New Moss Park community centre would be 'transformative’ designers say
The city is working on a proposal for a new, more than $100-million community recreation centre in Moss Park

thestar.com
By Jennifer Pagliaro
Sept. 16, 2016

A new Moss Park is taking shape on paper as residents continue to worry what a growing neighbourhood means for the rare downtown green space.

A more-than-$100-million community recreation centre proposed to replace the existing John Innes Community Recreation Centre - the only recreation centre in the increasingly dense downtown ward - is being pitched as the antidote to pending gentrification.

This week, residents got the first look at what’s being proposed - a multi-storey building that stretches much of the width of the park on the western edge to include new ice pads, gyms and gathering spaces. City council has yet to see a feasibility study or make any decisions about the park.

It’s an early concept, designers stressed at a meeting in the park Wednesday night, after the city and community agency, the 519, partnered to consult some 1,800 people.

Residents heard this week the project will include completely landscaping the park with promenades, a splash pad, tennis and basketball courts.

MacLennan Jaunkalns Miller Architects, who are responsible for the much-lauded Regent Park Aquatic Centre, which opened in 2012, are responsible for the design of the community centre. On Wednesday, they heard both condemnation and commendation.

Residents groups chastised what they said was a lack of consultation with neighbours, despite three previous meetings, outreach and updates on a dedicated website.

Bill Colvin, president of the Garden District Residents Association, said he is concerned the new centre and its service and parking entrances backing onto Shuter St. will impede traffic on the local throughway.

“They sprung it on people at the last meeting,” he said. “My problem is they completely ignored the neighbours.”

Others praised the designers for listening to community feedback by including amenities like a communal commercial kitchen in the early concept. They applauded the city for promising not to turf a regular baseball league played by those experiencing homelessness, even if it’s unclear whether an actual diamond and cage will still exist in the new space.

Concern the existing space would be shut down before the new centre could open prompted designers to shift their plans to the western edge of the park, allowing the John Innes centre to stay open during construction.

“I do think the ideas, they seem amazing. They seem phenomenal,” said local resident Brent Strachan, who has experienced homelessness and volunteers at the 519. “When I look at the plans, particularly to put a subway station there, obviously something will have to happen to accommodate just that traffic flow through that area . . . However at the same time I think it will transform the whole area a lot as well.”

Local Councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam said the consultation for Moss Park is one of the most “comprehensive” she’s ever seen. She said the funding for the park is coming from a private donor, who has committed one third and plans to fundraise a second third. The remaining money would come from the three levels of government, Wong-Tam said.

“If this community centre, the Moss Park redevelopment . . . was to be taking place anywhere else in my neighbourhoods, whether it’s the Bloor St.-Bay St. community along Yorkville, in Rosedale, they would be celebrating it. They would not be resisting it,” she said.

With limited recreation facilities and the existing centres in the area at capacity, Wong-Tam said residents were coming from Rosedale to use the John Innes space.

“That’s how great the need is,” she said.

The demand is only set to increase.

The blocks surrounding the park are slated to see thousands move into condo towers, with more than 5,000 new units currently in the pipeline and more recently approved or under construction.

It’s that growth the city is trying to plan for.

“Big thing for us is, even from the beginning, was we know it’s a really diverse neighbourhood. We know there’s developmental pressure because it’s like every other downtown neighbourhood,” lead architect Robert Allen, a partner at MJMA, told the Star. “How do you make a space that’s inclusive and welcoming for everybody?”

The building, Allen said, is unlike any other his firm - which deals almost exclusively in community spaces - has designed.

The ground floor was imagined as a way to invite users inside, using “trauma-informed” design to keep in mind those who have experienced homelessness, resettlement or other challenges.

The two-storey, glassed-in space will include youth spaces, meeting rooms, seating areas, a walking track and greenery that brings the park inside, Allen said. It discards the traditional cinderblock, double-door entry with a front desk as the first point of entry - what Allen said can deter some from participating in the space.

The centre is proposed to have two ice pads, a six-lane pool and gym space.

The 519’s executive director Maura Lawless said the existing facilities are difficult to access and not able to meet the community demand.

“We’re contemplating virtually a doubling in size of the community recreational space for folks,” she said, “Really enhancing some of the existing facilities there.”

Community outreach worker Curran Stikuts, who is one of the people speaking with those in marginalized groups, said the design has been informed by many of the suggestions from residents and users of the existing park, like a possibility of a 24-hour space.

“There’s always apprehension when there’s any change in the neighbourhood,” he said. “By having them involved in the process we think they can be a part of that change.”

Councillor Pam McConnell, whose ward borders the park to the south and east says the design is not a compromise but a “coming together of voices.”

“I want to be very, very careful that at the end of the day everybody has a place in this park.”