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Citizens Concerned About the Future of the Etobicoke Waterfront
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Updated: Dec. 1, 2015
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The Amexon proposal consists of two residential towers with a total of 588 units sitting on a commercial/amenity podium.
The Menkes proposal has three towers with a total of 1200 units. Each tower would sit atop a two to three story retail podium.
Click here to read the full OMB decision (2.9 MB pdf)
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Park Lawn Road Streetcar Loop
The Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) is proposing to construct a new streetcar turn-around loop in the south-west corner of Park Lawn Road and Lake Shore Boulevard West at the location of the existing bus loop. The idea is to replace the existing Humber Loop with a loop at Park Lawn Road
A Public Information Centre (PIC) was held at the Polish Alliance Hall on November 22nd. You can click here (external link) to view the information presented at that meeting. The City has also provided an overview and some background on this page.
In our view the TTC has not demonstrated a clear need for, or benefit from the proposal. Discussion of a turning loop or where it should go is premature until there is a resolution of the proposed new streetcar line linking Roncesvalles to the CNE. This project is still in the planning stages. If it is built, it will go a long way to making the streetcar a more viable means to commute downtown. In the meantime there are many good reasons to increase the streetcar service into south Etobicoke rather than spending millions of dollars to facilitate short-turning streetcars at the eastern border.
We expressed these views in a letter to the TTC following the November Public Information Centre.
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In January 2007, the TTC sent a list of questions and responses to everyone who commented (or possibly everyone who attended) at the PIC. Many people where left shaking their heads, dissatisfied with these answers. The whole project still appears to us expensive, disruptive, and offering very little in transit improvements.
You can browse the whole Q&A for yourself: pdf version html version
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Second Information Meeting - Monday, September 24th
A meeting is scheduled for Monday, September 24th for the TTC to present its plans again. The meeting information from the TTC suggests that this may be more an opportunity for them to describe their plans than to seek public input. It will be interesting to see how they defend what appears to be an ill-conceived plan.
View the meeting notice (pdf)
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November 2009 Mimico 20/20
Results from April’s design charette were presented at the October meeting of the Etobicoke York Community Council. The documents are available on the city of Toronto website as part of the meeting agenda. That can be hard to find so here are the links:
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May 2008 Mimico 20/20 Update
The City of Toronto Planning Department has published summaries of the feedback from their February 2008 Open House. There is a fairly detailed analysis on their web page, but here are a couple of the key pieces:
Study/Consultant Focus
The majority of responses were related to the 7 broad Study Priority Areas, and are incorporated in that section. Of the specific Study focus recommendations submitted, the following observations were made:
- maintain an equitable, multi-stakeholder study process
- maintain a balance of community preservation and new development
- include short term and long term measures
- focus favouring action plans and incentive strategies over studies
- focus on waterfront and mainstreet areas
Study Priority Area Rankings
Respondents were asked to identify in order, their top 3 rankings of the 7 broad Study Priority Areas.
Reporting Method: Staff recorded the frequency of which a Study Priority Area was ranked 1, 2 or 3 and assigned a corresponding point value for each entry. A slightly higher point weighting was assigned to reflect the importance of a Priority Area ranked as No. 1 (highest priority). The following is a summary of the priority ranking results:
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Overall Summary Table
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Overall Rank
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Study Priority Area
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Frequency
(no. of times voted as 1, 2 or 3)
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Total Points
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1
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Parks, Recreation & Waterfront
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39
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94
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2
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Housing
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28
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93
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3
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Land Use/Built Form
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31
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78
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4
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Transportation
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27
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47
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5
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Business/Economic Development and Promotion
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16
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40
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6
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Infrastructure/Public Realm
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15
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21
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7
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Social Services
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12
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21
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January 2008
Mimico-By-The-Lake Revitalization Initiative
The long awaited report on last June’s community workshop has been released. It is a 4 page staff report with a 36 page consultant’s report attached.
This is the Summary section of the report:
On September 13, 2006, Etobicoke York Community Council (EYCC) requested the City Planning Division to report on the next steps involved in moving the “Mimico by the Lake Project 20/20: A Perfect Vision for our Community” document forward. The Mimico 20/20 document is an initiative originating from Councillor Mark Grimes.
Staff reported on February 13, 2007 and Community Council directed that a wider initial public consultation process based on the Mimico 20/20 document be undertaken. This report presents the results of a community consultation workshop held on June 16, 2007, and outlines the next steps in proceeding with an implementation strategy for the Mimico-By-The-Lake Community revitalization initiative.
The workshop identified several key areasof future study which can be categorized as follows: Land Use Considerations; Parks and Recreation (Waterfront Renewal); Housing; Economic Development; Transportation; Infrastructure; and Social Services.
The findings contained in facilitation consultant Sue Cumming’s report entitled “MIMICO 20/20 Workshop Report and Recommendations For Next Steps” (Attachment 1) clearly indicate a desire for a continued process that includes public Staff Report For Information – Mimico-By-The-Lake Revitalization Initiative 2 participation to advance this initiative to the implementation stages. Staff intend to host a public meeting in the first quarter of 2008 to discuss a Planning Framework Terms of Reference prior to initiating work.
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To read the whole report (on the City of Toronto website), click here.
This report will be going to Community Council for information on January 15th
The planning department has set up a page on the Mimico-By-The-Lake Revitalization, with all the reports and background information.
You can find it here.
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Top of Page
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Mimico-By-The-Lake 20/20 Background (2006)
Councillor Grimes has initiated a process to guide development in Mimico. It is time for this type of process and we applaud him for taking action on this issue. This process resulted in the document reproduced below:
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MIMICO-BY-THE-LAKE
PROJECT 20/20: A PERFECT VISION FOR OUR COMMUNITY
A group of concerned residents and I met in the Fall of 2005 about the state of the waterfront, conditions of rental housing and the make-up of the business district in Mimico-By-Lake. The group, called the Mimico Planning Action Council (MPAC), wanted to formulate ideas and prepare a blue print advising on steps that should be taken to tackle various issues and enable the residents and businesses to move forward on a plan to revitalize the community. Subsequent to several meetings and brainstorming sessions, the group has come up with a potential model to be implemented in the Mimico area to further enhance the living conditions in our community. On April 28, 2006, I orchestrated a half-day visioning conference conducted with Developers, Land Owners, Key City Personnel, Resident’s Association Executives, BIA Executives, and special guest, world renowned architect Jack Diamond. The purpose of the conference was to seek input on how to start the process on recreating Mimico by the Lake. A document titled ‘Mimico-by-the-Lake: Project 20/20 A Perfect Vision of our Community’ follows below listing the various steps that we have identified as opportunities that welcome us, issues that need to be dealt with, steps that need to be taken and various challenges that we all face.
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Memorandum of Understanding
Opportunities
- Create a village atmosphere with a vibrant character.
-Develop access to the waterfront
- Establish water views, view corridors
- Expand parkland and further extension of the waterfront park system and trail/environment and facilities improvements
- Design harmonious rental and ownership housing
- Refresh and revitalize Main Street Retail
- Engage the community in consultation and design process
Foreseeable Challenges
- Achieving City Policies on enhancement of Rental Housing
- Balanced Housing Stock
- Attracting new businesses on our main street
- Cost and Funding for the project
Implementing Mechanisms
- Community Consultations
- Political Leadership
- Subscribing to City initiated programs e.g., economic development, affordable housing, TRCA, Beautiful City
- Assistance of Consultants to initiate relevant studies e.g., Avenues Study
- Formulation of Developer-Community Partnerships
We believe that the above points are a definite start and would assist
in creating a viable and bustling village atmosphere in Mimico-bythe-
Lake. It is an exciting journey and we would like to invite you to
be part of this.
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The City’s Planning Department intends to engage the public in this process early this year. You can click here to read the full staff report, but here are some of the key points:
“As described in the preceding section, Planning staff has considered some of the background conditions relating to the Mimico area, including previous and current initiatives and the significant findings contained in the Mimico 20/20 document. Prior to recommending an appropriate formal study process/implementation strategy, Planning proposes to engage the public through a broader based community consultation exercise.
With the possible assistance of a public consultation specialist to manage a potentially wide array of issues and expectations and in selecting the most appropriate public forum(s) (“town hall” meeting, workshop, open house, etc.), the initial consultations will aim to obtain a wider and more comprehensive representation of community issues, needs and objectives.
Planning staff believe that seeking an early, collaborative, transparent and community focussed consultation process would assist in building a consensus on issues, objectives and a course of action.”
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