{"id":603110,"date":"2026-04-14T09:31:24","date_gmt":"2026-04-14T09:31:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/603110\/"},"modified":"2026-04-14T09:31:24","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T09:31:24","slug":"church-street-pedestrianization-plan-could-make-the-village-car-free-this-summer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/603110\/","title":{"rendered":"Church Street pedestrianization plan could make The Village car-free this summer"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Text<\/p>\n

Listen to this article<\/p>\n

Estimated 4 minutes<\/p>\n

The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.<\/p>\n

A new plan at city hall could turn the stretch of Church Street in Toronto\u2019s Church-Wellesley neighbourhood, known as The Village, into a car-free zone this summer.\u00a0<\/p>\n

If approved, the proposal would see the street transformed into a pedestrian-only space between Wellesley Street East and Alexander Street from June 19 to Aug. 21.<\/p>\n

Rodney Chan, a Toronto native and urban planning student at the University of Waterloo, first floated the idea of pedestrianizing the street just over a year ago.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI created a map with the proposed pedestrianized areas I would like to see,\u201d he told CBC Toronto. \u201cChurch Street is already pedestrianized during Pride, during Halloween [and] it\u2019s always so successful.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"AThe proposed pedestrian-only zone would be in place between Wellesley Street E. and Alexander Street from June 19 to August 21. Cross streets would remain open to vehicle traffic. (Tyler Cheese\/CBC)<\/p>\n

Chan\u2019s plan was noticed by Coun. Chris Moise, whose office worked with him to develop an official proposal to take to the city. <\/p>\n

Potential benefits of the pedestrianized stretch include extended patios, more outdoor seating and spaces for entertainment and public gatherings, transforming the area into a festival-like public space. The plan also allows for east-west cross-streets to remain open to vehicle traffic.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The proposal will go before the Toronto and East York community council on April 30, and if approved, move on to city council for final sign off in May.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a move Moise has been wanting to push forward since he first ran for council in 2022.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mentioned in my platform that I wanted to pedestrianize Church Street,\u201d he told CBC Toronto. \u201cWe’re working very diligently with city staff to try and make this happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ideal location to test out pedestrian-only zone<\/p>\n

For some, the plan may raise concerns about worsening traffic congestion in the area, but The Village is actually an ideal spot to test something like this out, Chen said.<\/p>\n

\u201cChurch Street is a pretty minor street,\u201d he said. \u201cOne big benefit is that there’s no bus route on it, so there’s not going to be any disruption.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Chan also noted successful examples of car-free streets in other cities all over the world, including Barcelona, Copenhagen and New York.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201c[Montreal\u2019s] Gay Village is also seasonally pedestrianized,\u201d he said. \u201cFor them it’s been so successful that they’re redesigning the street currently and going to do a full-year pedestrianization.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"PedestriansMontreal’s Gay Village on Sainte-Catherine Street has been pedestrianized from May to Oct. since 2007. The city is planning to make it a year-round feature. (CBC\/Radio-Canada)<\/p>\n

Toronto has a handful of smaller pedestrian-only streets already, including those on the University of Toronto and Toronto Metropolitan University campuses.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In recent years, Market Street (next to St. Lawrence Market) has also been designated a pedestrian-only street during warmer months.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s really brought more people into the community, into the downtown core,\u201d Moise said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He also noted that both the Church and Wellesley BIA and the Church Wellesley Neighbourhood Association are on board with the plan.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Jaret Sereda, the BIA\u2019s executive director, told CBC Toronto, he\u2019s looking forward to more foot traffic this summer.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Church Street businesses welcome more foot traffic<\/p>\n

\u201cAll the businesses are really stoked about it,\u201d he said. \u201cIt’s proven that people come, they hang out, they socialize more and more importantly, they stop and shop.\u201d<\/p>\n

If the plan moves forward, the pedestrian-only zone would be in place for Village Fest \u2014 the weekend before Pride.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’ve never closed down the street for [Village Fest] because it’s just so expensive. It’s always just in a parking lot,\u201d Sereda said.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s viewing the plan as a pilot that could provide a model for more car-free periods on Church Street \u2014 and other streets around Toronto \u2014 in the future.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The pedestrianization period would also coincide with Toronto\u2019s FIFA World Cup games this summer, which is expected to bring hundreds of thousands of visitors to the city.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody who comes to Toronto always checks out The Village,\u201d Sereda said. \u201cIt’s the biggest place to party, it’s a great atmosphere, and you’re always gonna meet somebody.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to this article Estimated 4 minutes The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":603111,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194291],"tags":[49,48,3302],"class_list":{"0":"post-603110","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-toronto","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-toronto"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/603110","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=603110"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/603110\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/603111"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=603110"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=603110"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=603110"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}