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UrbanToronto took the opportunity to talk with local city councillor Mark Grimes at a recent topping off event for Star Tower at Empire Communities' Beyond The Sea complex in Etobicoke's burgeoning Humber Bay Shores area.
We're looking from the 40th floor of Star Tower down at the Mimico Creek. What are the plans for the greenspace below? What can we expect in the next few years for Humber Bay Shores regarding the parkland here?
As you know we have a tremendous amount of energy being socked into one area here at Humber Bay Shores. It's always been the plan since we expropriated the water's edge of the hotel strip, that density would be transferred back to the landowners as a kind of payback. As you see, we're moving west towards the village of Mimico and we have an unbelieveable amount of density trying to come in, so what's very important is that we do keep the greenspace.
Looking northwest from Beyond The Sea up the Mimico Creek, image by Craig White
For years the Mimico Creek in this area has kind of been neglected, but there's a great group that oversees it now, the Etobicoke-Mimico Watersheds Coalition, plus we're working directly with Toronto Region Conservation Authority on how we can make park connections up into Ward 5, Peter Milczyn's ward. Through these developments on the east side of the creek as we go up Park Lawn, we're asking all these developers to contribute to a new trail system. We're trying to get a trail along both sides of the creek - with a bridge to connect them south of the rails, that's a very important part - along Mimico Creek to connect north of the Gardiner Expressway to Ward 5. We've used some Section 37 money to get the design worked on, which is well on the way.
