{"id":917010,"date":"2026-10-01T20:56:11","date_gmt":"2026-10-01T20:56:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/917010\/"},"modified":"2026-10-01T20:56:11","modified_gmt":"2026-10-01T20:56:11","slug":"fairbank-memorial-park-rendered-unusable-amid-sewer-work-residents","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/917010\/","title":{"rendered":"Fairbank Memorial Park rendered unusable amid sewer work: residents"},"content":{"rendered":"

One Toronto playground has been impacted by ongoing construction for five years now. Sean Leathong explains. <\/p>\n

Residents in a neighbourhood in Toronto\u2019s west end along with a local councillor are speaking out, demanding something be done to make a flood-prone park more usable during nearby construction work.<\/p>\n

On a recent sunny day, Fairbank Memorial Park, near Dufferin Street and Vaughan Road, sat empty. Its playground was filled with water-filled craters, barriers that have been turned over, and garbage. <\/p>\n

Even in areas where there is no visible flooding, the ground was extremely uneven and soft, sinking down with every step.<\/p>\n

\"\"Fairbank Memorial Park A barrier that has been turned over, and garbage are pictured at Toronto’s Fairbank Memorial Park. Storm sewer project nearby<\/p>\n

The green space in the Oakwood Village neighbourhood is located downhill from a major construction project replacing the storm sewer drainage system in the area. <\/p>\n

The Fairbank Silverthorn Storm Trunk Sewer System Project<\/a> is a multimillion-dollar effort to curb the ongoing problem of basement flooding for thousands of area residents. The work is expected to wrap up in 2027.<\/p>\n

\"\"Fairbank Silverthorn Storm Trunk Sewer System Project equipment Machinery used for the Fairbank Silverthorn Storm Trunk Sewer System Project is pictured near Fairbank Memorial Park. <\/p>\n

People who live near the park, however, say flooding has been constant there since the project began in 2021. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen it rains, the water smells so bad, so bad,\u201d resident Isabelle Matudeus told CTV News Toronto.<\/p>\n

\u2018Our stands need to go up\u2019: Matlow<\/p>\n

Local Coun. Josh Matlow is speaking out, saying he\u2019s \u201cmaking a very clear call to the city that our standards need to go up.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a letter recently sent to the head of the city\u2019s Parks and Recreation Department, the Toronto-St. Paul\u2019s representative called out the problematic conditions at the park. <\/p>\n

Matlow wants the City of Toronto to find immediate ways to make Fairbank Memorial Park more user-friendly during the construction work.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe irony is that while the city\u2019s worked on a sewer project to mitigate basement flooding, they haven\u2019t done anything about the flooding in the kids\u2019 playground in the neighbourhood,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think that\u2019s just not acceptable for our kids.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Coun. Josh Matlow, of Toronto-St. Paul’s Toronto-St. Paul’s Coun. Josh Matlow wants the city to make Fairbank Memorial Park more usable during nearby storm sewer work. City aware of concerns, working to address them<\/p>\n

In a statement, the City of Toronto said it is aware of residents\u2019 concerns about flooding at Fairbank Memorial Park.<\/p>\n

\u201cCity of Toronto staff have removed all pylons and barriers and will be reviewing this park, amongst others, as part of its capital plan process,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n

\"\"Fairban Memorial Park A water-filled crater is pictured in the playground of Fairbank Memorial Park. <\/p>\n

Matlow, however, said that\u2019s not enough.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe city has said that they are going to budget for 2027 once the sewer project is completed, to make fixes to the playground,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we are arguing for is for them to do something temporary, right now.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One Toronto playground has been impacted by ongoing construction for five years now. Sean Leathong explains. Residents in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":917011,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194291],"tags":[712,49,48,3302],"class_list":["post-917010","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-toronto","tag-apple-news","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-toronto"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/917010","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=917010"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/917010\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/917011"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=917010"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=917010"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=917010"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}