Dream big, Toronto

Last August, when Mayor John Tory unveiled plans to build a stunning eight-hectare “Rail Deck Park” over unsightly train tracks, it seemed the only thing that could stand in its way was the daunting price tag of more than $1.05 billion.

Now that dream of a green space that would run south of Front St., between Bathurst St. and Blue Jays Way, is threatened by a competing plan from a consortium of property developers who say the city must stand down on its plans because they will soon own the air rights to build on that space.

The plan from P.I.T.S. Development, which would see eight office and condo towers ranging in height from 13 to 45 stories surround a much smaller five-hectare park, would be a big loss for the immediate neighbourhood, the downtown core and entire city.

It shouldn’t be allowed to go any further. Toronto city council should stick to its guns, rezone the area as parkland, and build its ambitious green dream space.

The mayor and council shouldn’t bend on this issue. As the Star has argued before, green space isn’t a luxury in a city of 2.8 million people. It’s a necessity. Without it Toronto isn’t viable, never mind livable.

There are important reasons to find a way to go ahead with the original vision of a Rail Deck Park.

First, it would link Toronto’s downtown to the waterfront in the same way that Chicago’s 10-hectare Millennium Park, decked partly over rail lines, brought that city’s downtown to the shores of Lake Michigan.

Second, if done right it would be a major attraction. Millennium Park, for example, drew 13 million visitors in the first half of 2016 alone.

Third, it could be a cultural hub. The Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway in Boston, which sits atop a buried interstate highway, hosts more than 400 free events per year.

Finally, it could bring much-needed parkland to a fast-growing area that is sadly lacking in green space while revitalizing the neighbourhood, as has New York City’s High Line, a reclaimed railway turned elevated walkway in west Manhattan.

Toronto should stick to its bold vision of building the Rail Deck Park — maybe even extending it as far east as Simcoe St., as some proponents have suggested. It’s a plan well worth fighting for.

Toronto’s plan to build a massive park over train tracks could be derailed by developers with a competing proposal