A Scarborough parking lot has become a community hub. Will a new project endanger that?
CBC
The parking lot of a north Scarborough plaza is about to be transformed into a massive new neighbourhood, complete with parks, shops, homes and a childcare facility. But some neighbours are wondering whether the new development is going too far, too fast.
Once completed, the redevelopment of the Woodside Square mall parking lot, located at McCowan Avenue and Finch Avenue East, will bring about 4,000 new residents in the neighbourhood. That amounts to a four per cent increase in the Scarborough North ward's population.
"If we have 4,000 people, many of whom will be taking the bus, either because they're seniors or students or just getting to work, we'll have a real problem because we won't be able to get on these buses. They'll be packed," said Alura Moores, of the Rosewood Community Association
Aside from six 20- to 30-storey condo towers and a park concentrated along Finch Avenue East, the project envisions a collection of mid-rise buildings along the parking lot's McCowan side.
Right now, city planners admit the area has only buses to get people where they want to go. But that's going to change, according to Christian Ventresca, manager of community planning for the city's Scarborough district.
He says priority bus lanes are coming to Finch Avenue. And he says once the Finch stop on the Sheppard subway extension opens, Woodside residents will be just a few blocks from a major transit hub. But he says he also hopes the project will offer so many amenities that residents won't need to travel very far anyway.
"We want to maintain and enhance, so that people don't need to use transit," he said. "The grocery store is right there, the library's right there.
"We want to work with the applicant to bring child care to the site so that the new residents coming to the area have a place for children to be minded during the day while they're going to work."
He also sees a community in which cars might not be necessary:
"We're making sure cycling lanes are implemented, the walking conditions are improved, and really, if you live in a unit on the mall site, everything you would need from a retail perspective is right there."
But Moores says the parking lot of the mall means more to the community than just a place to leave your car while you shop, and residents' concerns cover more than just transit access.
She says the mall, and the parking lot in particular, have evolved holistically into a sort of giant community centre.
"They had a massive festival on with all kinds of vendors and food that was very, very popular; fireworks were very prominent, performances happened here," she said.
"During COVID when we couldn't go to the movies, we did a little drive in movie theatre here. So they there's always something going on."