Design, consultation work by Toronto agencies continues on massive Port Lands housing developments

While many of the houses and apartments in Toronto’s South Riverdale have been around for decades, planning is underway in the Port Lands for two massive new communities where homes haven’t existed before.

The area around the Port Lands has changed drastically in recent years, including the expansion of the Don River and bringing nature to a previously paved-over part of Toronto.

Jed Kilbourn, the director of development planning with Waterfront Toronto, is helping lead the efforts of developing what is now a massive island.

“It’s one of these dream projects that you get to work on that really engages with the city as a whole,” Kilbourn said.

“Villiers Island is going to be home to about 15,000 people, so we’re looking at about 9,000 units.”

With that many people in what is now an industrial area, it means filling a lot of needs.

“There’s going to be a school, a library, a community centre — all of these things that would help build a complete community,” he said.

Referencing development on the Toronto Waterfront east of Yonge Street, Kilbourn noted it took around 20 years for that vision to be mostly realized. He said the development of Villiers Island won’t happen quicker.

“We’re looking at a 20-to-25-year plan for the island over the next little while. We’re aiming to have the first units being occupied in 2031, but moving forward it’s going to be a rollout of development across the waterfront,” Kilbourn said.

The work to date has been focused on minimizing flooding as consultation continues. There’s also a call for designs to build the sustainable infrastructure needed to support it all.

“We lead with landscape … We’d love to see more timber. A lot of it has to do with planting strategies, looking at more opportunities to harness rainwater more opportunities for passive irrigation, really prioritizing active transit and pedestrian and pedestrian mobility,” he shared.

Kilbourn said the name “Villiers Island” is just a placeholder and consultations on renaming the area as well as many of its public spaces will occur at some point in the future.

A second community nearly as large, dubbed the McCleary District, is also planned for the area just southeast of where the Gardiner Expressway and Don Valley Parkway meet.

Scott Pennington, the vice-president of Port Lands management with CreateTO — the agency responsible for managing and developing city lands, said the parcel of land involved isn’t a common find in Toronto.

“Very rarely do you find an opportunity like this of this scale that is primarily under public control or public ownership,” he said.

“There’s been no residential development south of Lake Shore in the Port Lands historically, so this is all kind of uncharted terrain.”

While it’s currently mostly brownfields, 5,000 to 6,000 units will be added. Early renderings sparked criticisms about streets being too wide and lacking density.

“We understand those criticisms, but I think what we have to acknowledge first and foremost is that the streets, or what we describe as the public realm, really have to do some heavy lifting when we think about a new master plan community like this,” Pennington said.

“Our roadways are incorporating bioswales or other natural planting areas that all takes space, plus, we want to make sure that we’re in we’re creating enough area for public realm uses, patios, other types of spaces.”

With film studios nearby, Pennington said planning needs to take those uses into account too.

CreateTO will be holding a public meeting on the McCleary District plan on Sept. 18. The meeting will happen at the Ralph Thornton Community Centre and the doors open at 6:30 p.m.

“The engagement that we’re having on the 18th is a critical touch point, but it’s not the last time we’d be speaking to the public on the plans for the district,” he said.

Pennington and Kilbourn both said the developments could have 20 to 30 per cent of the units designated as affordable housing. When asked about the definition of “affordable,” specifics on potential pricing weren’t provided since it hasn’t been decided.

“We recognize that there’s a housing crisis,” Kilbourn said.

“We want … to make sure that the communities that we’re building can adequately address that crisis.”

Another question remains about the existing congestion on major east-west routes such as Lake Shore Boulevard East, Eastern Avenue and Queen Street East, which is expected to worsen when thousands of residents move to the area.

Within the precinct, planning is underway to preserve corridors for potential TTC streetcar extensions.

The Ontario Line, currently under construction and expected to be completed in the early 2030s, will have stops nearby. The East Harbour transit hub will serve as a stop for the Ontario Line and for GO Transit trains. The Ontario Line will also have Riverside-Leslieville station at Queen Street East.

With files from Meredith Bond

We are currently developing a Precinct Plan for McCleary District and we want to hear from you!

McCleary District is envisioned as a dense, transit-oriented, complete mixed-use community and a hub of activity that will change the makeup of the Port Lands. This district will… pic.twitter.com/fsVWMKCgld

— CreateTO (@_CreateTO) September 5, 2024