A $50-million parks gift is nice, but Toronto must take care of itself, too

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Fifty million dollars is a great deal of money when it comes to public parks. Recently, the City of Toronto announced the Weston family has offered that amount for a surprising target: Queen’s Park North.

This is a spectacular act of philanthropy. But it is also a challenge to the donors and to the city: How does this gift serve a bigger vision for Toronto?

First, the good news. The Westons will fund a reconstruction of the green space behind the Ontario Legislative Building. They will provide even more funds for a new organization to support and maintain the park.

Very generous. But why here? Is this a place where you can sensibly build $50-million worth of anything? Queen’s Park North is one of the oldest public parks in Canada, dating back to the 1860s. Its 300-year-old oaks are remnants of the pre-contact landscape. For nearly 15 years, the city has scaled back public events to protect its ecosystem.

The Westons seem to be letting the city take the lead. In a statement, the family said the donation reflects their “strong belief in the important role that parks and public spaces play in shaping stronger, more vibrant communities.”

Paul Farish, director of parks planning and strategic initiatives with the city, said the plans are vague, but will likely include new washrooms, and “very incremental” new buildings, as well as educational activities and performances from the nearby Royal Ontario Museum, Royal Conservatory of Music and Gardiner Museum. “I think we will provide a great, elevated experience for Torontonians moving through the park,” he added.

Former Ontario lieutenant-governor Hilary Weston in a statement cited “the vital role that parks and gardens play in bringing people together, inspiring connection and enriching communities.”

The obvious move is to build on a bold vision that already exists: University Park.

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That idea, which the city has adopted but which appears to have stalled, is basically a massive extension of Queen’s Park. It would turn half of the roadway on University Avenue and Queen’s Park Crescent into extensions of the park. In so doing, it would remove a moat of fast-moving traffic from the west side of Queen’s Park North, and connect it – as it was originally – to the adjacent University of Toronto campus.

That is the best design idea to come out of City Hall in decades. It has also received donations from the Judy and Wilmot Matthews Foundation, which funded The Bentway, the Michael Young Family Foundation, and the University of Toronto. U of T has publicly committed $15-million to $30-million toward the project. That, too, is a great deal of money.

The Westons’ project can supercharge those efforts. The family can provide a short-term improvement for Torontonians while they help the larger project, which would physically and symbolically transform a large zone of downtown, moves forward.

The city should also move now to restructure Queen’s Park Crescent with temporary tools and test the University Park scheme. A pilot project could keep the same number of vehicle lanes intact. (And there is road maintenance work scheduled here, so money will be spent soon regardless.)

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Then there are the park’s ancient trees, its most valuable attributes. The planning of this project must begin with a rigorous study by multiple independent forestry experts. The Weston initiative will be a success only if all these trees are healthy a decade from now.

Danijela Puric-Mladenovic, an assistant professor of forestry at U of T, said that building anything here could endanger the trees’ ancient root systems. “The best option would be to avoid development altogether,” she said. If building does happen, she says, a “tree protection zone” should be at least twice as large as the usual Toronto standard.

There’s a real risk here. Toronto’s urban forestry operations staff cut down about 10,000 mature trees every year. They rarely if ever use tools such as cables to support aging city trees. If these are injured, they will likely get chopped.

The design team also invites questions. The Westons have chosen landscape architects Janet Rosenberg & Studio. While capable and well-regarded, JRS make landscapes that often emphasize paving and non-native plant species. In Toronto, their Town Hall Square includes yews and boxwoods in giant concrete pots. This is not what Queen’s Park needs. A delicate, nature-based approach should prevail here.

Early drawings released by JRS are vague about what would be built, but they include a skating rink, a water feature and a small pavilion. Here again, caution is required. Trying to cram too much into Queen’s Park North would be an error.

Finally, there is a question of balance. Queen’s Park North was just renovated; work finished in 2022. Other downtown parks are much more heavily worn. Trinity Bellwoods and my local Christie Pits are rife with broken benches, brutally shorn trees and decrepit buildings. These places need full-time on-site staff. They each need a café. They also need comprehensive plans for their renovation and maintenance. Inexcusably, the Parks department has no such plans.

Those parks also could benefit from philanthropic help. The Weston family has helped improve exceptional Toronto public spaces such as Evergreen Brick Works and Grange Park. The city’s philanthropic class should extend that work.

So should city hall. Toronto’s parks have problems – chronically poor maintenance and a lack of vision in their design and programming. Under Mayor Olivia Chow, the city must be pro-active. What’s needed is not another citywide “strategy” but specific visions for the places that have the most need and potential. If private donors step in, great, but the public realm has to take care of itself too.

Meanwhile, the Queen’s Park area has a vision in place. Let it grow.