Courtyards Community Website

April 22, 2023

LETTER to OLT re: UPCOMING HEARING

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Yesterday, April 21st, I phoned Tamara Zwarycz, the Ontario Land Tribunal Case Coordinator, regarding the deadline for a second Written Statement, which would be, essentially an update of a first Written Statement. This is due to the revised proposal being circulated, at least the basic details, from a February 24, 2023 letter from Peter Smith, Partner, Bousfields Inc. to all parties concerned.

 

As indicated below in my note earlier this morning to Karl Frank, due to uncertainty and delays, our residents have had inadequate time to prepare an updated Statement. We understandably have not known (as a result of mediation last October-November 2022, part of January 2023) IF there would be an Offer To Settle would appear, IF the City councillors would vote to approve it, or IF it would be rejected, and the developer return to the Ontario Land Tribunal Hearing as an appeal (starting June 12, continuing to June 29).

 

Yesterday, I sent Tamara Zwarycz an e-mail, outlining our concerns about the uncertainty and delay, and I requested the deadline for submission of Written Statements by Participants be extended from Monday May 1st to Wednesday May 10th.

 

Standard OLT Rules and Procedures ask for Written Statements to be submitted at least 30 days before the start of OLT Hearings. A May 10th deadline still leaves 30 days or more, enough time for all those of Party status to review the evidence and comments.

 

The OLT Member (aka judge) must grant permission for an extension, and so there is no guarantee. But the planning case law has examples where OLT Members have granted extensions due to extenuating circumstances. I see little reason why he or she would turn down my request. Yesterday, I requested this be extended to Wednesday May 10th. I am hopeful the OLT Member will appreciate the uncertainty and confusion and the problem of delays, and allow the extension.

 

Would any and all recipients of this message be so kind as to try and circulate/relay my message as widely as possible to as many of our fellow residents on this community web site?

 

I am in the middle of preparing my own Written Statement, a second Statement from my original submission last year.

 

I encourage you, if you can, to send even a very short letter (e-mail, one paragraph or two) to underline your continued disgust and great concern, and dismay that the revised proposal does not change the substantial impacts from this development that will occur. In short, there are very few changes from the original proposal. And the thought of a 660 student elementary school next to a major freight railway line is ludicrous, a terrible accident waiting to happen.

 

I attached part of the Peter Smith, Bousfields Inc. letter which lists the facts, comparing the original proposal to the revised. The letter was about 4 pages so this was not the complete letter but the charts give you most of the facts and figures involved.

 

 

We're not giving up on this one!

Richard MacFarlane

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The Bartlett's letter of opposition April 2023

 

TO: Tamara Zwarycz

RE:   Ontario Land Tribunal re 10-12 Concorde Place, North York, ON, to take place in June 2023

 

We are strongly opposed to  the revised proposal  being circulated in a February 24, 2023 letter from Peter Smith, Partner, Bousfields Inc.   In his proposal, Mr. Smith states that this location is "well served by existing municipal infrastructure".    The only infrastructure that appears to be mentioned is the Eglinton transit .   I do not believe that other factors have been given due consideration.   The addition of a primary school with 660 children is a significant change to the original plan.   What impact will this have?

 

Our neighbourhood has a high percentage of seniors and this new development is going to make it very dangerous for us to venture out onto the street.  This is a cul-de-sac, which is virtually a dead end street, with nowhere for traffic to go.  Anyone travelling down our street at rush hour knows the backup of vehicles trying to get on to the DVP.   Do you honestly think that the addition of 16000 people living within a half mile of the DVP is going to reduce the number of cars on this little dead end street, just because there is a rapid transit line 800 metres away? The amount of vehicular traffic that will be generated by this development, especially when children are being dropped off or picked up from school, is an accident waiting to happen.    

 

The city does not seem to care about us old folks - maybe they figure we'll die off soon anyway.  But what about the children?   There will be 660 primary school kids who will be running out on the street, or playing near the railway tracks (there is nowhere else for them to play!).   Does no one in government ever think about the tendency of children to run around?    They need a safe place to play, and this area will not be safe if the development goes ahead.    This development will increase our population density by 236%.  That is insane, especially when there is no land anywhere nearby for the extra people to spill over into,  except the street.

 

Only last year, little 4-year old Mitchell Chukwudumebi Nwabuoku  was struck and killed by a GO train in Mississauga.  She was simply playing, chasing a butterfly.    How many of the 660 children running around our area twice a day, before and after school, chasing their friends, are likely to stray near the railroad tracks?   Has anyone in government considered this danger?

 

The traffic will be even worse than it is today, since the street is going to be narrowed.   That means that the current TTC bus service will need to be changed. There will be nowhere for the buses to turn around - they currently need all the room provided by the cul-de-sac.   How far will us seniors need to walk in order to find public transport?    A high proportion of us can no longer drive, so we depend on the TTC.   Not only will we have to walk further to get to the TTC, but getting there will be fighting through more pedestrian traffic, which means  a higher probability of getting knocked down and falling.   Not only will we have to walk the 800 meters to get to Eglinton, we have to climb up a very high staircase to reach it.    That is not going to happen -we will be forced to find an uber or taxi to get to the rapid transit line ..  this means even more vehicular traffic on our street.

 

Last year, there was a fire in our building.   Our little dead-end area was packed with emergency vehicles.   If we  had needed to evacuate the building in a hurry,  it would have been  virtually impossible for all of us to get out.   There is no alternate roadway and we would have been trapped.   Right now, the population of our little dead-end street is 6,500.   With the new development proposals, there will be 22,000!      I lived through the Mississauga train derailment in 1979 and I thank God that at least we could evacuate the building and drive to safety.   With the development changes being proposed here by Fengate and Bousfields Inc., we would have no chance of escape.

 

How many people have to be injured or die, before our government thinks about the old and the young?   and then it will be too late.   or do they even care?? 

 

The publicized rationale behind adding all this development is to provide housing.    How much of this development will be 'affordable'??    I doubt that any of it will.   It is simply being pushed through in order to generate tax dollars.   How many dollars is a life worth?

 

The more I hear about this development, the angrier we get.   And I am not the only senior in our neighbourhood who feels this way.

 

Sincerely,

Mary and Michael Bartlett

UC10 - 18 Concorde Place

North York, ON

M3C 3T9

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April 1, 2023  

CITY COUNCIL MEETING MARCH 31, 2023

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On March 31, 2023 about 3:00 p.m., Councillor Jon Burnside had ITEM CC5.24 presented (Concorde Gate / Concorde Place revised proposal - Offer To Settle). The vote was 1 in Favour, 21 Opposed. The on line City Council meeting site reads NOT ADOPTED.

 

Here is the actual dialogue at City Council:  Speaker, Councillor Frances Nunziata:  "Councillor Burnside, quick release?" 

 

Jon Burnside:  "Yes, hopefully, Madam Speaker. I believe it's CC5.24. I'm just asking for a vote. I'm hoping that Council can reject the Settlement Offer, CC5.24. I'm asking the Council to reject the Settlement Offer. It's against the recommendation. We are against the recommendation. I don't want to talk about it. I've already asked, unless you have questions."

 

Speaker, Councillor Frances Nunziata:  "No, but so you're asking Council to vote 'No'?"

 

Councillor Jon Burnside: "Correct. I've already spoken to most Council members about the egregious nature of the application."

 

Speaker, Councillor Frances Nunziata:  "Okay.  So we have to have a recorded vote then."

 

Councillor Jon Burnside:  "Thank you."

 

Speaker, Councillor Frances Nunziata:  "What we're voting on is the Settlement Offer. Right, okay. Just so people know what we're voting on. He's releasing the Item but he wants Council to vote 'No' on the Settlement Offer. Okay, Councillor Burnside, can you explain what you're doing here? Councillor Burnside, Councillor Burnside."

 

Councillor Jon Burnside:  "Apparently, it's a Request For Direction. And I don't want to give direction at this time. So, hoping people will vote 'No'."

 

Speaker, Councillor Frances Nunziata: "Okay.  So everyone understands that?"

 

And then the recorded vote was tabulated.

 

At times, the Speaker will go with only a show of hands for voting. I disagree with this. In my view, Councillor Frances Nunziata as a Speaker goes much too quickly with asking for a show of hands. As in, "Vote, show of hands, approved." How she can glance at the screen, displaying councillors on zoom, and see the councillors sitting in Council Chambers, then count the show of hands, I do not know.

 

For crucial Items and Motions in Council, councillors can strongly request a recorded vote. And our ITEM about 1-3 Concorde Gate and 10-12 Concorde Place demanded it.

 

It was an extremely busy Council meeting (March 29-31) and, at one point, they were going to agree to extend it to all day Monday but ended it at 6:30 p.m. Friday.

 

A critical motion by Councillor Michael Walker about "strata plan" to legislate a height limit of 40 storeys for Yonge/Eglinton was delayed at City Council until 12:40 a.m. February 24-25, 2009! I considered that an insult to the community, as I kept sitting in the Gallery for 8 hours straight, waiting and waiting for the vote.

 

Congratulations to you all for your dedication and support in flooding Councillor Jon Burnside's office with e-mails and phone calls. You made an impact. Fengate, the developer, so I'm told, considered our community a "threat". Good.

 

Our efforts paid off in dividends.

 

Now the revised proposal, in effect, goes back to the Ontario Land Tribunal Hearing (June 12-29, 2023) and this hearing is public in the sense that anyone should be able to "sign in" and view the proceedings as a one way communication. Mediation was private and confidential.  Conner Harris, Partner, Rayman Harris LLP continues to represent DMRI and our residents.

 

OLT Participants cannot verbally present their views anymore at OLT Hearings (change in legislation, 2022). I used to be among up to 8 residents giving verbal presentations at OMB / OLT Hearings in the old days. Not allowed anymore, unfortunately. All part of 'pushing' citizen participation away.

 

Those registered by the OLT as being of Participant status (now 44 area residents) can only submit letters, e-mails, in writing prior to the Hearing which we have already done. But there is a way to enlist a leading citizen, representing our community, as an "expert witness", to get around the official change in regulations. Conner Harris will present evidence, including comments from us and our neighbours, at the OLT Hearing.

 

Attached please find my submissions to Councillor Jon Burnside and all city councillors, including Deputy Mayor Jennifer McKelvie, Gregg Lintern, Chief Planner, and FoNTRA Co-Chairs, Geoff Kettel and Cathie Macdonald.

 

Thank you to FoNTRA Co-Chairs and the 30 or more ratepayer association representatives for relaying the DMRI Notice to their respective contacts and councillors.

 

Special thank you should go to Judy McMahon at Highgate who largely prepared the DMRI Notice and got Highgate residents going with e-mails, letters, and petition signatures, opposing the revised development ITEM at Council. Judy was instrumental in assembling the facts and figures, putting together the final version. She is particularly adept at interpreting information. For years, she has worked tirelessly for our Wynford Concorde community. She deserves our appreciation and many thanks.

 

Fourteen of us attended the Jon Burnside Town Hall on March 27th at Don Mills Collegiate Institute. Two hundred area residents showed up, demonstrating, yet again, our displeasure about over-development. Well done and thank you for being there and voicing your concerns about this development!

 

From August 2022, 135 of us signed our Petition, 8 pages of signatures, which I gave to Conner Harris while he was at mediation and, more recently, a copy to Councillor Jon Burnside to take to Council. Consistently, 200 to 300 of us from the area registered for the virtual zoom consultation meetings (May 3 and 26, 2022). At each meeting, many more of us were denied signing in because of the faulty City of Toronto Cisco web system. Five hundred jammed the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre on April 30, 2019. We show up! And $2,500 was raised to fight the battle in DMRI memberships and donations from our building alone. Thank you to all of you!

 

Please feel free to relay this message to others in our community.  As always, my great thanks for your support and the very best to you all,

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Richard MacFarlane

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March 24, 2023

CALL TO ACTION PLEASE REQUEST CITY COUNCILLORS REJECT THE SETTLEMENT OFFER FOR 1-3 CONCORDE GATE & 10-12 CONCORDE PLACE, DON MILLS

 

Dear Residents:

 

The Reports on the development at 1-3 Concorde Gate & 10-12 Concorde Place, Don Mills, are being presented at the City Council meeting on March 29-31, 2023. The proposal is outlined below, along with our thoughts on it. We understand that the City staff are recommending that the settlement offer be accepted by the City. 

 

Neighbourhood residents and the DMRI are opposed to this offer. It is not an acceptable development for our area. We request that our councillor, and City Council reject the settlement.

 

There were minimal changes to the original proposal (rejected by North York Community Council September/October 2021), Those changes do not align with planned developments concerning density or number of community services. The new proposal includes an elementary school for 3 to 10 year olds, (JK to Grade 5). It is located in the worst location, with limited outdoor space next to the DVP and CPR tracks and minimal frontage on the new road. In addition to the adverse effects of air pollutants, noise and vibrations from proximity to the CPR and DVP, we also have concerns about the evacuation of children, as the school is pressed into a corner of the site with very limited egress. The developer offers two smaller parks in an area having no playable ones. Increased podium sizes offset decreases in tower heights from 6 to 10 stories. The podiums create an overpowering and claustrophobic tunnel compared to open spaces and manicured gardens along Concorde Place.

 

Revised vs. Original Proposal

• Proposed development is 530 m. to 800 m. from the Wynford LRT station.

• 8 towers of 42-47 stories, from 9 towers – original heights 40-52 storeys.

• 2 parks – 2,544 from 3,690 square metres – less than 10% of the new required park space dedication.

• Total Gross Floor Area reduced by 12,498 to 295,786 from 308,284 sq. m., less than 5% of the total.

• Dwelling units reduced by 172 to 3,914 from 4,086. Floor Space Index (FSI) reduced from 9.95 to 9.54.

• New School of 7,070 sq. m., 660 students, located adjacent to the DVP and CPR tracks, with approx. 10 to 13 metres frontage on the new road and limited egress.

• Schoolyard is located next to a park. However, the City will not allow a park within 30 metres of a railway track, whereas the Toronto District School Board will.

• Commercial space of 49,900 sq. m. is still eliminated as is the Day Care Centre for 88 children, but retail space increased to 2,047 sq. m.

• The plan is to narrow Concorde Place from Concorde Gate to 12 Concorde Place. The cul-de-sac will be eliminated and Concorde Place narrowed by 6.4 metres on the west side, removing street parking and creating unacceptable risk in first responders’ ability to access the CPR tracks or residential buildings in case of emergency or evacuation. You recall the July 17, 2022 balcony fire at 18 Concorde Place, where 38 emergency vehicles occupied the entire street. 

 

Wynford–Concorde Area Statistics and Impacts when Development is Completed

• 115 acre site is isolated; access limited to one road, increasing traffic congestion and posing concerns if evacuation is required.

• Wynford Drive is 2 storeys below Eglinton Avenue with access to the LRT by a steep metal staircase,  similar to a fire escape.

• Most daily activities require car trips; our walking score is 32-33 (Yonge/Eglinton is 87 out of 100).

• Area population is projected to grow from 6,500 to 22,000, a 236% increase.

• Population density projected to be 47,000 population per sq. km., 387% increase. (By comparison, density will be greater than St. James Town North of 44,321.) Density as per provincial guidelines of 200 residents plus jobs, an increase from our current estimate of 236 to 483.

• Wynford/Concorde area occupies less than 5% land mass of Banbury/Don Mills neighbourhood, but has 25% of the population and minimal community services, current or planned.

• For the new school, no teacher parking is allocated and there is no dedicated drop off zone for parents, adding to traffic congestion, especially morning and evening rush hours.

• The school yard will be subjected to high winds, noise, vibrations and air pollutants from trains and cars on the DVP. 40% is located on top of the podium of Building 2 with limited egress.

• Planned communities at Don Mills and Eglinton have a 4.8 FSI, Yonge/Eglinton – Canada Square 7.71 FSI. Both developments are within 500 metres of LRT stations. Both communities had Secondary Plans. In contrast, there was no planning oversight before site specific bylaws were proposed by the developer for Wynford Concorde. (The Preliminary Staff Report on this application recommended a Focused Area Study. To date, this study has not started.)

• The development has large podiums with virtually no setbacks. Development approval could set a dangerous precedent for all City neighbourhoods located at least 530-800 metres from an LRT station.

 

Many residents and our neighbours at other local buildings are opposed to the changes made to the developer’s application. What can you do?

 

If you agree with continued opposition to over-intensification in our area, please submit your objections to Councillor Jon Burnside (Ward 16, Don Valley East) requesting that he reject the settlement offer at City Council meeting on March 29-31, 2023. Contact him at Councillor_Burnside@toronto.ca or by calling his office at 416-397-9256.

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November 7, 2022

Regarding 1-3 Concorde Gate and 10-12 Concorde Place Development Proposal

As some of you know, at the August 27th outdoor social get together in the courtyard, I gave to about 60 of
us there two double-sided pages which summarized the condo development time line of events and issues
involved. Also, I presented to each of you a Petition for you to read and, if you wished, to add your
signature. The Petition statement, essentially, opposes the 9 condo tower development proposal for
1-3 Concorde Gate and 10-12 Concorde Place in its current form.

Since September, for the Don Valley Hotel site proposal at 175 Wynford Drive, the developer has started
mediation with all legal parties.

The 1-3 Concorde Gate and 10-12 Concorde Place development is still scheduled for an Ontario Land
Tribunal hearing from June 12 to July 7, 2023.

We have had 75 of our residents on a list referred to by Conner Harris, the community lawyer representing
us through Don Mills Residents Inc., our local ratepayer association, at the OLT meeting on July 13th.

Some of us have already paid for a DMRI annual membership fee at $25.00. Others contributed above $25.
If you are not a DMRI member, I appeal to you to purchase a membership. For those who can, I would be
most grateful if you could contribute at least $25.00 to $50.00 in order to help pay for legal opposition to
this development. The need is great, to ensure DMRI has the required legal funds to fight this unwarranted
development, whether it goes to mediation or to an Ontario Land Tribunal hearing.

If you have not already submitted comments about this development, I invite you to address your letter to
newly elected Councillor Jon Burnside,

If you have not already signed the Petition, I have left a sign up sheet at the front desk. I invite you to add
your name to our list of residents who have signed the Petition, opposing this development.
Many thanks to those who have already given funds to this important challenge.

If you have not, I still thank you for your continued interest and careful consideration regarding
contributions to this effort to oppose development.

Yours most sincerely,

Richard N. MacFarlane,
Richard N. MacFarlane, LP918

 

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