459 Mill St | 15, 21, 31, 40 and 44 fl | Proposed

[Acitta]

With so many development projects in the works and so many potential development sites, I don't think that there is any hurry to consider using the Rockaway Golf Course for development. The very large Metz project is not far from there, and there is yet to be any indication when they might put shovels in the ground.

[KevinL]

If the golf course goes away, I'd propose naturalizing much of it - rewilding the creek with meanders, removing the groomed lawns and planting native meadows, etc. Some parts of it could be developed into public facilities of some kind, too.

[ijmorlan]

I think there are reasonable points about golf as a use of public space:
1: long term decline in popularity
2: unusually inefficient use of space for a small number of people
3: high cost barrier of entry
4: not great for the environment, in general

Who knows what the future holds if private golf courses keep going away like the trend shows. Either way, I guess this isn’t related to 459 Mill St much…

I really should move this discussion ...

I don’t understand the graph. The number of participants in 2020 was 24.8K million or 24.8 billion people?

[Acitta]

I really should move this discussion ...

I don’t understand the graph. The number of participants in 2020 was 24.8K million or 24.8 billion people?

https://www.zippia.com/advice/golf-industry-statistics/

[Acitta]

Recreational golf continues to grow in Canada and United States in 2022

[ijmorlan]

I don’t understand the graph. The number of participants in 2020 was 24.8K million or 24.8 billion people?

https://www.zippia.com/advice/golf-industry-statistics/

Thanks for the link. The label on the axis says that it is in millions, then they put “K” next to the numbers. That makes no sense.

I suspect the “K”s simply shouldn’t be there. But I don’t know whether I should believe numbers (or anything else) from such a sloppy source. Maybe they should spend more time proofreading and less time on the links!

[panamaniac]

My musing really took this thread off-topic, for which I apologize. Perhaps we can agree that Rockway Golf Course is not going anywhere for now and move the discussion back to the proposed development on Mill St.

[Joedelay Highhoe]

COVID was a massive boon for golf. Where else could you get 4 hours of outdoor recreation and socially distanced human interaction? Golf is one of the few sports where you can play competitively well into your 70's. Personally, I probably I would have gone crazy or descended into alcoholism if I didn't have the opportunity leave my apartment and interact with other humans during the lockdowns. I know a bunch of seniors who may not have survived the pandemic without the exercise, fresh air and human interaction that is possible with golf.

Plus, there is a younger cohort of Gen-Z YouTube golfer content creators. On any given week, YouTube golf influencers get more views/impressions/comments/engagement than televised professional golf. "Good Good" has more than a million subs and gets hundreds of thousands of views per video.

I play twilights at Rockway or Doon pretty much once a week, and I see diverse groups of people including teens, women, people of colour, etc. Rockway isn't Deer Ridge or Westmount. You really don't have to be a wealthy old white person to enjoy golf. Not any more.

Anyway, let's hope this Mill St. development gets built. I would love to live near Rockway.

[ac3r]

Does anyone know whether this is in Chapman's hood? Assuming she was re-elected. I can never remember the nuances of local politics. I don't want her to come out swinging with her usual NIMBY BS attacks given the density.

[cherrypark]

Does anyone know whether this is in Chapman's hood? Assuming she was re-elected. I can never remember the nuances of local politics. I don't want her to come out swinging with her usual NIMBY BS attacks given the density.

Yep, Ward 9 goes to the highway.

[jeffster]

Does anyone know whether this is in Chapman's hood? Assuming she was re-elected. I can never remember the nuances of local politics. I don't want her to come out swinging with her usual NIMBY BS attacks given the density.

That would be awesome if it was Chapman's ward. Another project that will have to go to a tribunal of sorts to get off the ground, because Chapman hates progress.

[ac3r]

Yep, Ward 9 goes to the highway.

Darn. Well as jeffster said, if it got denied it would likely end up going higher up (as Victoria and Park is in the process of doing) and then there's a good chance it will get approved since it would make Doug's developer buddies happy.

[bravado]

There’s nothing that councillors hate more than adding new constituents

[cherrypark]

Yep, Ward 9 goes to the highway.

Darn. Well as jeffster said, if it got denied it would likely end up going higher up (as Victoria and Park is in the process of doing) and then there's a good chance it will get approved since it would make Doug's developer buddies happy.

The OLT approvals always come out with more affordable and rental units right? Oh wait.

[Acitta]

The PARTS Rockaway Plan shows high density development around Mill Station, so I don't see this development being inconsistent with that. Bowing to NIMBYs in this case would not be a good look for council, it seems to me.