Item - 2020.RA14.3

The Board of Directors of CreateTO:

1.  Directed the Chief Executive Officer, CreateTO in consultation with the Executive Director, Corporate Real Estate Management, the General Manager, Economic Development and Culture, the Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning along with the General Manager, Parks, Forestry and Recreation to negotiate the terms and conditions of a long-term fair market-value lease agreement with the Tamil Community Centre, to design, build, finance and operate a new not-for-profit Community Recreation Facility on the south parcel of the City-owned property at 311 Staines Road, as shown and outlined on Attachment 1 to the report (July 9, 2020) from the Chief Executive Officer, CreateTO.

2.  Directed the Chief Executive Officer, CreateTO in consultation with the General Manager, Economic Development and Culture, along with the General Manager, Parks, Forestry and Recreation to negotiate the terms and conditions of a Community Access Agreement to accompany the Land Lease.

3.  Directed the Chief Executive Officer, CreateTO to consult with the Executive Director, Social Development Finance and Administration and the Director of the Indigenous Affairs Office on how to ensure that the Community Access Agreement is developed to best meet the needs of vulnerable and Indigenous communities.

4.  Directed the Chief Executive Officer, CreateTO, in consultation with the Indigenous Affairs Office to report back on the feasibility of how any agreements may include requirements for Indigenous Placemaking and how this would be incorporated into any redevelopment of the Subject Property.

City-owned 311 Staines Road comprises a north parcel and south parcel, separated by a Hydro corridor.  The purpose of this report is to provide an update to the Board of Directors of CreateTO on the non-binding conversations between CreateTO staff and the principals of the Tamil Community Centre ("TCC") regarding a proposed land lease (the "Land Lease") for the south parcel of 311 Staines Road (the "Subject Property").  TCC have proposed a new community centre on the Subject Property which will serve the community as a whole while providing a focus on the Tamil Community.  

The Tamil community has been working for some time to identify a location within Northeast Scarborough in order to build a new community centre with the goal to address the gap in services available to the broader Tamil community. The proposed location of the new TCC at the Subject Property is ideally located to serve the immediate community along with the broader Tamil communities in Pickering, Ajax and Markham. In addition, the community centre will work to incorporate the needs of community members at large, who would be able to access and use this facility through a Community Access Agreement which will work as a companion document to the Land Lease. This location is home to a large number of new immigrant families, single parent households, and/or individuals with socio-economic barriers. While the agreements will be with the TCC, it will be carried out with sensitivity to the needs of the many other communities in the neighbourhood. Communities including Indigenous, Black and Caribbean communities confront similar difficulties in terms of travel time to access vital services, a lack of recreational services, neighbourhood improvement projects, and affordable spaces for community and cultural events. The TCC will be a valuable resource to improve vital services to all communities in the surrounding neighbourhoods.