Public Notice of Community Consultation Meeting for the Quarry Lands

When: Monday May 13, 2013
Where: Blantyre Public School (Gymnasium)
Time: 6:30 pm - 9:00 pm

To all Members of CCQLD

Please set aside May 13th on your calendars for the first community meeting with city planners about the Quarry Lands.  The meeting will be held from 6:30-8:30 at Blantyre PS on Monday May 13th.  City planners will be there along with representatives of Build. 

Questions? Ideas? Bring them along.  Let's work together to ensure responsible development in our community.

Tim Weber

President CCQLD

Letter from the President, CCQLD

A very important stage in the decades long battle by our community to encourage responsible development in the quarry lands will be taking place soon.  A proposal by the development arm of the City, Build Toronto, will be put forward for public consultation and feedback this spring. If you live in the quarry area or are on the CCQLD mailing list, you will be notified about where and when the consultations are being held. We encourage you to come make your voice heard.

We at the CCQLD already have a pretty good idea where you stand on the proposals. A recent survey of community priorities in the quarry lands tells us people want to see a good sense of community integration. We take that to mean ‘no towers.’ You also told us you wanted green space and bike paths.  The Build proposal includes a four storey apartment building and a 110,000 sq. foot big box store that would sit roughly on top of a portion of the former driving range.  Some are opposed to the big box store and are worried about how the city plans to manage the dramatic increase in traffic that it will bring.  These are legitimate concerns and CCQLD will insist they be addressed, if in fact it turns out that this element is part of the final plan

For the most part though, you told us that the Build proposal is a starting point.  Let’s get to work.  We now have something on paper for the city owned portion of the quarry that does not include towers.  Let’s fine tune this and make it the best that it can be.  How will customers enter and exit the parking lot? What kind of housing do we want?  What changes need to be made to take into account that the city has been unable to acquire the land for the extension of Blantyre north of Gerrard?  The upcoming consultations are your chance to let Build Toronto and city planners know how you want to see your neighbourhood shaped.

As for the development plans in the eastern portion of the quarry lands, CCQLD, the community, urban planners and all levels of government stand united in opposition to high rise towers in our community. We need to be prepared to move together on very short notice to drive home that point.

  In closing, I want to thank outgoing president Mark Brender for his time and devotion to the cause over the last ten years. Mark is a passionate proponent of community building and responsible development and it is our good fortune that Mark has agreed to remain on the board. We didn’t want to lose his experience.  Mark has played a huge role in keeping high rises out of our community and we are grateful for all his hard work.

Tim Weber

Survey Closed

Hi Everyone,

We wanted to let you all know that the on-line survey mentioned in the previous post is now closed as of Feb. 12th.  We want to thank all of you who took the time to participate in and complete the survey as it gave us valuable information and will be very helpful going forward.  We will share this information with all the stakeholders at all levels involved in our cause.  At a later date, we will also make available a summary of the final results.

Regards,
CCQLD Board of Directors

2013 Annual General Meeting and membership survey

Hi everyone, 

The CCQLD Board of Directors requests your attendance at our 2013 Annual General Meeting, to take place Wednesday, January 23rd, 2013 at Birchcliff Bluffs United Church, 33 East Road, at 7:30 p.m. 

We strongly encourage all members to attend as you will receive key updates and have an opportunity to have your feedback heard. 

Feedback has been on our minds a great deal lately. As you know, at an October 2012 meeting organized by CCQLD, Build Toronto presented the community with ideas for what it would like to do on the western portion of the quarry lands site. The same month, Gerrard Clonmore Developments appeared before the Ontario Municipal Board on procedural matters relating to its high rise tower zoning rights. CCQLD had participant status in the hearing and spoke out against GCD's position, but once again the OMB ruled in favour of the developer. Given these developments, is more important than ever that CCQLD continues to find new ways of soliciting and receiving feedback from our membership regarding the direction of our efforts. 

We have put together a short survey in an attempt to collect this feedback. Please click here to complete the survey. It has 10 questions and should take just a few minutes. We would greatly appreciate if you could complete the survey by Sunday Jan. 13. You thoughts and input are extremely important. We will discuss results of the survey at the AGM. 

Please also be sure to also renew or purchase your annual membership.  If you cannot attend the AGM, you can renew your membership by forwarding $10.00 (cheque payable to 'Concerned Citizens of Quarry Lands Development') to CCQLD, 63 Woodland Park Road, Scarborough, M1N 2X5. We look forward to seeing you on Jan. 23.

Sincerely,
Board of Directors, CCQLD