Death to High Park?

Separating fact from fiction is one of the core responsibilities of any news organization, and today being April Fools Day the tip lines seem to be clogged with bogus leads.

I thought I’d share one particularly elaborate hoax which almost made it online at blogTO. The story reports the development of a huge amount of condos right in the middle of the biggest patch of greenspace in Toronto, High Park.

Toronto landmark lost for ever
Toronto Star (4/1/08) Peter Cole, City Hall Reporter

The Ontario Court of Appeal dismissed an application for a further appeal by “The Friends of High Park” and gave the final go-ahead to the development of 50 new condos in High Park. The project will be Toronto largest redevelopment of parkland in Toronto’s history “The rebirth of High Park has begun,” said Councilor Bill Saundercook, from Ward 13 Parkdale-High Park. “With today’s decision, the urban park residence can now proceed.”

The redevelopment of High Park has been in the works for 18 months behind closed doors at Toronto City Hall. An international architectural competition for the massive development of the 161 hectares is currently underway. The Park will be surrounded by 50(17,500 residences) new condominiums, 800,000 square feet of new street-related retail stores framing Grenadier Pond. Below the retail stores will be 25,000 new parking spots.

“I love this project!,” said Mayor David Miller, “It will do for High Park-Parkdale, what the Distillery District did for Downtown Toronto. It will make the greatest city in the world even greater.”

“It’s a terrific day for everyone associated with the project and a terrific day for Toronto,” said Glenn Miller, President and C.E.O. of Penequity Management Corporation, the Toronto-based developer of the project.

“We have cleared the final legal hurdle” said City lawyer Stephen Waqué of the law firm Borden & Elliot.

“This project has brought together a wide range of interests: business and community associations, Tridel, a private developer and city planners and councilors,” said Saundercook. “It shows how much you can achieve when you put together a great team to work on a great idea.”

“This is such a travesty for the city of Toronto and it’s residences. We have just lost one of the most beautiful spots in the city for the almighty dollar. The people of Toronto should be appalled! The City has been hiding this sale from it’s residences worried about the backlash. 99% of the city was not aware of this, they kept it away from the media.”, said Tony Cull from ‘The Friends of High Park’.

When the Mayor was asked why this development was ever considered, he refused to go into details at this time. But an official at city hall, who asked not to be named, told the Star, that the developer was to purchase the Park for $900 million, and a additional $500 million per yr in property taxes from the new residences. He also indicated that one of the submitted designs has Grenadier Pond being turned into a massive wavepool. Construction begins in August 2008, and is expected to take 7 yrs to complete.

This article did not appear in the Star as credited, and Peter Cole isn’t listed on their list of reporters. There are also some usage errors that wouldn’t have made it past the Stars editors (you guys are doing a bang up job! Want to hire me?).

Mind you, the idea of “Grenadier Pond being turned into a massive wavepool” is intriguing. Anyone?

Photo from 10,000 Birds