Members of Council and Staff:  Please keep this agenda and the accompanying material until the City Council meeting dealing with these matters has ended.  The City Clerk’s Office will not provide additional copies.

Special Assistance for Members of the Public:  City staff can arrange for special assistance with some advance notice. If you need special assistance, please call 416-392-6662, TTY 416-338-0889 or e-mail pec@toronto.ca.

Closed Meeting Requirements:  If the Parks and Environment Committee wants to meet in closed session (privately), a member of the Committee must make a motion to do so and give the reason why the Committee has to meet privately. (City of Toronto Act, 2006)

Notice to people writing or making presentations to the  Parks and Environment Committee:   The City of Toronto Act, 2006 and the City of Toronto Municipal Code authorize the City of Toronto to collect any personal information in your communication or presentation to City Council or its committees.

The City collects this information to enable it to make informed decisions on the relevant issue(s). If you are submitting letters, faxes, e-mails, presentations or other communications to the City, you should be aware that your name and the fact that you communicated with the City will become part of the public record and will appear on the City’s website. The City will also make your communication and any personal information in it – such as your postal address, telephone number or e-mail address – available to the public, unless you expressly request the City to remove it.

The City videotapes committee and community council meetings. If you make a presentation to a committee or community council, the City will be videotaping you and City staff may make the video tapes available to the public.

If you want to learn more about why and how the City collects your information, write to the City Clerk's Office, City Hall, 100 Queen Street West, Toronto ON M5H 2N2 or by calling 416-397-7769.

Declarations of Interest under the Municipal Conflict of Interest Act

Speakers/Presentations:  A complete list will be distributed at the meeting

Confirmation of Minutes - October 15, 2009

Communications/Reports

Presentation by Ryerson University Planning and Urban Design Students on Parks Classification and Public Involvement.

The General Manager of Parks, Forestry and Recreation recommends that City Council:

1.         approve the revised Off-Leash Policy with amendments outlined in bold print, in Attachment 1, subject to any necessary minor substantive, or stylistic refinements as may be identified by the General Manager; and

2.         direct the City Solicitor to make the corresponding amendments to Municipal Code Chapter 608 - Parks to implement the revisions to the Off-Leash Policy, as outlined in Attachment 2, subject to any necessary minor substantive or stylistic refinements as may be identified by the General Manager and the City Solicitor.

The “People, Dogs and Parks Strategy – Off-Leash Policy,” enacted by Council in 2007 after several years of research, assessment and extensive public debate, provides a framework to address the provision of dogs off-leash areas in City parks, greenspaces, and waterfront areas.  Since enactment, staff have completed reviews on 65 of 85 applications (grandparented and new sites).

On the basis of this experience with application of the policy, this report advances a number of refinements to provide greater clarity to the assessment criteria; streamline the decision-making process; and better link consideration of dogs off-leash requests to community need, overall park planning and development, and financial sustainability.  The proposed revised policy is contained as Attachment 1 to this report, with supporting amendments to Municipal Code Chapter 608 – Parks, set out in Attachment 2.

City Council, under the 2009 Capital Program, for the first time, approved funding for the installation and improvement of dogs off-leash areas in the amount of $1.5 million.  An amount of $1 million has been approved in the 2010 Capital Budget.  Adoption of the recommendations in this report will establish a closer relationship between implementation and ongoing operation of dogs off-leash areas and the Division’s capital program of parks redevelopment and development of new parks, with no direct incremental funding beyond current levels.

The Deputy City Manager and Chief Financial Officer has reviewed this report and agrees with the financial impact information.

Moved by Councillor Adam Vaughan, seconded by Councillor Anthony Perruzza:

1.         That the City Solicitor and the General Manager of Parks, Forestry and Recreation amend the People, Dogs and Parks Off-leash Policy to prohibit the creation of new off-leash areas for dogs in parks and green spaces with a smaller area than 2 acres and any necessary Bills be introduced to give effect to this amendment.

The Board of Health on November 16, 2009, amongst other things, forwarded for information the report (November 2, 2009) from the Medical Officer of Health, entitled “Update on the Metrolinx Georgetown South Service Expansion and Union-Pearson Rail Link” to the Parks and Environment Committee.