to anyone on the executive committee, should be allowed to participate in the development of the Portlands. Period. Bet you, if it were to pass, the Ford's would lose interest in their plans pretty quickly. If it's all about speeding things up, then why not try working with WT and doing it with the already approved plans? This smells of developers calling in their favours. That is the only logical reason for wanting to replace Waterfront Toronto.
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Let's just hope it does go to council, unlike what happened with the Transit City plan...

To be honest, I actually like the look of Ford's plan. While there is less concentrated park land, it looks to be made up for with more public squares and green space throughout. However, the original plan has already been designed and the EA and groundwork has been completed. To have a new plan come out of nowhere, endorsed by an out of ward councilor no less, and scrap the original with no regard for it is juvenile politics at its worst! It is fixing something which isn't broken. If the Fords do try and push ahead with this, wouldn't the lawyers try and defend the current plan? And what is the likelihood of a judge or the OMB telling the Fords that they are too late to redraw the plans?

EDIT: I still find the irony incredible that the car loving and suburban mayor, the one who campaigned on that there are too many people moving into the city, is becoming a champion for dense transit oriented development!!!
 
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That looks great from the air, but I get the feeling it won't be that great from the ground...and I seriously doubt it would be built as pictured in the rendering.

When is this plan going to be made public?
 
syn said:
391307588.jpg


That looks great from the air, but I get the feeling it won't be that great from the ground...and I seriously doubt it would be built as pictured in the rendering.

When is this plan going to be made public?
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It looks like all the megaprojects going up in China and the Middle East- all about appearance, less about the actual quality of living. For example, it looks like you'll need to drive in order to get anywhere else in Ford's plan.

Edit: Here's a CBC video with more pictures.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/story/2011/09/06/toronto-portlands-plan.html
 
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I think it looks completely tacky and frankly quite awful. Judging by how the layout contrasts with the rest of the city, it's obvious that those who designed it are in no way familiar with Toronto. There is little fluidity. It looks like a "space age" geometric mess that popped out of the '50s.

The fact that Ford is in the media, aggressively trying to push this, is really irritating.
 
The plan isn't nearly as bad as I had expected, since when Ford said 'mega-mall', I assumed the worst.

Pros
- Great density
- Transit coverage of the site is decent (also a con, monorail, really?)
- New landmarks for the city (square, park, ferris wheel, hearn rink)
- Mixed-use
- No massive parking lots
- Appeals to both residents and tourists
- Added revenue for the city

Cons
- Too many condos on the shoreline, should be reserved for greenspace/beaches
- No naturalization of the Don
- Seems primarily auto-oriented, although pedestrian bridges are a nice feature
- Feels disconnected from the city
- Tower placement is odd, random
- Will need new environmental assessment, delaying the project further
 
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