Updated Brick Works Design

Evergreen has released two new photo mockups of their vision for the Don Valley Brick Works. These are the culmination of two years of effort, public consultation, and fundraising.

Evergreen's plans are based on the concept of adaptive reuse. In other words, taking an existing building on a brownfield site that is no longer being used for its original purpose and reconfiguring it for a new use. This is environmentally preferable than razing the structure and starting from scratch or by developing some new greenfield site. It should be interesting to compare these design photos with the buildings when construction is completed in a couple of years. Mouse click on either photo for a more detailed view.


View of buildings looking southeast


View of site looking north east

Wetland Site Inspected

Sign posted for proposed wetland. Work is supposed to start in fall 2007 but nothing has been done yet.

I decided to investigate the proposed site of the new wetland that I blogged about a couple of weeks ago. It is located just west of Victoria Park Ave. in Taylor Park. The site is relatively flat except for some slightly raised mounds that are mostly planted with trees. The flat area is almost entirely covered with Cattails (Typha ssp.). Behind the mounds to the north is a shallow swale that is almost covered with grass. I dug a small test hole here and the earth is very muddy just below the surface.

I'm no expert on wet meadows but this doesn't look like a well functioning habitat. The Cattails form an almost complete monoculture. There is one native and one non-native variety which are hard to tell apart. Both of them are considered to be invasive in some habitats. My conclusion is that this is the case here. The proposed wetland will involve removing most of the Cattails and replacing them with a wetland habitat that will have considerably more diversity.

The unknown factor is whether the ground water source will be active enough to keep the pond feature wet. Once it is excavated water will flow in but evaporation will be increased. Whether the groundwater source can keep up with the loss is an unknown quantity. It may take a few years before a balance is reached. It will certainly be something to keep monitoring.


Nothing but Cattails are growing on this wet meadow

Luminous Veil Promoter Honoured

Plaque in memory of Al Birney

A couple of months ago the city mounted a plaque on the Bloor Viaduct. The plaque is located on the north side of the bridge at the east end. The plaque is in honour of Al Birney who was in large part responsible for the Luminous Veil, the suicide barrier that now adorns both sides of the bridge.

The barrier became necessary as the bridge became notorious as a convenient place for people who wanted to end their lives. Between 1919 when the viaduct was opened until 2003 about 400 people jumped from the bridge. The placement of the barrier has effectively ended this practice.

Inside Toronto wrote an article on Al Birney and the plaque mounting.


View of the viaduct, looking west. The Luminous Veil is shown above the railing and the plaque can be seen in the lower right of the photograph.

Lost Rivers in the News

The Toronto Star has a good article about Toronto's Lost Rivers, you know the creeks that have been buried in storm sewers beneath our streets. The article also includes a video about Taddle Creek including on the street descriptions by local historian and naturalist Ed Freeman.

There is also another article in InsideToronto about Evergreen's plan for the Brick Works.

Dodgeville has made a post about what E.T. Seton Park looks like after the first snowfall of the year.

Brick Works Announcement

Evergreen has just announced final plans for the Don Valley Brick Works. These plans have been several years in the making and it is good to see that all their hard work is finally paying off. The plan has undergone many changes, in part due to listening to public input from groups and individuals concerned with the Don. Work is due to begin in next year. Don Watcher will keep you apprised of future developments.

Note: these plans only affect the building complex. The quarry park and ponds will remain under the control of the Parks department.

Public Meeting Summary

Concept Plan 1. This plan calls for a major repair job to the bridge and an expanded parking lot at the back including a bus drop off area. There is also an improvement network of paths connecting the historic buildings.


Concept Plan 2. This plan adds a front parking lot and a road connecting to the back parking lot. The bridge would be turned into a pedestrian only bridge.

I attended the public consultation meeting on future enhancements to Todmorden Mills. The meeting was attended by about 40 people. The original impetus for the work was the need to replace a bridge that connects to a parking lot at the back of the site. The bridge used to cross the Don River when it meandered through the site. The meander was straightened when the Don Valley Parkway was built. The bridge now only crosses a shallow gully. Part of the original casements are now buried in the ground.

The current project includes two replacement options for the bridge, It also includes an increase in the number of parking spots, improved site lighting, formalized trails to allow for wheelchair access to the historical buildings and some limited improvements to the nature preserve.

I thought that most of the ideas were good although I don't like the idea of increased parking (who needs more cars?). One thing that surprised me was that the Don Station building will be moved to the Roundhouse down by the Skydome, er... sorry the Roger's Centre. That makes sense since it is railway related (Maybe they can use it as part of the furniture outlet?)