Residents pushing for public space
Community group wants Dufferin-Bloor to stay affordable
From the European-style High Street and artists’ mews to the community hub and daycare, the redevelopment of Dufferin and Bloor Sts. looks like a downtown condo-buyer’s dream.
One rendering of the 7.5 acres by Capital Developments and its partner Metropia even shows a new urban backyard concept — rows of hammocks slung over a green public square.
Metropia president David Speigel says the closest comparison he can make to the companies’ Dufferin-Bloor vision is the Distillery District. It will have its own charm and vibrancy, he said.
“This is really a city-building project. I think we were attracted to the project because the area was so unique and that’s why we bid on the property,” said Capital’s vice-president of development Matt Young.
But a residents’ group called Build a Better Bloor Dufferin (BBBD) wants a say in the contribution the developers are making.
That they’re redeveloping land that includes two decommissioned public schools means the community feels a high degree of ownership in the property even though Capital and Metropia bought it for $121.5 million in December 2016.
BBBD doesn’t have the typical NIMBY (not in my backyard) complaints about condo heights and construction dust, co-chair Emily Paradis said.
But it wants to make sure the neighbourhood retains some affordability. The group wants a 200-unit building on the site devoted to rent-geared-toincome housing with a further 10 per cent of the developers’ market units designated affordable also.
“My concern is that the way redevelopment of these kinds of parcels happen is that much of what is called public space is actually privately owned,” Paradis said.
“The streets and parks are often policed by private security and it’s legitimate for people to be asked to leave or move along. They appear like public spaces but they don’t serve as space that can be occupied by anyone,” she said.
Booming property values mean downtown is becoming wealthier and whiter, Paradis said.
“Our sense of pride in living in this diverse city is perhaps in question if our neighbourhoods aren’t diverse and if there’s this pattern of exclusion that is happening in the downtown core.”
The Capital Developments-Metropia plan includes retail and office space and about 2,000 new households in four condo towers. The tallest, 40 storeys, will be near the middle of the site, overlooking a park on the south side of the property fronting Croatia St. Midrise apartments will be built along Bloor St. The whole site will be pedestrian friendly and “permeable” with midblock access roads.
Forty-four per cent of the land will be devoted to streets, sidewalks, parks and privately owned public space, Young said. The High Street will be privately owned public-access space designed for events such as local festivals and markets. A 30,000-sq.-ft. community hub will provide space for agencies and nonprofits in the former Kent Senior Public School, which will also house the daycare.
Young and Speigel are excited by the neighbourhood concepts. But residents and the local councillor want more — more community gathering space, more services, more parks, as well as affordable housing.
Nobody sees the builders as the enemy, resident Aubrey Reeves said.
“We want to work with them and their plan is a good starting point but there’s a lot more potential. It is public land and there is way more than can be done to serve the needs of the community,” she said.
“What we see is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to really make something truly special and positive for their neighbourhood and for the city.
“There’s really only one shot at it,” Reeves said. “These are public lands and they do deserve to be used for the common good.”
The plan for greater density is also stoking fears of added strain in an area the city considers “park deficient.”
“Dufferin Grove Park is threadbare in July and August, it’s so heavily used already. Adding 1,000 or 2,000 more people is going to put more pressure on the amenities,” said resident Maureen Fair, executive director of West Neighbourhood House, an all-ages community agency.
The demolition of Bloor Collegiate and nearby Brockton High School (which will be redeveloped, according to the Toronto District School Board) means the loss of two swimming pools, two auditoriums and a playground, the residents say.
The Kent school building is being repurposed because it is architecturally interesting, the developers say.
But residents say that the hub is less than half the size that was recommended by a group the province set up last year to gather input from community, social and cultural groups for the $20 million it is investing in that space.
“It’s not possible to achieve a substantial community hub when the daycare is probably already going to take up a third of that (30,000 sq. ft.),” said Reeves, executive director of Culture Days, who was part of that group.
Speigel and Young say they have tried, as much as possible to anticipate the community’s desires. The developers have knocked on 5,000 doors talking to about 1,700 residents about the neighbourhood they want. But many of the residents’ issues, including the affordable-housing component, require the city’s lead.
“The community sees this as public space and they see a greater public responsibility to the greater good,” Young said. “Any time you’re developing a really large landmark site, which we believe this is … there’s an obligation to the city, an obligation to the community, to purchasers, to your partners, to do the best product you possibly can.”
Speigel says some residents don’t understand that, while the developer has allocated the community space, it’s the city’s job to program it.
A second community group was to be convened to decide the hub’s uses and requirements. That can’t happen soon enough, Speigel said.
“Let’s get these groups together, let’s figure out where you want to do it, what you need, because it’s part of our design,” he said.
The developers say they are also awaiting word from the city on how much and what type of affordable housing will be incorporated into Dufferin-Bloor. Councillor Ana Bailao has asked council to make the site a priority for funding from a recent provincial-federal hous- ing agreement. But the number of affordable units has still to be negotiated. Without it, the city has to rely solely on Section 37 money — the levy under the planning act that Toronto charges developers to pay for community benefits, she said.
“Because this is not city land, the tools that we have to get all this done is the planning act that we have to follow as we review this application and any programs we can leverage to bring some of these services,” Bailao said.
“I don’t have the tools to say, ‘Well Mr. Developer, you’re going to have to give me 30 per cent or 40 per cent of your site or 10 per cent for affordable housing,’ ” she said. Bailao says the city and developer have to come closer on an agreement about the kind of density and buildings that go on the site.
The idea of 2,000 new households is dramatic, she said.
“But we’re receiving thousands of residents every year … It’s a subway line and we all know that our Official Plan calls for intensification on avenues and transit corridors,” Bailao said.