I just have to wonder what is going through the heads of the people who come up with things like this. This is a bizarre fantasy, with little to tie it to any form of reality.
The list of things that I like:
- I think that the Trillium Line station is moved to span under Heron Road – although the likelihood of that happening is slim-to-none. The maps appear to show what I interpret as a transit station on both the north and south side of Heron, where the Trillium Line passes under. But, maybe this is just my view through a lens of hope.
The list of things I don’t like is rather long:
- I think that the biggest thing is the new road network. The “Ramps Rationalization” isn’t. This creates sweeping streets that require a lot of turns to get anywhere. And those turns are into and through the neighbourhood. Why should all the traffic leaving south-bound Bronson be directed onto The Arch road? Well, maybe all of it. When I look at the map, it shows the ramp to east-bound Heron, but that is not shown in the render. If that ramp is staying, then why feed cars to The Arch? If you just make it simple, maybe buses could service the area – including Money’s Bay Station (can we please give that poor station a more reasonable name) – and flow through to/from Billings Bridge Station.
- A map can colour the current Tilley and Canada Post building’s parking lots green and draw in buildings, but cars are still going to be arriving with workers. Where are the cars going to park? Are expensive underground parkades to be added?
- Instead of converting the Tupper Building’s overflow parking lot (N-W corner of Heron-Riverside) into buildings, just return it to Vincent Massey Park. Similarly with the Tupper Building itself – remove it and add that area to Hog’s Back Park. Make Riverside Drive the clear delineator for the parks. I do not have a problem if some of that land is used for parking for the two parks, or other park facilities. Alas, it appears that the SWM pond placement means that the pedestrian underpasses of Heron and Riverside will not remain.
- The RA Centre gets, what, about a quarter of the space it currently has? That’s crazy. Sure, you might be able to stack a couple of racket courts, but that makes them expensive. Clearing land for homes by building expensive replacements for what was there makes the houses all that much more expensive. And will they have stacked baseball diamonds and soccer pitches? There is a picture of an indoor sports arena. Is that to take the place of the Civic Centre’s arena’s lost seats?
The list of problems could go on, but it is not worth more time looking at this ridiculous ‘fluff’.
PS Oh, I thought of something else that I like: Two of my favorite buildings were kept, the Canada Post building, and 1500 Bronson (CBC Building or Edward Drake Building) – although I have my doubts as to whether the later could be economically saved.
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