The Humber Bay Shores area, formerly known as "the Motel Strip", has an interesting and diverse history as a recreation and vacation destination, ranging from the resort hotels in the 1800's, tourist camps during the Depression years and auto courts in the 1950s.  When the construction of the Gardiner Expressway effectively bypassed Lakeshore Boulevard West as the main access to downtown Toronto, the area went into decline.

A Waterfront Plan was developed in the 1970s, based on a single, comprehensive land assembly. This plan failed, due to the major difficulties inherent in assembling the many narrow, unconsolidated lots occupied by motels and houses.

In 1986, the Etobicoke Council initiated a plan review.  It took five years, a major Ontario Municipal Board hearing, a declaration of Provincial Interest and a Cabinet appeal, before a new "Motel Strip Secondary Plan" was finalized and approved.  Etobicoke residents fought hard to ensure this new plan included the creation of an attractive and ecologically friendly park that would protect both The Waterfront and access to it.

The Plan provided for 15 acres of parkland, a mixed-use commercial, residential community of approximately 3,200 suites, with 500,000 square feet of space allocated for commercial uses.  Of this, approximately 150,000 square feet would be retail, located at a central site across from the Gardiner Expressway off-ramp, now known as the Monarch Site.

The Province of Ontario stipulated that, prior to any development, all of the parkland for the Humber Bay Park had to e assembled and that all the factors necessary for parkland development, such as funding, approvals and community involvement, were in place.  Without these stipulations, the City would have had to rely on piecemeal dedications as individual development occurred.  Building the park this way would probably have taken decades, with no assurance that the results would meet the City's or community's objectives.

Reclaiming 15 acres of private development land for public parkland was a significant and daunting task, requiring the cooperative efforts of the City and local landowners and developers.  The City expropriated some land, but most was dedicated, at no cost, to facilitate development.  The developers donated the land required for parkland in exchange for greater "density" rights on the land that would be developed. (In urban planning terms, density refers to the number of units allowed on a specific area of land.)  Land acquisition took four years, and in 1996, City Council passed a bylaw allowing development to proceed.

Source:  Humber Happenings - Vol. 7/Issue 1/Spring 2005, Author:  Mike McCart