The building that currently houses 11 Division will be vacated and the new station will be set up at the old South Carleton Public School at Davenport and Osler for July 2011. This is a good thing for 11 Division, as they will have more space, and better facilities. There is currently a Design Steering committee including a local resident and architect, and a former member of the Bloor West Village BIA, to advise on the work done on the school. Walkthroughs at both old and new locations are taking place by Stantec Architects to solidify planning of the future police station. Eastern Construction is managing the renovations. It doesn’t currently look like Carleton Public School’s facade will be saved, but more community meetings will be planned soon and posted on 11th Division’s information page, though it has not been updated for a while. Thanks to Staff Sergeant Bruce Morrison for providing the update. Other than the fact that the current building will be empty, he says that the Junction will not even notice the absence of the headquarters, as the street presence of 11th division will remain the same.
The biggest question left is, what will become of this building? It belongs to the city, so once it is vacated an internal committee will take proposals from city departments for its use. We are currently working on finding out the possibility to having community input into its use; maybe even open up the possibility of it being available for community use…
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The South Carleton school building fits in so well with the community, and it's hard to believe that the facade must be expended.
I'm not clear to what extent the idea of keeping any of the existing building was ever seriously considered – which is too bad, given how much community outcry there's been sofar.
Also of concern is the playground behind the Carlton Village School, as I assume the new building will eliminate this current outdoor playspace for the area (someone correct me if I'm wrong on this).
David, I believe the playground you are refering to is behind the current Carleton Village School. The 11 Division site fronts on Davenport and is the old Carleton Village school, but it does have a huge playing field that kids in this community often use. I agree it would be a shame if the youth in this area lose a recreation area, wouldn't it be great if the police could provide this as some form of Community Outreach?
I am a member of the Heritage Advisory Group for this project, which was formed as a result of the Carleton Village Residents Association pushing to preserve the original portion of the building. We had requested it being given Heritage designation, but this unfortunately did not pass council. We are also pushing to preserve as much green space as possible. The Heritage Advisory Group are meeting this Friday, March 26. This will be the second meeting of this committee. Hopefully we will have more news after the meeting.
Thanks for the info Elizabeth, the open space issue was one of the reasons we were up taking images. It would be a real issue to lose the open field behind the church.
Could you email any info after the Heritage Advisory Group are meeting this Friday, so we can post it.
thanks again
Yes, Elizabeth, I'd also be interested in learning about the results of this meeting, as I'd be interested in asking Heritage Toronto if they could advocate for your committee's recommendations.
This is an update from my last post as the Heritage Advisory Group met on Friday, March 27th. Representatives from the Toronto Police Services, City of Toronto Community Planning and Urban Design, Stantec Inc., and E.R.A. Architects, as well as two designated community representatives were in attendance. Three possible design drafts were presented at this meeting by the architect of record, Stantec Inc. No affirmative decision has yet been made, however, plans have to be submitted to the Chief of Police by the end of April, so time is of the essence.
The Carleton Village Residents Association is holding its bi-monthly meeting on Tuesday, March 31st, 7pm at the Davenport Perth Neighbourhood Centre, 1900 Davenport to discuss this before submitting our proposal to Stantec Inc. and the T.P.S.
Architects from Stantec Inc. will be in attendance to assist in clarifying the options.
We need to have a healthy turnout for this meeting as a message to the T.P.S. and the architects, the importance this heritage building and the green space around it is to the community so we encourage residents from both sides of the tracks to attend. This is another critical turning point in the planning process that we as a community can help determine the outcome.
It's through the efforts and determination of the CVRA and this community that has allowed us to get this far as the T.P.S. are in no way obligated to preserve any of the original building or any of the green space on the property.
Please show your support by coming out on Tuesday night and bring friends and neighbours.
We look forward to seeing you there!
I live in this area and we desperately need the police presence there. I went to school here and I lived in this area for 40 + years.
Drug dealers and hookers occupy this territory which really is no place for children to play. As young families move in and try to clean these streets, let's give them a safe envior to raise their kids.
I say clean the area up and let the children play freely and safely in the streets and playgrounds of Davenport.