Apricot blossoms in Ben Nobleman Park, March 2012

At a time when we should be enjoying the spring blossoms in our park and looking forward to our upcoming fruit tree care workshops, the volunteers at Growing for Green have some pressing concerns. Part of our orchard may be uprooted to make way for an entrance to the Eglinton LRT in our park. Please read on for more information….and have your say by filling out the survey below:

Ben Nobleman Park is an important resource for our neighbourhood and its residents. It is a popular green space and the home to Ben Nobleman Park Community Orchard, Toronto’s first community orchard in a public park. It is the site of stewardship days, fruit tree care workshops, festivals and community events throughout the year. It also has our community’s largest children’s play area.

But this wonderful environment may be at risk. There is currently a proposal to cut a large slice out of our small park in order to build a southern entrance to the new Eglinton West light rail station. This will result in the loss of a number of mature trees as well as six of Ben Nobleman Park Community Orchard’s most established fruit trees – cherry and apple trees planted in 2009 that we will harvest for the first time this year.

Many members of our community have worked hard to transform Ben Nobleman Park from a little-used green space into a vibrant community centre. Today we have an orchard with 14 fruit trees, a pollinator garden, and a beautiful new playground designed by local parents. The new entrance would be about 80 square metres – roughly 900 square feet or the footprint of a small house.

We believe a busy entrance like this, even if it’s nicely designed and landscaped, will have a negative effect on our park with the garbage bins, cigarette butts and newspaper boxes. Instead, we support the construction of a LRT entrance in a corner of the current police station parking lot. While the police may lose up to 13 parking spots, alternative parking spots can be found.

You can have your say by filling out a survey. Just copy the following address into your browser:

thecrosstown.ca/node/329

or click here.

Our preferred option is option number 4 – which locates the southern entrance in the police station but still allows the police an exit directly onto Eglinton Avenue West.

Our least preferred options are options 1, 2, 2a and 2b – as all of them locate the entrance in our park.

There is room on the survey for additional comments. Please tell the TTC clearly that you do not want an LRT entrance in our park.

For more information you can view the presentation online at

thecrosstown.ca/news-media/whats-new

Please help us protect Ben Nobleman Park .

Apricot trees in bloom in Ben Nobleman Park, March 2012