1. SAPLING FOREST VIEW
ROAD MURAL
July 13th BYO(Chair) Engagement Report
Word Art created using
conversation summary

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s their “Wild Ideas” for the community.
Overview
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On July 13th, 30 neighbours and 5 children spent one hour together at
the Intersection of Forestview and Sapling to talk about our road
mural project. Many of those neighbours came after hearing about the
project while we were soliciting signatures, others heard from a
flyer that was dropped at houses in the vicinity of the mural site,
yet others informed from the Markland Wood Homeowners Association
newsletter. An attempt was made to cast the net as wide possible to
get a diversity of opinions from all around the neighbourhood and
beyond.
Our primary goals for the evening were to building a shared vision
for community values, understand what of those values should be

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reflected in the mural design and harness the momentum of the meeting
to spur future initiatives like this one.
Additional Notes: ​3-4 community members popped in for a few minutes
while walking by because our event occurred outside and in public
view.
When we started the meeting four people expressed concern that there
was no space in the agenda to decide whether pursuing the road mural
was a good idea. This is an important point as the petition only
asked the 47 households on Sapling, Forest View, and Shadetree for
support. Another attendee came up with the idea to do a hands-up vote
on whether people felt it was good idea. Through the informal vote we
found more than 80% of attendees raised their hands to indicate their
support for the project. We then moved forward with the agenda
unchanged.
​

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Methodology
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We had 4 stations for attendees to share feedback. At each of these
stations participants were asked to contribute through discussion and
by adding comments via sticky note to a flipchart.
The stations are as follows:
● What makes Here?
● Themes and Motifs
● Draw your Own Mural
● Wild Ideas for your
Neighbourhood
Through this report we have
distilled the summary of these
conversations to extract a clear
narrative. Full summary of the
conversation are available upon
request. In the Appendix of this
report you will find pictures of
the flipchart paper and notes
summarizing their contents. In
the following four sections we
will identify and explore lessons
we took away from the discussion.
What Makes Here
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This is a community where people feel comfortable and safe. They can
see themselves raising kids and growing old together. This community
is a supportive and kind community. The discussion focused heavily
not on what the neighbourhood is, but on the kinds of people who live
and connect here. The waves of generations and the interplay between
the very young and elderly was seen as a very important
differentiator. It was mentioned that this community is one that is
kid-friendly with low traffic streets, many schools and many children

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living within close proximity. Residents felt their community was
friendly and stable with good neighbours which leads to many staying
for long periods of time to develop deep roots in the community.
Residents consider the neighbourhood as bike-friendly and spoke about
the area disparagingly as a car-friendly community, as well. This
car-friendliness as a disadvantage was not a conclusion of all
attendees but was a point of discussion.
Themes & Motifs
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Neighbours who came were very
interested in the design. Two
themes that were stressed were
a link to the history of the
neighbourhood. Whether it was
newer history of the Mill and
Silverthorn Farm to the old
history of the Mississaugas of
the New Credit. Etobicoke in
fact is an anglicized version
of a Mississauga of the New
Credit word that translates to
“place where the alders grow”.
There were some differing opinions on what colours would be best,
some believed monochromatic or pastel colours would be good. Other
considered colors with “life.” When participants were shown the Regal
Heights Springmount mural they could envision how the vibrant colours
would look. At that point many opted for “colours with life” or said
in other terms, a vibrant colour palette with complimentary colours.
Other design-related suggestions included shapes. They wanted a
design that incorporated symmetry and had a serpentine design that
incorporated organic curvy shapes. A few members felt like a
geometric pattern could be inserted into something that was curvy to
get the crisp effect of clean lines.
While participants were excited to see something that incorporated
trees and plant life into the mural, they rejected the idea of

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including the animal life of the neighbourhood like squirrels and
racoons.
One idea was to have the mural simply be the Markland Wood “Circle of
Friends” logo. This is not possible for two reasons. Firstly, the
logo is protected under copyright that wouldn’t permit re-use in the
form of a mural. Secondly, the City has strict guidelines banning
words and logos from all murals designs as part of the pilot.
Wild Ideas for your Community
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The ideas from the “Wild Ideas For Your Neighbourhood” station can be
categorized as “social” or “play”. Many of the big ideas were
creative and wonderful, but bringing people and kids together was a
central theme of many of the ideas. Doing things as a neighbourhood
like having street parties, potlucks, community coffee dates,
community BBQs, a neighbourhood car wash event, picnics and a garden
competition were all proposed.
“
We just attended an interesting, uplifting event last night for the Sapling
Forest View Road Mural project. We met many of our neighbours and had a
chance for the first time to get to know them better.
-Anne Andriash & Jim Voege
”
Play as a central theme was strongly supported. With many low traffic
streets in Markland Wood a big asset is the ability to play almost

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anywhere. Neighbours mentioned road hockey, water fights, capture the
flag, scavenger hunts, bike rides as activities that community could
do together. A very specific idea was to install distance markers
installed on the proximate St. Clements School track. This would
allow for runners, rollerbladers and cyclists to time themselves
doing sprints. It was pitched as a project the community could easily
build together to add more utility to a nearby valuable asset, the
St. Clements Schoolyard.
Draw Your Own Mural
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While it is hard to
accurately describe what
was drawn in words, a
summary of the ideas
follows. Every Post-It®
note drawing included
elements of nature,
whether a flower or very
frequently a tree. Most
designs were circular in
nature with elements
inside the circles.
The designs submitted
attempt to capture the
feel of the neighbourhood
and what people appreciate
about it which was brought up numerous times as trees and community.
Another element that had some popularity was an element of
orienteering. Instead of painting the design in the direction of the
street, the mural could instead face north. This would act as a
directional cue to and observer, but also reference the element of
play that comes with exploration.

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Special Thanks
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Special thanks to Haley Anderson, Adrienne Boyd, and Tamara Tukhareli
for volunteering to facilitate our conversation. They were all
fantastic.
Thanks to Councillor Holyday who has given his conditional support
for the project but unfortunately couldn’t be there due to a previous
engagement. The Markland Wood Homeowners Association for helping us
get the word out, thank you.
Again to all the neighbours who gave us an hour of their evening we
truly appreciate your contribution. It will help set the direction on
our project and a blueprint for the desired design for the mural.