Ontario Place's spa developer released new designs this week. Here's a recap
CBC
There were new developments – and reaction – this week to the plan to build a spa and waterpark on Ontario Place's west island.
Therme Canada, the company the province selected to redevelop the site, released new designs following a series of public consultations. Those designs will be sent back to the city for further review.
But while the lead architect behind the project is trumpeting the improved designs, others remain critical and firm in their stance that Ontario Place is still the wrong site for this type of project.
Need to catch up on the latest? Here's a chance to review some of what both sides are saying.
First, on CBC Radio's Metro Morning, we heard from the architect Gary McCluskie, of Diamond Schmitt Architects, who are designing Therme's spa.
LISTEN l Architect Gary McCluskie makes the case for the new redesign:
According to Therme, the size of its planned building has been reduced by 25 per cent. Instead of a single large building, the development will now be composed of a campus of connected buildings.
As well, some 1.6 hectares of rooftop parkland and trails have been added on top of the buildings. That's in addition to the 4.8 hectares of public parkland, including a new beach, boardwalk and cycling trails included in the previous design.
"Our goal has been to address a lot of those comments worried about scale," McCluskie said. "It will be perceptively smaller in terms of the size of the building."
McCluskie said the rooftop space will be "100 per cent" public park and visitors won't notice a difference between it and the parkland on ground level. He says it will be open to the public at all times, like any other park.
"We've woven trails and terraced in a way that … it all feels like one space," he said.
The initial redevelopment plan submitted to the city called for a five-level underground parking lot for more than 2,000 cars, plus a surface parking lot with space for 600 cars.
That parking would defy established city and provincial planning policies that stress the use of public transportation over private vehicles, Toronto city staff said in a report earlier this year.
McCluskie said the number of parking spaces has been "slightly reduced" but he couldn't say by exactly how much.