{"id":59197,"date":"2024-05-26T09:42:05","date_gmt":"2024-05-26T09:42:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/05\/26\/a-public-park-or-private-spa-a-city-debates-the-future-of-an-island-oasis\/"},"modified":"2024-05-26T09:42:05","modified_gmt":"2024-05-26T09:42:05","slug":"a-public-park-or-private-spa-a-city-debates-the-future-of-an-island-oasis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/05\/26\/a-public-park-or-private-spa-a-city-debates-the-future-of-an-island-oasis\/","title":{"rendered":"A Public Park or Private Spa: A City Debates the Future of an Island Oasis"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align:center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1050\" height=\"550\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/05\/21\/multimedia\/00canada-toronto-promo\/00canada-toronto-02-qpcw-facebookJumbo.jpg?resize=1050,550&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"A Public Park or Private Spa: A City Debates the Future of an Island Oasis\" title=\"A Public Park or Private Spa: A City Debates the Future of an Island Oasis\" \/><\/div><p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">It was an unusually mild winter day in Toronto, but that did not make Lake Ontario\u2019s icy waters any more inviting. Still, Sara Fruchtman, wearing a bathing suit and a bathing cap, plunged into the lake at Michael Hough Beach.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">She was not alone. Seven other people were also there, some gathered around an anemic bonfire. All were part of an informal swimming group that congregated year round at Toronto\u2019s only downtown beach.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But their icy ritual ended a few weeks later after a steel mesh construction fence cut off access to a pedestrian bridge leading to the island where the beach is. A sign said it was closed. The island, known as West Island, is one of two that make up Ontario Place, home to a former amusement park and exhibition pavilions.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The Province of Ontario, which owns Ontario Place, is turning West Island over to an Austrian spa developer under a 95-year lease to build what it describes as a large \u201cwell-being oasis\u201d with hot and cold baths as well as other \u201cwater relaxation facilities.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The project has prompted widespread criticism from local politicians and park users in Canada\u2019s largest city, where little of the vast lake is easily accessible to the public from the heart of Toronto.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cI\u2019m grieving,\u201d Ms. Fruchtman said. \u201cIt feels like maybe some decision makers don\u2019t see that people are really taking advantage of what we have here and that could be built up instead of built over. I don\u2019t know why you would privatize something like this.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Ontario Place opened in 1971 as the province\u2019s answer to Expo 67, the World\u2019s Fair in Montreal that became a major international hit.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Five exhibition halls filled with displays and films about the province rose up on stilts between the East and West Islands, as did a geodesic dome housing a then novel IMAX cinema, the film technology developed in Canada.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Over time, Ontario Place housed playgrounds, a water park, a marina, restaurants, a log plume ride and a concert amphitheater \u2014 all stitched together by parkland designed by Michael Hough, one of <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tclf.org\/pioneer\/michael-hough\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Canada\u2019s most celebrated landscape architects<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The New York Times, in an article not long after its opening, said that \u201c<a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1971\/07\/25\/archives\/the-travelers-world-ontarios-new-twist-in-showmanship.html\" title=\"\">it looks at first like a world\u2019s fair,<\/a> only better.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">While Ontario Place drew crowds during its early years, low entry fees and weak concession revenues made it a perennial money loser, and hand wringing over what do with it began long before it eventually closed in 2010. West Island\u2019s open space became a park. (A concert venue on the other island is leased to Live Nation.)<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Doug Ford, Ontario\u2019s premier, has long wanted to leave his mark on the city\u2019s waterfront.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">No one, even the spa\u2019s critics, is challenging a decision by Mr. Ford\u2019s government to use provincial money to restore and reopen the exhibition halls and the IMAX cinema.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But there was little support when the government unveiled plans for Therme, a company based in Vienna, to build a commercial spa that would consume most of West Island and rise nearly 150 feet.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Unlike Therme\u2019s spas in Europe, which are mainly intended for adults, the proposal for Ontario Place would add an indoor family water park. (Another feature of some of its European outlets, nude bathing, will be skipped.) The company says that adult admission will start at about 40 Canadian dollars, about $30.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The island\u2019s roughly 840 trees will be cut down, and outdoor public space on the West Island will largely be limited to green space on the spa\u2019s roof and a wide path around the spa.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The beach will be eliminated, but the spa developer said it planned to build a bigger replacement. But rather than facing Lake Ontario, its plan has the new beach oriented toward the shore, creating a view dominated by a concrete breakwall and a busy, six-lane boulevard.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The spa proposal has been opposed by the City of Toronto, with officials citing the size, scale and location. They also said it would overwhelm the existing pavilions, diminishing the local landmarks\u2019 official designation as historically significant.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">An underground parking garage with 2,100 spaces that the province plans to build on West Island as part of the project flies in the face of efforts by Toronto to prioritize the use of public transit, including a new subway line that will start across from Ontario Place, city officials said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Toronto\u2019s mayor, Olivia Chow, said she used to take her grandchildren to West Island. \u201cThere\u2019s not enough space like that by the waterfront,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s really quite well used in all times of the year.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Ford responded to Toronto\u2019s criticism by pushing through provincial legislation removing the city\u2019s authority over the spa project and expropriating some land owned by Toronto for the garage.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Ford\u2019s office referred questions about the proposal to Ontario\u2019s infrastructure minister, Kinga Surma, who said spa would make the site \u201ca place that people really enjoy \u2014 and that\u2019s not what it is today.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The spa, she added, would make Ontario Place a more inviting destination in the winter.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cCanada is a very cold place for most of the year,\u201d she said, \u201cand having indoor facilities that families can enjoy is really important.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Robert Hanea, Therme\u2019s chairman and chief executive, rejected criticism that the spa would turn what had been public space into a private playground that fewer people would use.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cWe are a company that brings a phenomenal well-being infrastructure to Toronto,\u201d he said in an interview. \u201cAn infrastructure where millions of people and their families will have access \u2014 people who don\u2019t have a cottage, people who cannot fly to the south in the winter.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cI don\u2019t think,&#8221; he added, \u201cthat public spaces are just parks.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">How much the developer will pay Ontario for the lease has not been made public.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The backlash against the project has had some effect. Therme has reduced the spa\u2019s maximum height and will use landfill to increase West Island\u2019s size to provide more public space.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">A citizen\u2019s group has gone to court to challenge, among other things, the project\u2019s lack of an environmental assessment. The province responded by asking the court to dismiss the case because it argues that the law that Mr. Ford pushed through eliminates the need for an environmental review.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cYou\u2019re looking at a city park, a waterfront park, which serves a number of purposes,\u201d said Ken Greenberg, an urban designer in Toronto and a member of a group that filed the legal challenge.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cIt\u2019s a matter of balance,\u201d he added, \u201cand what they\u2019re proposing just obliterates that balance and puts it behind a paywall that many, many people will not be able to afford.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/05\/26\/canada-ontario-place-spa-development.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It was an unusually mild winter day in Toronto, but that did not make Lake Ontario\u2019s icy waters any more inviting. Still, Sara Fruchtman, wearing a bathing suit and a bathing cap, plunged into the lake at Michael Hough Beach. She was not alone. Seven other people were also there, some gathered around an anemic [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":59198,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/05\/21\/multimedia\/00canada-toronto-promo\/00canada-toronto-02-qpcw-facebookJumbo.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[122,56330,739,136,57572,6381,1665,3560,57571],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59197"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59197"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59197\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":59199,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59197\/revisions\/59199"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/59198"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59197"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59197"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59197"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}