Item - 2020.TE18.85

The Toronto and East York Community Council:

1. Directed the General Manager, Transportation Services to design through consultation with the local community and Councillor the construction of public realm improvements to Breadalbane Street allowing for a safe physical connection between Opera Place Park, and Dr. Lillian McGregor Park and to report as required through City Council any budgetary approval or section 37 funding required to fund design solutions to prevent undesired vehicular access to Underpass Park.
 

a. Such public realm improvements should include traffic calming measures, such as green infrastructure and coloured pavers to enhance the visual connections between both parks.
 

b. This construction work is to be completed at the same time as the new Dr. Lillian McGregor Park scheduled for completion in 2022.

The Bay Cloverhill neighbourhood, located between Bloor and College, Yonge Street and Queen’s Park, is a high-rise, dense neighbourhood with few green spaces. In the wake of a pandemic, it is clear that communities need more green space as a respite from an otherwise concrete landscape. Breadalbane Street, a small East-West street and key point of contact between Yonge Street and Bay Street borders Opera Place Park, and the future site of Dr. Lillian MacGregor Park has suffered extensive damage from construction vehicles, and rough patchwork road repairs.

In order to connect these two parks, a visual cue, complementary points of entry and traffic mitigation are necessary as the community is invited to explore these green spaces. This can be accomplished quickly, and in a way that directly contributes to the community. Coloured pavers along the road, and right of way, as well as green infrastructure designed to calm traffic are environmentally friendly ways of introducing traffic calming visual cues for motorists.

By completing these road improvements in tandem with the construction of Dr. Lillian MacGregor Park, the City of Toronto can improve the road while connecting Opera Place Park and fulfilling planning and public realm policies outlined in TO Core.