Email
Print
Feed
- Leaside murder case stuns neighbourhood
- Stintz speaks out against Ford’s plan for Eglinton LRT
- Richmond Hill renovator found guilty in Davis trial
- Resident rejects $1 million offer for 18 sewage blockages
Major makeover in the works for Centre Street
Shulman named national sportscaster of the year
Council approves 197 units adjacent to park
Canada’s Warren Buffett buys retail landmarks- Dog owners win right to appeal off-leash park closure
- Local looks to tackle traffic at Yonge and the 401
20-storey development casts shadow on locals
Neighbourhood up in arms over Yonge and Eglinton condo approval
Anna Sajecki
A city council motion moved last month to build a 20-storey building on the corner of Duplex Avenue and Orchard View Boulevard showed a serious disregard for the neighbourhood, said locals.
“At the end of the meeting, it looked like nobody listened,” said Matthew Kou, whose elderly mother lives next door to the future development and will have a wall constructed 3.6 metres from her property line. “Right now there’s no common sense [being used] at all.”
Kou isn’t the only one feeling overshadowed by the building and the decision. More than 180 locals signed a petition against the development. Their main concerns are the building’s density (which is greater than the density of the Yonge Eglinton Centre), the height, the lack of transition from a commercial area to a low-rise neighbourhood and the implications of a traffic increase. Kou said residents feel they haven’t been heard, even though Coun. Karen Stintz held several meetings with the community and lot owner Orchard View Holdings Inc.
The sentiment was enough that a local working group hired planner Terry Mills, who is running to replace Stintz as councillor, to present a neighbourhood-focused plan to community council. Mills said a lack of foresight was used in the planning process, specifically regarding the lot’s neighbour to the east, the Stanley Knowles Housing Co-operative. By preserving space for a social housing expansion now, Mills said the city would save money down the road.
Stintz, however, said the plans have been going back and forth for nearly 10 years, and that both the city and the developer have tried their best to listen to locals. “They wanted a floor off, they got a floor off; they wanted a reduction in density, they got a reduction in density,” she said.
Adam Brown, the developer’s lawyer, also said several strides have been made since initial plans were proposed, such as making the building slimmer and increasing the space between properties.
Advertisement
Home | Best of T.O. | Food & Drink | Fashion & Shopping | Deal Estate | News & Crime | Arts & Events | Kids | Classifieds | Archive
About Us | Contact Us | Advertise | My Account
Copyright 2012 Post City Magazines, Inc. All rights reserved.
Comments to the Post City Magazines website do not reflect the opinions of the company or the author of the article in question. We do not edit comments for grammar, length or clarity. Offensive comments will be removed at the discretion of Post City Magazines. To read all of our website policies, click here.
Reader Comments:
I've followed this development approval. It is disturbing to think that developers don't have to follow zoning and planning as do residents. When a building lot is too small for the building and the developer is asking for 10x more density than zoning allows AND requires zero yard setbacks because his design does not fit, would the process not tell him to get lost, reduce the building size closer to zoning/development requirements or get a bigger lot. I understand that this project stalled since 2002 to now because the planning department refused to accept such an unreasonable proposal. Why now has the outgoing councillor stintz decided to give a green light to the developer regardless of all the issues the resident association has shown her as to why such bad development should never see the light of day.
Stintz is a smoozer, thinks she is treflon, but she really is a footnote of history--Stintz thrown out of office for being the developers' darling, leaving a legacy of buildings that damaged the environment.
Marion, Toronto, 35 year resident.
Why has Councillor Karen Stintz suddenly become pro-development? Yonge-Eglinton was one of the last pleasant, middle-urban spots in the city. What a shame to lose it.