At the end of January, the GCA was invited to participate in a public meeting on the future of Lansdowne Park hosted by a community organization called Parkways for People. Carolyn Mackenzie (GCA Planning Chair) participated in this meeting with Councillor Menard that focused on desired outcomes of the future of Lansdowne Park and ways that we could work together to ensure the City proceeds with informed and meaningful consultations with the public before future decisions are taken for Lansdowne 2.0.
In the last term (June 2022), Council voted to approve a plan in principle for Lansdowne 2.0 that included among other things, a direction to staff to conduct public consultations and seek public input on the concept plan being considered for Lansdowne 2.0., including the city-initiated rezoning and the urban park and public realm. $8M was set aside in the plan to apply the public engagement strategy and community consultations. Since then, we have heard nothing from City Staff about their plans for these consultations, however, we have heard they want Council to approve the plans to move forward with Lansdowne 2.0. this Spring/Summer.
Concerned that the City will bulldoze through and proceed without the meaningful public consultations we have been calling for on Lansdowne 2.0. we decided to put a stake in the ground and ask for robust consultations (not just random surveys on the separate elements of Lansdowne 2.0, but comprehensive consultations on the overall plans) before the City potentially rolls out a plan for less credible consultations. This culminated into a letter to the Mayor and all City Councillors co-signed by a coalition of community organizations, including the GCA, that points out the key elements of meaningful consultations for the future of Lansdowne Park we are asking for. View letter.
In addition to proper process, consultations must also be appropriately informed if they are to be meaningful, so we need to get facts on the table and a clear picture of the finances, including inflationary costs, demand for the type of housing in the proposed plans and a more accurate portrayal of how property taxes work/debt investment behind the plans to allow for profound consultations.
To be clear, our focus at this point is to get support for the key elements of meaningful consultations for the future of Lansdowne Park we listed in the letter, and not yet discuss the desired outcome for Lansdowne.
The GCA feels strongly that the kind of meaningful consultations we are calling for will lead to more informed and better plans for Lansdowne 2.0.
Feel free to contact Anthony Carricato, GCA Lansdowne Chair (Anthony.Carricato@gmail.com) with any comments, questions, or feedback.