By Daryl Gonsalves –
One of the most well-used corridors for pedestrians and cyclists between the Downtown core and the Distillery District is the 1.6 hectare David Crombie Park. It can be easily coined the “spine” of the St Lawrence Neighbourhood.
Situated on The Esplanade between Jarvis and Berkeley Street, the park features a ball diamond, basketball court, a dog off-leash area, two children’s playgrounds and a wading pool.
Even Simu Lee, a famous actor from the Greater Toronto Area, noted David Crombie Park as a great place to play basketball when he was paying tribute to Toronto. Urbanists hail the surrounding neighbourhood as the “gold standard” for mixed development. The community accommodates mixed-income, mixed-use, pedestrian-friendly streetscape anchored by the park as the focal point.
The park is named after David Crombie, a past mayor of Toronto who held office for three consecutive terms from 1972 to 1978. Crombie oversaw and took a leadership position in the redevelopment of the neighbourhood around the park.
According to the Toronto Star, this new neighbourhood was the first purpose-built mixed-income community that was constructed with a variety of public and private buildings including co-ops, public housing, condos and apartment buildings. There was even a focus on affordable housing as certain units were subsidized.
Crombie’s leadership and the resulting success of the community inspired certain elements of the redevelopment of Regent Park and Lawrence Heights. Given the end-of-life cycle for many of David Crombie Park’s hard infrastructure, significant refurbishment is currently required today.
From the fall of 2018, the City of Toronto has completed several rounds of community engagement and finalized the revitalization project’s design based on the feedback heard. The final report was published in May 2021 and can be found on the City’s website. If readers are interested in knowing what is to come, key highlights include; focusing on greenery, creating a sense of community, integrating indigenous elements, developing a variety of pedestrian friendly areas which envisions establishing a new central plaza in place of the baseball diamond at Sherbourne Street.
The next phase of work includes construction of the design that was finalized in May 2021. To minimize service disruption during construction, some areas of David Crombie Park will remain open. The City’s tentative schedule plans to start procurement in 2023/2024 with construction scheduled for late 2024. City staff are taking care to ensure the park revitalization is delivered effectively and seamlessly integrated alongside the ongoing cycle track improvements on The Esplanade.
As someone who frequently walks and bikes along David Crombie Park, I am excited about what comes next alongside the nearby Ontario Line station being constructed near the First Parliament Site. The City of Toronto is hosting an engagement session on August 11, 2023, from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. to help residents learn more about the revitalization project.
People can meet the City’s project team through a pop-up in David Crombie Park at 131 The Esplanade, under the blue tent between the wading pool and Frederick Street. the bridge encourages readers to participate and have your voice heard.
