Chime in on the city’s plans for the future of Scadding Court Community Centre

Could — or should — the city build housing on top of the Scadding Court Community Centre and the Sanderson Library? 

Well, in order to do that, city staff need to rezone the area. This suggestion was presented on Jan. 8 at a drop-in consultation at the Scadding Court Community Centre.

City of Toronto staff informed residents of an Official Plan Amendment (OPA) application that would change the land use designation of the area where the Scadding Court Community Centre (707 Dundas St. West) and the Sanderson Library (327 Bathurst St.) are located from “Parks & Recreation” to “Mixed Use.” 

This consultation is the first step of the planning process to allow for the redevelopment of the site, which could include the reconstruction of both the community centre and the library. The “Mixed Use” designation could also allow the city to build residential units on top of the existing facilities. City council had directed staff to look into this work back in 2012 and 2014. 

One Alexandra Park resident in attendance expressed concerns about the lack of social infrastructure, such as child care, to go with the addition of residential units in an already densely-populated area. Other residents brought up the need for affordable housing. Zack Bradley, co-director of Kensington Market Community Land Trust, said that “all units should be affordable housing and they should be managed by a local organization like Kensington Market Community Land Trust.” 

What’s next for this project? 

City staff are preparing a final report to the Toronto & East York Community Council to get the Official Plan of Amendment approved. The OPA is only the first step of the process and aims to set the policy foundation for any future development plans. The specifics of what the new facilities and buildings would look like, as well as timelines of when the library and community centre would be closing, have not been determined or considered yet, according to community planner Aileen Keng. Those details will be shared as part of the next step, which is the Zoning By-law Amendment application — if the OPA gets adopted at city council. 

If you have concerns or opinions about the rezoning proposal, you can voice them to community planner Aileen Keng at aileen.keng@toronto.ca and to Deputy Mayor Ausma Malik.