An updated plan for a neighbourhood of 21,000 people to live on Ookwemin Minising Island, previously known as Villier Island, passed an important step at City Hall on Thursday. But the proposed expansion of Billy Bishop Airport may force that plan to change again.
Ookwemin Minising Island, which means “place of the black cherry trees,” was created by the flood protection project at the foot of the Don River. Artists’ renderings of the upcoming neighbourhood show a mix of streets, parks, pedestrian areas, housing, and at its heart, a car-free thoroughfare. The original concept from 2024 has now increased in density with 300 to 800 more affordable housing units, along with several other important improvements.
“It feels much more refined, it feels much more urban,” urban planner Blair Scorgie tells CityNews. “It very much sort of feels as though it was responding to a lot of the critique that I and others were providing of the 2024 plan. It feels like a unique place with its own sense of identity.”
The unknown is the airport across the harbour from the newly planned community. The provincial government has recently expropriated land from Toronto, with the express purpose of expanding the airport and allowing jets. The building plan for Ookwemin Minising is designed for the current smaller turboprop aircraft that currently use the island airport.
“So how the different tall buildings are oriented on Ookwemin Minising Island are designed around those flight paths. So, of course, any changes to the flight paths could affect how density and height is distributed around the island,” explained Toronto’s chief planner Jason Thorne.
Since there are no details yet on what an expanded airport would look like, the building plan for the island could be up in the air.
“We’re getting closer to actually putting shovels in the ground, and are we now also at a point where the Ford government is going to cause an unnecessary roadblock by expanding the island airport to jet service?” asks Scorgie.
The housing plan for the area has now passed the Housing and Planning Committee at Toronto City Hall and will next head to full city council, where the expectation is that people will start moving into the neighbourhood sometime in 2031.
An updated plan for a neighbourhood of 21,000 people to live on Ookwemin Minising Island, previously known as Villier Island, passed an important step at City Hall on Thursday. But the proposed expansion of Billy Bishop Airport may force that plan to change again. Ookwemin Minising Island, which means “place of the black cherry trees,” Local
An updated plan for a neighbourhood of 21,000 people to live on Ookwemin Minising Island, previously known as Villier Island, passed an important step at City Hall on Thursday. But the proposed expansion of Billy Bishop Airport may force that plan to change again.
Ookwemin Minising Island, which means “place of the black cherry trees,” was created by the flood protection project at the foot of the Don River. Artists’ renderings of the upcoming neighbourhood show a mix of streets, parks, pedestrian areas, housing, and at its heart, a car-free thoroughfare. The original concept from 2024 has now increased in density with 300 to 800 more affordable housing units, along with several other important improvements.
“It feels much more refined, it feels much more urban,” urban planner Blair Scorgie tells CityNews. “It very much sort of feels as though it was responding to a lot of the critique that I and others were providing of the 2024 plan. It feels like a unique place with its own sense of identity.”
The unknown is the airport across the harbour from the newly planned community. The provincial government has recently expropriated land from Toronto, with the express purpose of expanding the airport and allowing jets. The building plan for Ookwemin Minising is designed for the current smaller turboprop aircraft that currently use the island airport.
“So how the different tall buildings are oriented on Ookwemin Minising Island are designed around those flight paths. So, of course, any changes to the flight paths could affect how density and height is distributed around the island,” explained Toronto’s chief planner Jason Thorne.
Since there are no details yet on what an expanded airport would look like, the building plan for the island could be up in the air.
“We’re getting closer to actually putting shovels in the ground, and are we now also at a point where the Ford government is going to cause an unnecessary roadblock by expanding the island airport to jet service?” asks Scorgie.
The housing plan for the area has now passed the Housing and Planning Committee at Toronto City Hall and will next head to full city council, where the expectation is that people will start moving into the neighbourhood sometime in 2031.