The City of Mississauga is looking to create more green space downtown, but it could come at the expense of some residents’ homes.
The plan is to acquire up to 50 private residences in the Cooksville area to convert into a green space of about 40 acres over the next four to five years. It’s being compared to a smaller version of New York City’s Central Park.
Mississauga city council gave staff the green light to begin getting appraisals together for the privately owned land. A limit of $2 million has been placed on each transaction, although staff will be favouring fair market value.
The land would run alongside the Cooksville Creek between Dundas Street and North Service Road. It’s designated by the city as a floodplain area, which means at times of heavy rainfall, the residences could be at risk for flooding.
“We have a bit of a problem at the city, we need parkland. You folks have a real problem here in terms of the flooding that we’re trying to mitigate. Have I got a solution that works for both of us,” said Coun. Nando Iannicca.
A staff report in 2015 found the parkland percentage for Mississauga’s downtown growth area is about three per cent compared to a 9.6 per cent combined average of the urban core areas of 15 municipalities studied.
Iannicca hopes the residents can help put together a name for the new area.
— With file from Mark Carcasole, Global News
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