Tuscani01 said:
I think theres a Toronto Hydro project happening on that site right now, so no point doing anything with it yet.
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DSCToronto said:
The 'middle block" - Block 4 (baseball and dog area) and the first block (Block 1) Market Tent are the final phase of the park rehab. They are not yet designed and do not yet have funding. The Hydro work is underground and accessed from the Hydro One Station and is nothing to do with the park work.
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They don't have to over program it, I hope they at least renew and maintain the grass as an open lawn.
 
nightstreak said:
Is there an off leash dog park planned in this revitalization?
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No, as I said the design of Block 4 has not yet started as Blocks 1 & 4 are not part of the current plan. However, there has been a long running 'campaign' for an off-leash dog area there though many prefer an open area (as now) it was probably about to go immediately SOUTH of the rail berm (between Lower Sherbourne & Lower Jarvis) and just north of Lake Shore Blvd before Metrolinx decided to use that area for a work-place.
 
As a former dog owner/lover and volunteer for Humane Society, I can only pray that the area they include for dogs is not open but enclosed. I’ll explain. Dogs as you know have very sensitive hearing. A loud bang frightens them easily. I was at the open (at the time) dog area at Sorauren Park, when some teens set off firecrackers. Dogs took off in every direction. Thankfully, I grabbed mine and two others. Many just took off. One of the other dogs ran to Dundas and came within inches of being run over by a streetcar in its panic. One of the scariest moments of my life. Also, children have high pitched voices and move quickly. Many younger dogs respond to that as play. They may jump up on kids. Some people, like the elderly or other-abled, may not be steady enough to maneuver around dogs running free. And, still others are afraid of dogs, sadly, and I remind all my fellow dog lovers to be mindful of that. Tgat is why I think the best solution for all is an enclosed dog area.
 
ceaz40 said:
As a former dog owner/lover and volunteer for Humane Society, I can only pray that the area they include for dogs is not open but enclosed. I’ll explain. Dogs as you know have very sensitive hearing. A loud bang frightens them easily. I was at the open (at the time) dog area at Sorauren Park, when some teens set off firecrackers. Dogs took off in every direction. Thankfully, I grabbed mine and two others. Many just took off. One of the other dogs ran to Dundas and came within inches of being run over by a streetcar in its panic. One of the scariest moments of my life. Also, children have high pitched voices and move quickly. Many younger dogs respond to that as play. They may jump up on kids. Some people, like the elderly or other-abled, may not be steady enough to maneuver around dogs running free. And, still others are afraid of dogs, sadly, and I remind all my fellow dog lovers to be mindful of that. Tgat is why I think the best solution for all is an enclosed dog area.
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This may all be correct but nobody is starting to plan Blocks 1 & 4 yet. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
 
ceaz40 said:
As a former dog owner/lover and volunteer for Humane Society, I can only pray that the area they include for dogs is not open but enclosed. I’ll explain. Dogs as you know have very sensitive hearing. A loud bang frightens them easily. I was at the open (at the time) dog area at Sorauren Park, when some teens set off firecrackers. Dogs took off in every direction. Thankfully, I grabbed mine and two others. Many just took off. One of the other dogs ran to Dundas and came within inches of being run over by a streetcar in its panic. One of the scariest moments of my life. Also, children have high pitched voices and move quickly. Many younger dogs respond to that as play. They may jump up on kids. Some people, like the elderly or other-abled, may not be steady enough to maneuver around dogs running free. And, still others are afraid of dogs, sadly, and I remind all my fellow dog lovers to be mindful of that. Tgat is why I think the best solution for all is an enclosed dog area.
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Off topic, but thanks for posting that. I like dogs; but am still annoyed by some inconsiderate owner who let his off-leash retriever come slobber all over my expensive (for me) leather purse on Saturday in Taylor Creek without even remotely trying to stop it or apologizing. 😡 And yeah, I'd be traumatized to watch a dog get runover if it ran scared into traffic. Thank you for being a considerate dog owner that encourages that in other dog owners, and better infrastructure for dogs, too! 🙇‍♀️🙇‍♀️🙇‍♀️
 
DSCToronto said:
This may all be correct but nobody is starting to plan Blocks 1 & 4 yet. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
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Where is block 1? Assuming that the beginning of the park is east of Jarvis and noticing that that's called Block 2, is the park being expanded west to the tent space south of St. Lawrence? Is that Block 1? I thought it was getting a community centre or a library or something. Been over a decade since I last heard about it.

Regarding the dog park, you'd think the city would integrate an enclosed dog park in one of the first blocks since there appear to be a lot of dogs in the community and a real need for a space where they can safely run around and play. Adding years to the wait is a missed opportunity when the park is being redeveloped right now.
 
I believe Block 1 is currently the white tent that hosts the Sunday market; and formally the Saturday farmers market.
 
nightstreak said:
Where is block 1? Assuming that the beginning of the park is east of Jarvis and noticing that that's called Block 2, is the park being expanded west to the tent space south of St. Lawrence? Is that Block 1? I thought it was getting a community centre or a library or something. Been over a decade since I last heard about it.

Regarding the dog park, you'd think the city would integrate an enclosed dog park in one of the first blocks since there appear to be a lot of dogs in the community and a real need for a space where they can safely run around and play. Adding years to the wait is a missed opportunity when the park is being redeveloped right now.
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The original plan for Block 1 was to be a park, then there was plan to move the new St Lawrence District Library there. then to add affordable housing on top of the Library but the final decision (much discussed here) was to put the District Library at Queen & Parliament (hopefully with some sort of Branch in the SW part of St Lawrence). The site is now back to being a Park but, as the planning was well advanced for the other Blocks, the City (very wisely) decided to move on with them first.

The whole project is being executed in phases (Block by Block) so that the schools can continue to have play-grounds and residents can have parks. Some Blocks clearly had to be done before others and leaving Blocks 1 and 4 to the end is far from the end of the world.
 
I'm glad it's going to become a park. Hopefully in the future, the pedestrianized Market Street can be extended further south, connecting David Crombie Park to the new Market Lane Park and St. James Park as one linear continuous park.
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DSCToronto said:
Not that I would not like a decent coffee place with tables on the sidewalks but the only real place for that is in Time & Space and they seem to have nobody interested in renting the planned-for cafe space which has POPs adjacency.
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Why? Because the SLN simply has not had the concentration of people to support a lot street life and therefore businesses, If it did, the retail wouldn’t include a church and a half-dead pizza restaurant.

There are a series of reasons for this. And it doesn’t mean it is a bad neighborhood. But we often seem to believe, at a policy level, that neighborhoods less dense than this one and less walkable are going to resemble central Paris and it never happens.

(Caveat: the situation is improving now that the distillery and other buildings in the vicinity including time and space have more than doubled the residential population.)

An apartment building and a branch library at the end of the park would’ve been exactly what this place needs.
 
AlexBozikovic said:
Why? Because the SLN simply has not had the concentration of people to support a lot street life and therefore businesses, If it did, the retail wouldn’t include a church and a half-dead pizza restaurant.

There are a series of reasons for this. And it doesn’t mean it is a bad neighborhood. But we often seem to believe, at a policy level, that neighborhoods less dense than this one and less walkable are going to resemble central Paris and it never happens.

(Caveat: the situation is improving now that the distillery and other buildings in the vicinity including time and space have more than doubled the residential population.)

An apartment building and a branch library at the end of the park would’ve been exactly what this place needs.
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I agree that the existing retail (or non-residential) on The Esplanade (and the block on Princess above it) is not thrilling but many people DO seem to use the church (@ The Esplanade & George) and Bellisimo (@ The Esplanade and Frederick) is actually quite a busy LOCAL pizza and more spot. I agree that none of the retail probably attracts many 'outsiders' but many of the places have been there for many years (which presumably means they serve a local function and make money) and, as far as I know, there are no empty store-fronts between Lower Jarvis and Berkeley, except at Time & Space where I certainly think a 'magnet' attraction might do OK and be a useful addition.
 
NextBlockOver said:
I live in the area - also agree with Northern Light and the above. I can see your point and would be great to have an extra wine bar/cafe along the east side of the STL Market on The Esplanade, but the park is far from 'dead', even during evening times.
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I also live in the area, and do notice that the park is often busy when the weather gets better, especially on the weekends. At the same time, I agree with Alex (or what I think he's implying) that the 300 townhomes should ultimately be converted to more housing. It does not have to be massive towers, but some sort of reasonable apartment density would be better use of the land given how close it is to the centre of the city - I would welcome more neighbours
 
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