Lots of community members welcomed the opportunity to attend the City’s open house on the future of the Vale of Avoca, held on October 7 at the Deer Park Library.
This event was the first of three formal consultation exercises planned for the Avoca Project. With the first consultation, the City’s project team introduced the community to the overall scope of the project, and many of the issues that will be addressed as plans for the ravine are developed. The open house was also arranged to gather input on priorities to guide the planning exercise. In addition to the open house, the City’s Public Engagement Unit has conducted an online survey to explore what is and isn’t working in the ravine, and has also reached out to various stakeholder groups for input. (The City’s Avoca Community Survey was launched on October 1, and runs until October 22.)
The open house was held in the upstairs meeting room of the Deer Park Branch of the Toronto Public Library. Participants in the session circulated around the room viewing 16 panels presenting a wealth of information on different features of the Avoca ravine and various challenges and opportunities that the City’s planning process will likely need to address. You can download a pdf file of the Vale of Avoca Project panels, which provide a useful reference for future discussion of project plans. In addition to the panels, there was a large-scale contour map of the ravine that allowed for detailed discussion of specific locations. Not only was there strong attendance from the general public; members of the City’s project team were out in force to listen to the community, including representatives from Parks & Recreation, Urban Forestry, the Toronto & Region Conservation Authority, and also staff from GHD, which is the engineering and design contractor working with the City on integrated plans for the ravine.
The Midtown Ravines Group was pleased to be an official participant in the event, talking with participants about ways to get involved in community activities relating to protection and renewal of the ravine.
In addition to this website maintained by the Midtown Ravines Group, interested community members should visit the City’s Avoca Project website which provides an option to sign up for updates on the Avoca Project issued by the City.
The Midtown Ravines Group would like to thank the City’s project team for the work that went into Phase 1 of the community engagement process, and also all the community members that have responded with such great interest to this project.