November 27 (Updated December 4 for three items missed from the list)

When we visited Toronto City Hall two weeks ago to depute on the skating oval at Sam Smith Park, we picked up some some more detailed budget documents, not found (yet) on the City's website. Among the items that caught our eye in the Parks & Rec. Capital Budget:

In the 2008-2012 time frame:

• Colonel Sam Smith Outdoor Rink $1,400,000 (all in 2008)

Presumably the the reduction is because the $500,000 in Section 37 money has not materialized.

• South Etobicoke (Ken Cox) Community Centre construction $1,800,000 (all in 2008)

In the 2013-2017 time frame:

• Don Russell Park Baseball Facility $750,000
• Colonel Samuel Smith Site Development $1,550,000
• Sand Beach Road - Park Development $102,000
• Mystic Point – New Park Development $1,188,000
• Canada Arsenal (Marie Curtis Park) $2,420,000

Unfortunately, the Arsenal Lands (Marie Curtis West) and the redevelopment of Marie Curtis Park East appear to be lumped into one budget item even though the master plan is complete for the west side, and the one for the east side hasn't even been started.

• Amos Waites Outdoor Pool – Upgrade Change Rooms $450,000
• Etobicoke Valley Pk:Trail Ext. 9 TBP $450,000
• Colonel Samuel Smith Park – Walkways $350,000
• Lakeshore Community Centre – Replace Heating System $250,000
• Horner Senior Centre – Accessibility $225,000

So, in case you missed it, there are only two items in the capital budget for Ward 6 in the next 5 years and one is a project no one is asking for: the outdoor rink at Colonel Sam Smith Park!

November 17

There is a Planning application in New Toronto that is getting a lot of attention from those that have heard about it. It concerns 51 Lake Shore Drive (at Fourth Street). In this case, it’s not size, height, or density that has piqued their interest so much as the proposed location of the building, well to the south of the existing structure, in an area designated as Green Space in the City of Toronto’s Official Plan

There will be a public consultation meeting on Wednesday, December 5th:

Meeting Time: 7 P.M. to 9 P.M.
Meeting Location: The Assembly Hall, in the North Room
1 Colonel Samuel Smith Park Drive

Click here for a pdf of the official meeting notice.

You can read the Staff Report on this application on the City’s website here. (It’s well hidden.)

November 17

Last Tuesday, we deputed at the City of Toronto Capital Budget Meeting at City Hall. We were joined by The Friends of Sam Smith, and The Lakeshore Planning Council, all asking the Budget Committee to defer the capital committed to the outdoor skating rink at Sam Smith Park. We are all concerned that we are poised for a repeat of the skateboard park scenario without the kind of public consultation we were promised. With so many needs in the community, why are we rushing to spend so much money on a project that so few people seem to care about when we have others that continue to be unfunded?

There is still some confusion about the cost. It had previously been listed as a $2 million project. The budget documents we saw on Tuesday list it as $1.4 million, and the Guardian is reporting it as $1.9 million.

This was our 5 minute pitch:

My name is Brian Bailey, and I am here representing Citizens Concerned About the Future of the Etobicoke Waterfront, also known as CCFEW. We have been advocating for waterfront issues since 1989. I am here today to ask you to take something out of the 2008 capital budget. Specifically: the Parks and Recreation project to construct an outdoor skating rink at Colonel Samuel Smith Park in Ward 6. We are thrilled to see $2 million spent on parks in Ward 6, but this is the wrong project at the wrong time. We are asking you to move it out of the 2008 portion of the Capital Budget.

Colonel Samuel Smith Park is 194 acres of waterfront greenspace, much of it naturalized. It is a jewel of the community, and many residents feel a deep sense of ownership. An ongoing problem has been the community's lack of a formal means of meaningful input into the planning and management of the park. This problem was highlighted last year in a bitter fight over plans to build a regional skateboard facility in the park. Councillor Glenn DeBaeremaeker was asked to report on that situation, and one of his key recommendations was that a citizens' advisory committee be established for the park, as envisioned in the original 1996 master plan.

Councillor DeBaeremaeker released his report 14 months ago. The committee has still not been established. To budget a $2 million project in that park without such a committee is a set-up to repeat the kind of acrimonious, divisive, time and money wasting exercise we went through with the skateboard facility. It's the wrong time. This project should be deferred for at least a year until the committee has been established to set priorities for the park.

The second part of my argument is that this is the wrong project on which to be spending our precious resources. West district is not deficient in outdoor artificial ice. According to the Recreational Facilities Report, West District is a close second to South District in per capita provision, far exceeding the rates in North and East Districts. The former Etobicoke has a per capita provision rate twice that of the city as a whole. We don't need more outdoor artificial ice in West District, especially at a time when we are relying on corporate donations to operate the ones we already have.

One of the strategic priorities of the 5-Year Capital Plan is to “Make Progress On The Waterfront”. There are waterfront projects in Ward 6 that we urge you to bring forward in the budget. Phase one of the Mimico Linear Park is nearing completion. This is the western end of Toronto's waterfront revitalization. The gateway to this new development is a City park called Amos Waites. Amos Waites is in desperate need of refurbishment, but it's not even in the five year planning horizon. Coordinating that work with the new park on its border would make practical and financial sense, but the opportunity is rapidly slipping away.

At the other end of the Ward there is another project known as, The Arsenal Lands. This is a new waterfront park straddling the Toronto/Mississauga border. The Park Master Plan is complete. Mississauga has committed funds The TRCA has committed funds. The City of Toronto has not. Half the land is in Mississauga, half is in Toronto. The City of Toronto is being asked to contribute less than 20% of the cost – roughly a third of the Mississauga contribution. That is a bargain for the City of Toronto. We should move on it.

While recognizing that Capital and Operating Budgets are separate, we also question the wisdom of building a new, high maintenance, facility at a time when we are having trouble operating and maintaining what we already have. Your own projections show a growing backlog of maintenance items. Maintenance projects only get more expensive as they are delayed. We need to fix what we have before we embark on new projects involving significant operating and maintenance costs for many years to come.

We welcome investment in our parks, but an outdoor skating rink at Colonel Samuel Smith Park is the wrong project at the wrong time. We urge you to defer spending on this project until after 2008.

Thank you.