Proposed Rail Deck Park clears first hurdle at Toronto city council

The vote to move ahead with studying the feasibility of Rail Deck Park passed unanimously with 38 votes on Wednesday at Toronto city council.

The current plan is for a 21-acre elevated park over the rail lines between Bathurst Street and Blue Jays Way.

Preliminary cost estimates put the price tag at around $1.05 billion dollars, and some councillors worry the ambitious plan will drain funding for community assets in their own wards.

“I can’t even get my parks cleaned up in my ward. There’s discarded needles,” said Councillor Giorgio Mammoliti. “We’re being told we don’t have the resources to clean it up.”

In a surprising move, rookie Councillor Michael Ford, nephew of late former mayor Rob Ford, moved a motion to defer plans to move ahead with Rail Deck Park until Jan. 31, when the city would have a better sense of its financial state and possible new revenue tools.

“I tabled that because I thought that it was very important that our city look at our finances before moving forward,” he said.

“My residents were concerned about this project and how we were going to pay for it.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "My residents were concerned about this project and how we were going to pay for it."

But Mayor John Tory was keen on avoiding delays and said the $3 million implementation plan councillors voted on today was necessary to keep the plan on track.

“This is the last chance we have to do something bold. Yes it’s downtown, but it’s for the whole city and it’s for a part that is deficient,” he said.

“It’s about city building.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "It's about city building."

Opponents see the idea as yet another example of the downtown core taking precedence over the outer suburbs.

“It’s always been downtown versus the suburbs,” Councillor Jim Karygiannis told reporters. “We deplete the suburbs in order to build downtown.”

But supporters, including Councillor Joe Cressy, say the entire city would benefit from what’s being seen as the “Central Park” of Toronto.

“Everyone wants to build a great city, and that comes with a price tag,” he said.

“It’s well worth the investment.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "It's well worth the investment."

The downtown core is rich in condominiums but poor in green space according to city staff. At 0.42 hectares for every 1000 people, it has the least amount of green space in all of Toronto.

“This will be a park — just like the park in the Rouge, just like the zoo, just like High Park, just like the Island — that will be used by people from across the city,” Tory said.

“I’m absolutely confident of that.”

With a population of around 250,000 that’s expected to double in the next ten years, many see Rail Deck Park as a vital community asset that would benefit the entire city.