Parks top priority for Vaughan Metropolitan Centre’s future residents: survey

About 25 hectares of ‘additional active parkland’ are needed

Yorkregion.com
Nov. 13, 2020
Dina Al-Shibeeb

There ought to be more parks and open spaces planned in order to make the Vaughan Metropolitan Centre a “success,” shows a recent interim survey.

As of Nov. 4, about 75 per cent of 448 people surveyed considered parks and open spaces to be “important” when deciding where to live, according to the results of an interim study shared with the City of Vaughan's VMC subcommittee’s meeting on Nov. 10.

The VMC subcommittee’s presentation was held to provide updates on studies and development activity for Vaughan's emerging downtown core.

About 75 per cent of the respondents live in Vaughan, 45 per cent live in the VMC and nine per cent are interested in living in the VMC.

The survey also showed that 66 per cent of the respondents use parks and open spaces one to three times per week, including 31 per cent who use parks daily.

“Success of the VMC is making active parkland an urgent and critical need,” the report recommended.

So far, the report explained how 25 hectares of “additional active parkland in or convenient to VMC are required to site facilities.”

“If development trends continue, active parkland provision, both at 2031 and at full build-out, will fall far short of the secondary plan minimum and may place the VMC at a disadvantage versus other GTA Growth Centres,” it added.

The report also explained that “VMC’s outdoor recreational facilities need to reflect unique urban lifestyle and demographic.”

In comparison to the rest of Vaughan, the report added that VMC is expected to have “less children,” “more young adults,” “less middle age” and “more recent immigrants.”

Storm ponds and highways are considered “challenges” for planning open spaces, making “further thought required to optimize,” the report mentioned.