A last-ditch effort to prevent a University of Toronto field from being razed and replaced with a state-of-the-art field hockey facility has been rejected by city council.
About 7,000 people signed a petition calling on council to rezone the field near Hoskin Avenue and St. George Street as a cultural heritage landscape, but in 36-7 vote Wednesday afternoon council reaffirmed their support for the construction of two new artificial turf pitches on the site.
The pitches will be part of a $9.5 million facility that will play host to field hockey at the 2015 Pan American Games and soccer at the 2015 Parapan American Games.
“This field was used for much more than sports,” Coun. Adam Vaughan, who led the charge against the project, told reporters following the vote. “Frosh week activities take place there, concerts take place there and picnics and all kinds of other events take place there. Unfortunately, now only field hockey can take place.”
Crews are scheduled to break ground on the new facility on July 1 and during Wednesday’s debate several councillors openly questioned why the rezoning request was only being made now.
At one point Coun. Giorgio Mammoliti even jokingly questioned the sobriety of his colleagues for considering the proposal.
"What are we smoking?" he said. "Are we smoking this grass today?"
Speaking with reporters following the vote, Vaughan said his constituents have long had reservations about the project but only recently discovered a legislative vehicle that could be used to fight it.
“The cultural heritage landscape was the only legislation available to us to be able to weigh in on this conversation and we didn’t find out that avenue until very late in the game,” Vaughan said.
“Obviously that hurt those people who were concerned about this,” he added.
Plans for the field hockey facility were first unveiled nearly four years ago.
In an interview with CP24 after the vote, Pan American Games spokesperson Teddy Katz said the fields will be of real use to both the University of Toronto and its students.
"It is going to be a world-class sports facility and will be a tremendous legacy for the University of Toronto,” Katz said.
Plenty on agenda at city hall
This is the second day of the June council meeting and many items remain on the agenda.
Other items expected to be discussed this afternoon include a recent report from the city’s ombudsman that criticized the city’s treatment of seniors and a motion from Coun. Michelle Berardinetti to create a so-called 'angel cradle' - a designated spot to safely and anonymously drop off an unwanted baby.
