As a National Historic Site of Canada, Kensington Market is one of the corners of Toronto that residents are the most wary about potential changes to, though the redevelopment of any part of the city — especially when it means sacrificing long-running businesses and institutions to make way for shiny new condos — is usually not well-received.

Some construction is absolutely necessary, though, such as the road resurfacing and watermain replacement work on deck for the central neighbourhood this year, which the city is using as a chance to make some other public realm improvements.

The initial drafts for a revitalized Kensington, as proposed by the city last year, included wider sidewalks, raised intersections and crossings, new curbs to allow for flexible uses and other design elements that made for a more mixed-use shared street in line with Vision Zero safety objectives.

Of course, it's been tough to juggle the needs of different stakeholders and to make everyone happy — but a recent update to the plans seems to have made even more people oppose the revamp.

Cars ruin the experience at Kensington, keep it car free!!!

— Peachie ｡:ﾟ૮ ˶˃ ﻌ ˂˶ ა ﾟ:｡ (@peachiiepiiez) April 20, 2023

In the early phases, many locals were already taking issue for what they saw as the continued prioritization of cars by maintaining on-street parking in a neighbourhood that is already dominated by pedestrians most of the time, and that a fair number of people seem to want to see fully car-free.

Community members were quick to chime in with suggestions for the pedestrianization of all or at least parts of the neighbourhood permanently or some of the time, some of which admittedly overlooked the necessity for delivery trucks to be able to reach local businesses.

In response to public demands, after a number of consultation meetings, the city came up with a model in the spring that had a mix of slow street, shared street and pedestrian-only zones — which some still contended for not being pedestrian and cyclist-focused enough.

But now, despite the backlash to that approach, it seems the city has quietly gotten rid of all of the no-traffic zones altogether.

People in Toronto are not all pleased with changes proposed for Kensington Markethttps://t.co/03GRqp8x0Z #Toronto #KensingtonMarket

— blogTO (@blogTO) August 31, 2022

Amendments show a bit of a different take on the makeover, with a new report stating that "based on feedback heard through public consultations, the recommended design combines components presented during all three rounds of public consultation."

Fully-pedestrianized stretches are no longer a part of the plan, which the document stating that "a pedestrianisation pilot project post construction" to be able to properly address the demands and concerns of businesses and residents in the area. 

"Transportation Services is recommending a design that will prioritize pedestrians while accommodating slow speed vehicle access for local residents and enhancing loading opportunities for businesses."

Pedestrianization REMOVED from recommended Kensington Market redesign
by u/ICanGetLoudTooWTF in toronto

In this new design, sidewalks will still be expanded, universally accessible rolled curbs will still be installed, streets will still have indicators of pedestrian priority and speed limits will still be reduced, but cars will still be permitted to drive on all of the same streets that they do now, and curbside, street parking will be intermittent between CafeTO patios.

The reformed strategy includes 12 spaces for dedicated commercial loading, 18 spaces for large delivery trucks and 42 spaces for flexible loading and passenger pick-up, all with the potential to be modified if needed after the work is completed.

Many on social media are already extremely up in arms about the car-friendliness of the design, which they find "incredibly disappointing," "anti-progress" and simply "a fucking bummer," especially compared to more forward-thinking cities that have created more vibrant streetscapes by banning cars.

"Why anyone aside from delivery/accessibility vehicles needs to drive in Kensington market is beyond me," one person noted in a popular Reddit thread about the documents.

Some in the conversation online remain hopeful about the facelift, though, hoping that the aim to experiment with full pedestrianization of the neighbourhood after-the-fact will lead to further steps in that direction.

"Overall I think this is a win in order to move the project forward. Hopefully the stubborn few opposed in the area change their minds," one added.

A very noteworthy aspect of the revised Kensington Safe Streets deck is the fact that while 85 per cent of all survey respondents said they were very supportive of the design of pedestrian-only sectors (and 7 per cent very unsupportive), only 38 percent of people who live, work and/or own on the affected streets said the same, while 28 per cent marked themselves down as very unsupportive of the proposition.

The city notes that this chunk that opposed the concept includes "many of the long term market business operators and community organizers."