Guiding the development of the area is the West Don Lands Precinct Plan. Developed through extensive public consultation, the Precinct Plan outlines Waterfront Toronto’s vision for the area and defines the location, scale, character and function of all public spaces, streets, buildings and facilities in the community. The Plan was approved by Toronto City Council in 2005 and recognized with the 2005 Toronto Urban Design Award of Excellence in the Vision and Master Plans category.

The streets in the community will enhance north south connections to adjacent neighbourhoods and lead to Don River Park. The scale of building heights is in keeping with that of surrounding communities. The West Don Lands will feature a mixture of mid-rise buildings and higher tower buildings in strategic locations, all required by Waterfront Toronto to meet LEED Gold certification.

West Don Lands will have transit available within five minutes of residents and businesses. The new Cherry Street streetcar line will run on its own right-of-way between King Street and the rail corridor.

The area will feature a number of striking design elements, and it will be a stunning mixture of old and new. The five historic buildings on the West Don Lands site, located on Eastern Avenue and on Cherry and Trinity streets, are being preserved and will be adaptively reused and incorporated in new developments.

A new and innovative street design, called woonerfs, or living streets, will be used for some of the area’s local streets. Woonerfs are pedestrian-oriented streets that erase the boundary between sidewalk and street and provide a common public space shared by pedestrians, cyclists and low-speed motor vehicles. While they are commonly found in Europe and elsewhere, the West Don Lands will be the first place they will be used in Toronto.

Waterfront Toronto has also developed a Public Art Strategy for the West Don Lands, the first community scale comprehensive master art plan in Canada. Art will be displayed throughout the area’s parks and open spaces, creating an outdoor public gallery to provoke, delight and entertain residents and visitors.

Historically, the West Don Lands was part of the Old Town of York, established by John Graves Simcoe in 1793.

“The Park,” as it was referred to on early maps, extended from Berkeley Street to the Don River as far north as Queen Street. It remained intact until the 1830s when it was subdivided and sold to finance the new provincial hospital. The Park was connected to the larger Garrison Reserve to the west by a shoreline promenade known as the Walks & Gardens. The only evident industrial uses dating to this period were the earliest brickyards.

The first non-government building on the West Don Lands portion of the park reserve was Gooderham’s 1832 windmill that evolved into the Gooderham & Worts Distillery. Associated uses followed such as cattle byres, harness making, and cooperages. Enoch Turner’s brewery on Taddle Creek near Parliament was an employer that attracted a considerable work force, and housing was quickly established in the surrounding area.

The arrival of the railways in the 1850s hastened the industrialization of the eastern waterfront. Maps from this period show gasometres, rail yards, roundhouses, work yards, abattoirs, foundries, lumber yards, and a large number of houses.

Over the years, the Don River which ran through the area was straightened, Taddle Creek was buried, marshes were filled in and land was leveled.

The 20th century brought refineries, rail yards, cement works, scrap yards, steel fabricators, salt storage, varnish factories, foundries, lumber yards, and automotive uses. With the pressure of railway expansion in the area, most of the residential uses left the site. As the city continued to expand, many of the industries relocated to the suburbs, or closed, leaving behind a number of buildings that are recognized today for their heritage value and large amounts of open space.

The provincial government took title of the West Don Lands in 1996.