The City of Toronto and Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (TRCA) are fighting against a massive development set to include four condo towers and a large park in Flemingdon Park.
The project would replace the Flemingdon Park Golf Club near Eglinton Avenue and the DOn Valley Parkway with four towers between 42 and 56 storeys tall with approximately 2,200 units total. A public park the size of Trinity-Bellwoods Park would also be part of the development.
It would be situated on a flat portion of the land at the bottom of multiple slopes and in a ravine, land that the TRCA has deemed hazardous
“There’s lots of other suitable places to put a development like this, not in our protected ravine. Fully 100 per cent in the ravine goes against everything the city, the TRCA and citizen science has done for 70 years,” said Floyd Ruskin, a ravine and park advocate.
“The TRCA calls everything below the stable top of slope hazard lands, because any time, it could slip.”
The TRCA made that argument at the Ontario Land Tribunal earlier this year but this October, the tribunal sided with the developer.
In a statement to CityNews, the conservation authority said they “do not support significantly intensified new development below the top of ravine banks” and the development “may not provide access for future residents or for emergency services during times of slope erosion.”
The team behind the development, Cityzen in partnership with Greybrook and Tercot Communities, disagrees. They say the portion of land they intend to build on is perfectly safe. The condos would take up about five percent of the 40-acre property.
The other 95 per cent would become a massive park, gifted to the city by the developers. It was a move described by supporters in the tribunal proceedings as “akin to the transfer of High Park to the city in 1873.”
Ruskin said that portion of the land couldn’t be built on anyways.
“Down at the bottom, it is in the regulatory flood zone, so they can’t build there. They’re giving away something they have no use for,” explained Ruskin.
Conservationists aren’t just worried about these towers in Flemingdon Park. They say the development could lead to the transformation of other sites across the city.
“It could very well set a precedent and the reason is there are many golf courses within ravines in the city,” said Ruskin. “What’s to say that with this as a precedent, they don’t monetize their ravine slopes and put condo buildings overlooking a golf course?”
City council voted to appeal the decision at their November meeting, meaning the fight over this property will continue in a Divisional Court.
The TRCA also said they believe the tribunal “erred in its findings” and has also submitted a motion to appeal to the Divisional Court.
