Does Downsview Park have a future as Toronto’s version of New York City’s Central Park?
This
idea was shown to me — literally — on a recent tour of the park in a
golf cart. We were there, planting trees for the Highway of Heroes
Living Tribute (check it out at hohtribute.ca) on one of the beautiful, clear days we’ve had this past fall.
David
Anselmi, a director with Canada Lands Company, the crown corporation in
charge of the park, offered to drive me across the 291-acre swath
located in northwest Toronto, at Sheppard Ave. and Keele St. For nearly
50 years it was the military base CFB Toronto before closing in 1996.
Canada
Lands has invested $45 million in a new chapter for the park that will
make the property into a multi-purpose urban centre. In its 20 years as a
city park, progress has been quiet. Among Downsview’s biggest
achievements was hosting 800,000 in 2002 for Pope John Paul II’s World
Youth Day. Today, things are quieter but progress is underway with some
iconic features such as the Lake, the Meadow and the Mound. And Anselmi
is clearly proud of it. This past year, 125,000 visited the park that
hosted 22 major events.
One of the first
things on our tour that I spied were new public washrooms. “OK — good
start,” I thought. If I’m going to visit a public park, I want washrooms
and I want the doors to not be locked as they are so often are in
places like this.
Next:
The Orchard, a variety of 400 specially chosen apple trees. This
wonderful idea reminds me of a similar park in Strathcona, AB., where
large planters of edible flowers and vegetables include a sign that
reads: “Help yourself.”
Then we motored
over the hill to a magnificent view of a nine-acre man-made lake. This
is actually a stormwater retention pond that serves more than 400
surrounding acres of land. The lake is full of waterfowl, water plants
and has a walking/running path that goes around it.
Other features of the new Downsview Park:
WILLIAM BAKER WOODLOT:
This 27-acre park is the perfect place for kids to play and adults to
absorb some oxygen. The 1856 homestead of the Boakes family was located
here, and the forest provides a reminder that the property provided a
real home to real people long before it became an Air Force base in the
late 1930s.
LOVE SPORTS?
Chances are you will find a sport to your liking at the park’s Hangar
Sports Complex. Soccer, basketball, volleyball, ball hockey and other
recreational sports activities are all accessible to the public. Details
at hangarsportevents.com
LOVE WILDLIFE?
This park is teaming with wildlife. The lake provides a magnet for much
of it, but everywhere in the almost-300 acres there is evidence that
Mother Nature is making a home here for herself. Song birds and
beneficial insects are enjoying the substantial wetland areas that have
formed naturally through a disciplined approach to development of the
land.
LOVE TO WALK, RUN AND/OR BIKE? The
Circuit Path stretches 2.7-kilometres along the outer ring, with paths
criss-crossing through it, to The Meadow in the middle. Most of the
paths are well lit and wide enough a baby-stroller, a runner and a
bicyclist to share.
TREES:
As well as the mature trees in Boake’s Grove, thousands of new trees
have been planted across the property. Nothing man-made can match the
contribution trees make to our social and recreational while also
enhancing the health of our natural environment. The only problem is
that they need time to grow. And time will make this park spectacular.
LIVING THERE: Mattamy Homes is building there now, in their Stanley Greene community. Many more units are to come over the next 10 years.
Will Downsview become to Toronto what Central Park is to New York City? A few comparisons:
- Central Park is 843 acres. Downsview is almost 300 acres.
- Central Park has a 22-acre lake.
- Central Park took 25 years to build and is now 160 years old. That is, give or take, about seven generations.
I
have no doubt that in seven generations Downsview Park will hold a
significant place in the hearts of Torontonians. While the park is not
currently well known and not travelled nearly as much as it could be,
the new subway station at the park (on the Toronto-York Spadina
extension) and growing awareness of this gem will change all of that.
As
all of us are told when we try and grow up too fast: “It takes time.”
The pre adolescent Downsview will no doubt grow into a beauty.
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