|
History Redevelopment History The Don Mills Centre mall, Don Mills' local shopping and community mall and a landmark in the history of Canadian planning, was the hub and heart of the Don Mills community for more than 50 years. It was the place where many residents in the area did their shopping, banking, and dining, met friends, and enjoyed the conveniences of a community-based indoor shopping facility. Among the regular customers were many elderly folks, as well as disabled individuals, for whom the mall was an invaluable lifeline to goods, services, and casual socializing. In fact, among the many residences built around this mall are several seniors' residences, as well as homes for the disabled. Their proximity to the mall allowed the people who live there to retain their dignity and a small degree of independence. The children from the nearby schools also depended on this mall for a place to have lunch and do their homework after school. Don Mills is protected by a City planning document, the Central Don Mills Secondary Plan, which requires change in the community to be “managed in a way that retains and enhances the existing character of the area” and has as its objective “to strengthen the function of the Don Mills Centre as a community centre.” In addition, the Ontario government, through the Ontario Heritage Foundation, recognized Don Mills as a heritage area in 1997. Cadillac Fairview, after first promising to renovate and rebuild the Don Mills Centre mall, abruptly decided to demolish it and build an open-air strip mall and condominium complex in its place. The plans for the development changed numerous times without the community’s knowing or understanding what will take place. Don Mills Friends History In response to the plans for the destruction of the Don Mills Centre indoor mall and the lack of information about the development, Don Mills Friends was formed in 2006 as "Concerned Residents for Maintaining the Don Mills Centre Indoor Mall," which gathered more than 5,000 signatures on a petition to protest the demolition of the mall and the way in which the redevelopment was being imposed without consideration for those affected by it. Our membership includes three of the original builders of Don Mills—the famed Don Mills Master Planner Macklin Hancock, the "Architect-in-Charge" for Don Mills Douglas Lee, and renowned Don Mills architect Henry Fliess, who are all deeply concerned that Cadillac Fairview’s redevelopment of the Don Mills Centre site introduces a drastic and unacceptable change to the heart of Don Mills and thereby dramatically alters the way in which Canada’s first planned community has functioned and was designed to function. "Don Mills Friends should be commended for [its] efforts to save and protect the qualities of life that the Don Mills community is able to provide, and Mrs. Lee and I wish you every success in your endeavours," wrote Douglas Lee in a recent e-mail. Don Mills was built as a neighbourhood where people could walk and cycle to shopping, work, and entertainment; it featured pedestrian routes, rows of trees, green space, and a unique road system separating the neighbourhood from the city that would soon grow around it—exactly the type of community that urban planners, environmentalists, and politicians at all levels today tout as the ideal model community. Don Mills was the perfect example of this ideal community. This point was also emphasized in a special message from The Hon. John Godfrey, presented by The Hon. Yasmin Ratansi at a recent Don Mills Heritage Celebration, in which Mr. Godfrey refers to Messrs. Hancock, Lee (known as “The Architect-in-Charge for Don Mills”), and Fliess as "urban visionaries." "As we currently give
greater consideration to the impact of global warming and climate change
in our lives," Mr. Godfrey states in his letter, "it is very impressive
to think Mr. Hancock, Mr. Fliess and Mr. Lee were so many years ahead
of their time in their environmentally friendly vision for Don Mills.
Their idea of a community surrounded by greenbelt with pedestrian paths
leading to schools, parks and businesses, along with the integration of
industry into the community allowing residents to live and work in the
same area, are features which have proven to be timeless." It seems ironic and bizarre that Canada's first planned community would lose the principles upon which it was built just as those principles are identified and upheld as the model for other communities to strive for. At a time when environmental concerns can no longer be ignored and recent gasoline shortages are signalling potential supply disruptions that will need to be embraced by our car-dependent society, we must be conscious of the fact that the absence of an indoor mall on the Don Mills Centre site would not facilitate vehicle-free shopping trips for most Don Mills residents. Instead, people would need to drive their car—if they have one—to a remote indoor mall to shop and escape the heat in summer and the cold in winter. The building of through roads on the Don Mills Centre site does not make this area pedestrian-friendly—on the contrary, it would clearly increase vehicular traffic. This is in direct contradiction of the principles upon which Don Mills was designed and built, and it also contradicts the new environmental and community-friendly planning objectives envisaged by all levels of government
Copyright © 2006 - 2008 Don Mills Friends
Home History News & Community Articles & Letters Contacts About Us |