[URBAN NOTE] "To get the rail-deck park, Toronto needs to work with developers"

[rfmcdonald]

Marcus Gee's opinion piece in The Globe and Mail makes some sense to me.

[Jennifer Keesmaat] argues that with space for new parks in downtown vanishingly scarce, decking over the rail lands is Toronto’s last chance to create a grand, signature park in the heart of the city.

As condo towers sprout left and right, the number of people living downtown is expected to double over the next quarter century, reaching almost half a million. Providing more space for all those people to stroll and play and walk their dogs only makes sense.

The 21 acres the park would cover – the equivalent of four large city blocks – is the minimum Toronto needs for its soaring downtown population, Ms. Keesmaat says. “Why would we make it even smaller by putting condos on it? That is flabbergasting in its small-mindedness.”

So instead of working with developers to create the park, the city intends to soak them for the cost. A city report released on Thursday says that “staff will identify options to enhance growth-oriented revenues so that local development activity can fund a significant portion of the rail-deck park project.” In other words, fees and charges developers pay when they put up a building would rise, inevitably affecting the cost of housing in a city where it is already painfully expensive. City hall would also pass the hat to “corporate sponsors, foundations and other philanthropic organizations.”

These are less funding plans than funding hopes. With so many pressing needs, from transit to housing, it seems rash to add another project to the long list that must be paid for … somehow.