Change is coming on Queensview Drive. It is both an opportunity and concern for residents of Queensway Terrace North (QTN). The QTN Planning Committee is taking early action to influence City plans for this area, instead of waiting to react to proposals by outside developers. City plans for Queensview Drive will become public in the draft Official Plan later this month.
In advance of the Official Plan, QTN is asking the City to consider how Queensview Drive could better serve area residents and be connected by pathways, in an integrated plan. This could make it easy to walk or bike there for necessities, recreation, or coffee with a friend. As outlined in a Discussion Paper, titled “Queensview Drive and QTN: Good Neighbors,” this requires attention early in the planning process. While density and the height of towers will get a lot of attention, QTN wants a stronger focus on the design of the whole street to be a place residents will want to go, rather than a wall of high towers on the edge of our neighborhood.
This direction reflects the responses of a majority of residents in an informal summer survey.
A majority of respondents want to see a mix of commercial and residential uses, with a focus on services for area residents, according to the findings in our survey.
Better connections and noise mitigation are other factors that QTN wants included in the early plan. A better connection to the Queensview LRT Station has been a high priority for QTN since the earliest discussion on the LRT. It needs to be in place when the station opens, not five years later, to ensure that QTN residents have good access to the LRT.
QTN is also asking that community services, such as a recreation center, be developed at the same time as affordable housing to foster community connections. QTN, says the discussion paper, could be an “oasis” neighborhood between Lincoln Fields on the north and Queensview Drive on the south, building on its green spaces and friendly streets. That requires a change in the planning process, to center the community in the plans and work with all the stakeholders, including businesses and residents, to find mutual benefits.
Looking to the future, QTN is also asking the City to consider moving the bus barns from the current location on Queensview Drive and using that space for affordable housing and associated services (see section 5 in our paper). This would reduce noise levels on the south side of QTN and allow more affordable housing than the current in-fill strategy, which is having negative impacts on QTN .
This is a working paper to foster discussion. QTN invites feed-back, suggestions, and discussion with your neighbors. We will continue to work toward a plan that works for the future well-being of QTN as well as for the new LRT stations on our boundaries.
Kathy Vandergrift, Planning Committee
