Toronto, like Vancouver, also has its Stanley Park although ours is still just a little-known green tongue reaching south from King Street West to Wellington between Niagara and Strachan. But its prospects improved recently, thanks to two motions made by Councillor Joe Pantalone and approved by Council at its meeting of April 25-27, 2006. The first resolution directed $450,000 coming to the City under a Section 37 agreement covering a redevelopment of a property on King near Bathurst be spent on improvements to Stanley Park. The second motion had longer-term implications: it rezoned from “Industrial” to “Green” some city-owned land now used for car-parking south of Stanley Park between Wellington and the Hamilton-Georgetown rail corridor.
This latter decision creates a G-zoned corridor to the north end of a proposed Land Bridge for cyclists and pedestrians first suggested in 2001 in a study of parks and open spaces around Fort York by a consortium led by du Toit Allsopp Hillier. At the time the Land Bridge was seen as a component of the Front Street Extension, a project of the Waterfront Development Corporation. But with the Extension now delayed by a combination of factors, the Friends of Fort York will be urging the Corporation to undertake the Land Bridge on its own to reinforce north-south connections between the city and its waterfront. The south end of the Land Bridge, anchored in the Mustering Ground west of Fort York, is a missing link in the realization of an extensive system of bicycle paths up the Georgetown rail corridor, along the lakeshore and through the linear park in the Railway Lands between Bathurst and Simcoe streets.
The rail corridor is currently the subject of an Individual Environmental Assessment arising from proposals to expand service along Go Transit’s Georgetown South Line, and provide fast service between Pearson Airport and Downtown Toronto. By virtue of the fort’s interest in the Land Bridge and how the present rail crossing on Stachan Avenue will be treated in future, the Friends of Fort York will sit on the Public Liaison Committee formed as part of the EA process.
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