Quiet, small and set apart from the city, the Toronto Island community is left mostly to itself.

Yet when residents raise concerns — a broken-down ferry in the middle of winter, a too-loud waterfront nightclub — they revive old criticisms and the hated “squatter” label.

But in a city where waterfront development is a contentious issue, urban designers say the Island is a unique example of public melding with private, one the city as a whole could learn from.

“We, in the remaining part of the city, get very, almost religious, about ‘that is the park, that is the private home, never the twain shall meet,’” said George Dark, a partner at Urban Strategies Inc. “But on the Islands it’s a very interesting mixture. The people who live there have a great sense of pride (about) where they live and they also have a certain stewardship over the (public) grounds.”

For Dark, the fact that residents there own homes on public land leased from the city isn’t an issue, but rather a good example of the benefit of non-traditional agreements.

Island residences take up just 33 acres of more than 800. There are 262 homes and more than 600 people. There is a coffee shop , a school and a daycare. Neighbours are quick with a smile and a friendly hello on the 15-minute ferry ride over.

“It really is a neighbourhood,” said Ken Greenberg, principal at Greenberg Consultants and former director of urban design and architecture for the city.

Greenberg said the island enclave offers a virtual how-to guide on everything from building car-less neighbourhoods to creating waterfront communities that aren’t privileged — blocked off with signs warning against trespassers.

“We’re trying to make a shift in Toronto from just building clusters of condominiums or rental buildings to making real neighbourhoods,” he said. That means not just housing and employment, but also “the amenities, the public spaces, the daycare, the schools, the places that people hang out and drop in and share.”

It’s the kind of community Islanders have fought hard to maintain.

Settled in the 1800s, the Island became part of Toronto’s jurisdiction in 1956. Almost immediately, there were plans to develop it into a park. In the years following, more than 500 homes were demolished.

Council’s attempt in the early 1970s to evict the remaining residents kicked off a long-running court battle, which then prompted an inquiry to determine the future of the neighbourhood.

The Toronto Islands Residential Community Stewardship Act brokered a compromise in 1993, allowing residents to own their own homes and lease the land from the province for up to 99 years.

While contention over the Island community has died down, it never fully goes away.

That doesn’t bother Elizabeth Amer, a fourth-generation resident whose cosy one-storey home on Ward’s Island looks out over the bay.

“I’ve always loved it here,” said Amer, a former city councillor who often speaks with park visitors if she’s in her garden.

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“They’ll stop and ask a question and we’ll have a nice chat about the island,” she said. “It works wonderfully well. It’s a very synergistic relationship between the public park and the island residents.”

The Toronto Islands Residential Community Trust and the city agree.

“(It’s) a unique environmental setting, and I think a lot of (Island residents) are very attuned to that … there’s a value in that,” said Warren Hoselton, parks supervisor for the Island and the Harbour Square park on the mainland. “Once people engage and take that role on, then I think the park gets better care.”

Lorraine Filyer, chair of the Trust, said she’d like to see the rest of the city look at adopting similar rules around cars and land ownership.

Residents are allowed to pass homes on to their spouses or children, but otherwise the Trust keeps a potential purchaser’s list with a decades-long wait-list. To get on the list, you have to first win a lottery, which is held only when there are 25 or more spaces on the list. The last lottery took place in November.

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