Market Lane Park Revitalization
About the Project
The City is planning improvements to Market Lane Park and will be collecting feedback from the local community, stakeholders, and Indigenous communities to ensure the new park design meets the needs of the community.
This project involves redesigning the entirety of Market Lane Park, adjacent to the St. Lawrence Hall and future North St. Lawrence Market building that is currently under construction. This work is intended to follow the North St. Lawrence Market work.
Market Lane Park is located at 149 King St. E, adjacent to the new North St. Lawrence Market building (currently under construction) in the St. Lawrence Market neighbourhood. The park is part of a network of public spaces being improved in the growing St. Lawrence Market community which has a deep cultural history and is in an area with archeological significance.
The goal of the project is to design and implement park improvements that achieve design excellence, quality of place-making, and attention to detail while enhancing the heritage neighbourhood character through sustainable design the meets the needs of the community. The park design will address the following key elements:
- Indigenous place-making/place-keeping
- New seating and gathering areas
- Preservation of existing trees
- Reimaging the existing fountains with a new water feature
- Upgraded lighting and site lines to improve safety
- Improved accessibility
- Integrating the existing public art feature ‘Return of the Magri-Stechhi’
- Flexible programmable space directly connected to the new North St. Lawrence Market
- Pedestrian connectivity from King Street to Front Street
The project team will be engaging the local community, community groups, stakeholders and Indigenous communities throughout the design process.
The park is also an archaeological site based on prior archaeological assessments done on both the park and more recently on the North Market. The City is in the process of procuring an Archaeologist to conduct a Stage 2 assessment and recommend an approach during park demolition and construction, working closely with Heritage Planning. This may impact the construction schedule to monitor and record the site.
Design
The Preferred Design for the park shows it designed as a linear plaza, comprised of five connected but different outdoor rooms. Features include:
- Long bench-style seating along the western edge of the park
- Form and materials of the park design recall the receding shoreline of Lake Ontario and the rivers and streams that define the lake’s edge
- Three outdoor “rooms” make up the central area of the park and feature space for Indigenous-led programming (e.g. specialty food markets, small gatherings, ceremonies) and market-related programming (e.g. farmer’s markets, craft markets, etc.)
- South end of the park includes:
- three large boulders that form a gateway into Market Lane Park and the structure of the water feature
- table and chair seating around the water feature providing flexible seating options
- North end of the park includes:
- horticultural planting beds that connect to the gardens at the nearby St. James Par that will be planted with Indigenous medicinal plants
- long bench seating that surround the gardens
- a large boulder that creates an overlook to the north side of the park and is designed with Indigenous-led programming in mind
Phases
Community Consultation
Phase 2: Design Options
In fall 2021, the City and The Planning Partnership collected feedback on three design options for the park to help inform the development of a preferred design. Feedback was collected through conversations with vulnerable community members, a Community Resource Group, Virtual Community Workshops, engagement with communities and Indigenous rights-holders.
Download the Phase 2 Consultation Summary Report 
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From November 18 to December 3, 2021, the City conducted an online survey to collect feedback on the three design options and the key directions for the project. The objective of the survey was to identify the most preferred design elements and amenities and collect additional ideas from the community. The survey received 499 responses.
Respondents were able to indicate their general preference for each concept option using a five-star rating.
- 49% of respondents rated Option 1 with four stars or more
- 32% of respondents rated Option 2 with four stars or more
- 68% of respondents rated Option 3 with four stars or more (most preferred option)
In addition, respondents rated Option 3 as having the most preferred water feature (65%) and approach to Indigenous placekeeping (74%). Option 1 had the most preferred planting approach (92%), furniture and lighting (82%) and preferred paving (79%).
November 2021Virtual Public Consultation WorkshopOn November 18, 2021, the project team hosted three virtual workshops to share information about the park improvements and design options. The workshops included a brief presentation and facilitated discussion.
In total, 120 people attended, with the local Councillor attending one of the workshops.
Download the workshop presentation 
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