Public input sought on planned improvements, including bigger rink and new skating trail, at Kew Gardens

By MATTHEW STEPHENS

Local residents are being invited to have their say on future plans for Kew Gardens park in the Beach.

The City of Toronto will be hosting a virtual public information session to provide details for plans to make improvements to the recreation facilities at Kew Gardens.

The virtual meeting will take place on Thursday, Nov. 13 from 6:30 to 8 p.m.

To register for the meeting, please go to the City of Toronto website and follow the registration link.

Improvements to be discussed at the meeting for Kew Gardens include expanding the size artificial outdoor ice rink into a full National Hockey League (NHL) size rink, upgrading the rinks’s refrigeration system, replacing the existing Lacrosse Building with a new facility, and expanding the size of the public washrooms. An NHL size rink has ice surface dimensions of 200 feet long and 85 feet wide.

As part of the new improvements, the city will also be proposing plans to implement a new recreational ice-skating trail north of the current rink.

According to the City of Toronto website, community engagement will help develop specific design features for the trail.

Skating and hockey has been deeply rooted in the Beach’s heritage for over 120 years, with organized skating starting on Alfresco Lawn before the park was officially named Kew Gardens in 1907.

In 1914, the Beaches Hockey League began offering competitive amateur hockey at Kew Gardens, years before the locally renowned hockey rink was officially established.

By 1954, a “portable” artificial ice rink was installed at Kew Beach in honour of legendary local sportsman and journalist Ted Reeve, alongside the Ted Reeve Community Arena (175 Main Street) in the same year.

The Kew Gardens skating rink has since undergone several changes, including being fully constructed as a permanent rink retrofitted with two refrigeration compressors in 1991.

With the latest proposed changes, the city has posted a projected timeline for the new Kew Gardens improvements, which shows a construction start date as early as 2027, following design development and community engagement from now until fall of next year. Project completion is expected as early as the summer of 2029.

For more information about the proposed changes to Kew Gardens, please go to https://www.toronto.ca/city-government/planning-development/construction-new-facilities/park-facility-projects/kew-gardens-improvements/.