Toronto city council kicked the proposed $225-million development of a new Etobicoke Civic Centre a tiny bit further down the road when it announced the winning submission of the Etobicoke Civic Centre design competition last spring.

The design by Henning Larsen, Adamson Associates, and PMA Landscape Architects, which includes a community recreation centre, a library, a child care centre and outdoor civic plaza and urban park, has received widespread positive coverage in the press. Etobicoke-Lakeshore councillor Justin Di Ciano is promoting the project.

But other proposals for the area, namely the reconfiguration of the Six Points interchange and future development of the Westwood Theatre, may turn the proposed civic centre into a mere island in a sea of traffic.

After more than 10 years of planning and engineering, the city has begun construction on Six Points, the confusing 1950s-era interchange built when the car was king. The interchange still moves cars but pays no attention to pedestrians or other road users.

The changes being proposed say goodbye to mid-century infrastructure nightmares and hello to the walkable communities of the 21st century. A tentative hello, perhaps, in car-happy Etobicoke where bridges, ramps and fly-overs connecting the roads will be replaced by at-grade intersections at both Dundas and Kipling. Construction will last two years. Still, locals have expressed concern that a more pedestrian-friendly configuration would slow traffic.

Lola Macanowicz, chair of the Village of Islington BIA and a local business and property owner, is not one of them. She welcomes the slower traffic in Islington Village. The historic main street running along Dundas, made up of heritage buildings and small businesses, has some charm and excellent restaurants but is currently plagued by heavy traffic, including from trucks.

“I am looking forward to the cars slowing down a bit. It will make it safer and more comfortable for pedestrians,” says Macanowicz.

The changes could potentially make it easier to get around on foot and by bicycle, provided car volume and speed can be reasonably controlled. But other locals are raising alarm worried about increased traffic volumes forcing cars onto quieter side streets.

It’s a price locals may have to pay for the reconfiguration, whose primary impetus is to free up the Westwood Theatre lands, a three-hectare parcel owned by the city which is virtually non-developable at a time when pressure is building for more housing, especially in an area close to two subway stations.

Peter Apswoude Development creeping westward along Dundas West is looking for more space to grow.

New residential developments are already marching westward along Dundas and Bloor in what appears to be an unstoppable wave, with big-name developers like Tridel setting the pace.

Those developments seem to be in line with the stated intention of the Etobicoke Centre Secondary Plan to develop Etobicoke Centre as an urban focal point west of downtown – essentially to changing a suburban environment into an urban one.

That plan also talks about widening sections of Bloor, Dundas and Kipling to six lanes, which is in no way pedestrian friendly – or in keeping with the people-first vision of the civic centre.

Another challenge: the promised 1,000 units of affordable housing as part of about 5,000 units planned for the Westwood Theater lands. Will affordable units be integrated into buildings with market-rate units or be in standalone buildings (akin to the Regent Park redevelopment)? When asked about the feasibility of creating so much affordable housing, Di Ciano says the city is aiming high.

But the Westwood Theatre lands may prove too valuable for affordable housing, opening the door to deal-making. Why can’t the city, with its expertise and experience, build the units itself on property it already owns?

Specifics on roads, sidewalks, public spaces, urban form, design quality, among other things, may well need more consultations for the urban vision imagined for Etobicoke to be realized. Perhaps corporations with fresh ideas could create employment and other opportunities.

Do Etobians have the culture, wherewithal, leadership, savvy and interest to step forward and make Etobicoke Centre their own downtown?

We’ll find out over the next few months, when the re-making of Bloor West comes up for discussion.

Peter Apswoude is a former landscape architect.

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