Green Change and the Jane/Finch Centre have been working with Jane-Finch residents and other partners for over five years to secure land for a community hub through the Finch LRT. Here’s a timeline and some important history based our experience:

In 2014, @Metrolinx announced that it would be building the Finch MSF, a major industrial facility, in the heart of Jane-Finch. The community pushed back immediately on the initial design and provided significant input throughout the environmental assessment process.

From 2015-2016, the Community Action Planning Group (CAPG) hosted workshops to develop a more community-based vision for the MSF site. Overwhelmingly, people wanted to see a community hub onsite and land secured as a community benefit through the Finch LRT.

Getting a minimum 32-metre (but ideally 50-metre) setback along Finch Avenue West became our goal. Based on an initial site analysis, we thought it would be just enough space to build a hub comparable in size to the Daniels Spectrum in Regent Park.

Based on community feedback, CAPG finalized six principles to improve the Finch MSF, shrink its footprint, and create space for other uses. These principles were adopted by City Council in December 2015: https://bit.ly/3hxoEEd 

When Metrolinx agreed to include these principles in their procurement document for the Finch LRT, they became our primary tool for ensuring land for a community hub at the MSF site. Bidders had to respond to the principles to meet the requirements of the procurement process.

Community leaders presented their vision for a community hub to the bidders on the project in the summer of 2016, with the support of @TCBN_TO. (This kind of direct community participation in a procurement process is pretty rare.)

After these presentations, Metrolinx confirmed that they would be instructing the bidders to leave a minimum 32-metre setback to allow for the hub development and other uses.

In 2018, Mosaic Transit Group was selected to build the Finch LRT and the community’s demands for the setback were honoured in the project agreement. Renderings later released by Mosaic helped provide further assurance to the community.

We understood that the community would only get access to the land to build the hub, once construction of the Finch LRT was completed (2023 or later).

Knowing there was still a long road ahead, Green Change coordinated a community-based process from 2017-2019 that engaged almost 1,500 residents and partners in shaping the vision, programming priorities, and concept design for the community hub.

The result was a clear vision for a multipurpose, community-owned and operated facility that would host creative, social, recreational, and entrepreneurial programs for Jane-Finch residents. You can read more in our final report here: https://bit.ly/3jEwoq7 

Over the last year, many community members and groups like CAPG and @TCBN_TO have helped moved this hub vision forward by developing an initial business plan and working to confirm the land transfer to the community through the City of Toronto.

But Metrolinx has yet to make a formal written agreement on the transfer with the City. In fact, all community benefits goals for the Finch LRT remain aspirational and not legally binding.

Alongside everyone who has supported the hub project over the years, we continue to call on Metrolinx to work directly with the Jane-Finch community to deliver a tangible community benefit through the Finch LRT.

Please read our joint community statement from July 23, 2020 to learn more and get involved: https://bit.ly/2Ei9GUr