Mayoral candidate and former Toronto chief planner Jennifer Keesmaat announced a new proposal to convert three city-owned golf courses into publicly-accessible spaces intended to be open year-round.

Don Valley Golf Course, Scarlett Woods Golf Course and Dentonia Park Golf Course operate under a net loss, Keesmaat said in a news release Monday. The three courses are currently public land and are located in North York, Roselands and in Oakridge, respectively.

“The current usage of these sites just doesn’t represent a good use of public land, especially when the city is operating these courses at a loss,” Keesmaat said. “There is so much more we can do with this land to benefit far more people. Highest and best use of public land means opening it up to more uses by more people, and that’s what I’m proposing here.”

Despite “ongoing trends of declining usage,” Toronto’s 2018-2026 capital plan reserved approximately $10 million to improve the aforementioned courses, Keesmaat said.

Keesmaat proposed making the spaces free and open to the public, and intends to consult with local community members to make sure that each site “responds to the desired uses and existing gaps in services.”

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“In some cases, that might be parkland or an arts or cultural hub, and in others it might be a new community centre or sports field that neighbours identify as desirable for the site,” she said. “Whatever the chosen mix of uses, the common thread would be turning public land where usage is currently highly exclusive into areas that can benefit the community at large.”

Keesmaat mentioned that her proposal follows the example of other Canadian cities, such as Vancouver and Thunder Bay, which have re-evaluated their role as golf-course operators.

There are two more city-owned and operated golf courses in Toronto — Humber Valley in Etobicoke and Tam O’Shanter in Scarborough. The city also hires third-party operators to provide food, lessons and rentals, among other services.

“There’s really nothing new in taking a look at the golf courses,” Mayor John Tory said to reporters at Good Shepherd Ministries on Queen St. near Parliament St. “There’s a report that was commissioned by the city council in January of this year to do exactly that.

“I hope that when she said today that we would turn those into the ‘highest and best use’ she didn’t mean condo towers, because quite often when you use the expression ‘highest and best use’ it means more condo towers,” added Tory, who is running against Keesmaat in the mayoral race. “I don’t think we need to take that green space which contributes to the tree canopy and contributes to the ravine strategy and turn it into more condo towers.”

The issue of golf courses was brought up in city council back in January when a report from city staff recommended a review of their operations. Councillor Janet Davis (Ward 31, Beaches-East York) said golf courses are a good use of green spaces and encouraged more people to get involved.

While Keesmaat is proposing looking at the golf courses for other uses, the consultation approved by council in January was to review golf operations only; Tory was absent for the vote.

Dena Lewis, an ecologist with the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority, disagreed and said in January that restoring the golf course land to naturalized green space with trails would be better for the environment, help prevent flooding, improve the city’s tree canopy, and give residents recreation space.

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With files from Samantha Beattie and Jennifer Pagliaro

Ilya Bañares is a breaking news reporter, working out of the Star’s radio room in Toronto. Follow him on Twitter: @ilyaoverseas

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