Hundreds expected at rally to prevent urban planning nightmare
April 22, 2010 (TORONTO): --- Local politicians will be lining up behind a citizens group this Sunday in a fight that pits healthy community building against outdated zoning and a proposed 1960s-era high rise tower complex … on a contaminated municipal dumpsite in the heart of a model residential neighbourhood.
Toronto City Councillors Brian Ashton (Scarborough Southwest) and Sandra Bussin (Beaches -East York) and Member of Parliament Michelle Simson (Scarborough Southwest) will be among those speaking at a rally Sunday April 25th at 2pm at the undeveloped Quarry Lands in Toronto’s east end (Gerrard Street east of Victoria Park). They will join hundreds of area residents in opposing a proposed seven-tower high rise complex based on zoning from 1968. The residents are seeking development more in line with the surrounding community based on 21st century planning principles, and leadership from Toronto’s city council to make it happen.
The full 49-acre Quarry Lands site in Birchcliff represents a rare opportunity for the best kind of city-building: a visionary, green, mixed-use brownfield redevelopment in the heart of a thriving community. Instead, Toronto residents could be left with an eyesore that nobody wants and a density roughly seven times greater than the surrounding community.
The views of Birchcliff residents opposed to the high rise development – with between 23 and 27 storeys per tower – are shared by city planners, who have been vocal in their view that Toronto can do much better than 1960s zoning on this site.
“This isn’t a NIMBY issue, it’s bad planning,” said Mark Brender of Concerned Citizens of Quarry Lands Development (CCQLD), the community group organizing the rally. “As a community and a city, we simply cannot allow this kind of development to happen. If 40-year-old zoning trumps modern planning and progressive thinking about what works for communities, we’re throwing up the white flag in our collective ability to build a world-class city.”
The planned 1,455-unit development on 18 acres owned privately by the Conservatory Group is permitted under high-density zoning rights dating back to 1968, when the city planned to bulldoze parts of the east end of the city for the Scarborough Expressway. The highway was later scrapped but the land zoning was never changed by the city.
To make matters worse, the land was an unregulated municipal landfill from 1954 - 1960 and was then sold by the city to private developers. The City still owns lands adjacent to the proposed apartment tower complex, portions of which are so contaminated they are economically unremediable for development.
“The City had responsibility for this land in the past, and so it has responsibility today to make things right,” Brender said. “This will be a litmus test for the willingness of Mayor David Miller, the mayoralty candidates and council at large to show leadership in building healthy communities for all Toronto residents.”
-30-
Recent Posts
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Toronto Star article on April 25 rally
Below is a copy of an article on our April 25 rally that appeared in the April 9 edition of the Toronto Star.
A few points:
The article reinforces what CCQLD has been saying all along: Our community is against the proposed development, our local representatives are against the proposed development, and the city planning department -- the people who have a responsibility to advocate for development of pieces of land just like this one -- is against the proposed development. How telling is that? Not even the planners with a mandate to build up the urban core can stomach this one.
We're hearing more and more every day from officials at the city, from politicians, from media and from people both inside and outside our community. In other words, we're getting noticed. We need to keep building momentum and to continue spreading the word.
If there was ever any doubt about the importance of this rally, the lawyer for the Conservatory Group is quoted as saying the developer wants to proceed "as quickly as possible" with the first building, and that the overall development is -- wait for it, it's a beauty -- "compatible with the neighbourhood." If you believe otherwise, the best way to show it is by forwarding this email to everyone in your address book and telling them why they absolutely need to be at the Quarry Lands at 2pm on April 25.
This city is not powerless to stop this development, and neither are we.
Quarry site condo plan too dense, residents say
Developer is proposing series of highrise towers
Donovan Vincent Staff Reporter
A community group in east Toronto is up in arms over a developer's plan to build a cluster of highrise condos next to a community of single-family homes.
The property, a long-vacant, 20-hectare parcel at Victoria Park Ave. and Gerrard St., known as the Quarry Lands, is where Sheldon (Shelly) Libfeld's Conservatory Group wants to construct four buildings – three of them featuring two towers each, of roughly 25 storeys. Local residents say his towers aren't compatible with the neighbourhood of single-family homes just to the south.
"We understand the need for urban intensification and understand this is a huge parcel of land in the heart of the city. Something special (could be) done with this land, but this proposal is not special, not visionary,'' says Mark Brender, president of Concerned Citizens of Quarry Lands Development.
For now, Libfeld wants to proceed "as quickly as possible'' with the first building, pending the outcome of an appeal before the Ontario Municipal Board, says his lawyer. The 370-unit building would be on 7.5 hectares the developer owns at the eastern side of the Quarry Lands.
A former president of the Greater Toronto Homebuilders' Association, Libfeld is a heavy hitter in the development industry.
Brender's group plans an April 25 rally on a city-owned part of the Quarry Lands and is petitioning Toronto politicians to take "immediate steps'' to keep the proposal from going forward.
"There are certainly examples of terrific eight-storey developments. Here they could be up to (27) storeys. You're putting in a density that's seven times greater than anything in the surrounding community,'' Brender said.
The rub is that the number of units planned – 1,455 – is permitted under zoning that dates back to 1968, so the developer has virtually unfettered freedom to build.
But city hall planners aren't happy with the proposed densities and heights, saying the zoning permissions are "outdated.''
"I think there's only room for improvement from what was approved back in the 1960s," says Allen Appleby, a director with the planning department.
He wants a review of the entire Quarry Lands property to determine what would work best.
But John Alati, a lawyer for Libfeld's company, says the buildings will fit in. "We think it's compatible with the neighbourhood. You don't have to look the same or be the same to be compatible,'' he said, adding that compatibility can be achieved with elements such as buffers or setbacks between existing and new development.
Local Councillor Brian Ashton has talked with the developer to see if a compromise can be worked out. The city owns property in the western section of the Quarry Lands.
One idea being floated is to spread the new buildings around the site, with higher towers closer to busy Victoria Park. The planning department supports the idea.
A few points:
The article reinforces what CCQLD has been saying all along: Our community is against the proposed development, our local representatives are against the proposed development, and the city planning department -- the people who have a responsibility to advocate for development of pieces of land just like this one -- is against the proposed development. How telling is that? Not even the planners with a mandate to build up the urban core can stomach this one.
We're hearing more and more every day from officials at the city, from politicians, from media and from people both inside and outside our community. In other words, we're getting noticed. We need to keep building momentum and to continue spreading the word.
If there was ever any doubt about the importance of this rally, the lawyer for the Conservatory Group is quoted as saying the developer wants to proceed "as quickly as possible" with the first building, and that the overall development is -- wait for it, it's a beauty -- "compatible with the neighbourhood." If you believe otherwise, the best way to show it is by forwarding this email to everyone in your address book and telling them why they absolutely need to be at the Quarry Lands at 2pm on April 25.
This city is not powerless to stop this development, and neither are we.
Quarry site condo plan too dense, residents say
Developer is proposing series of highrise towers
Donovan Vincent Staff Reporter
A community group in east Toronto is up in arms over a developer's plan to build a cluster of highrise condos next to a community of single-family homes.
The property, a long-vacant, 20-hectare parcel at Victoria Park Ave. and Gerrard St., known as the Quarry Lands, is where Sheldon (Shelly) Libfeld's Conservatory Group wants to construct four buildings – three of them featuring two towers each, of roughly 25 storeys. Local residents say his towers aren't compatible with the neighbourhood of single-family homes just to the south.
"We understand the need for urban intensification and understand this is a huge parcel of land in the heart of the city. Something special (could be) done with this land, but this proposal is not special, not visionary,'' says Mark Brender, president of Concerned Citizens of Quarry Lands Development.
For now, Libfeld wants to proceed "as quickly as possible'' with the first building, pending the outcome of an appeal before the Ontario Municipal Board, says his lawyer. The 370-unit building would be on 7.5 hectares the developer owns at the eastern side of the Quarry Lands.
A former president of the Greater Toronto Homebuilders' Association, Libfeld is a heavy hitter in the development industry.
Brender's group plans an April 25 rally on a city-owned part of the Quarry Lands and is petitioning Toronto politicians to take "immediate steps'' to keep the proposal from going forward.
"There are certainly examples of terrific eight-storey developments. Here they could be up to (27) storeys. You're putting in a density that's seven times greater than anything in the surrounding community,'' Brender said.
The rub is that the number of units planned – 1,455 – is permitted under zoning that dates back to 1968, so the developer has virtually unfettered freedom to build.
But city hall planners aren't happy with the proposed densities and heights, saying the zoning permissions are "outdated.''
"I think there's only room for improvement from what was approved back in the 1960s," says Allen Appleby, a director with the planning department.
He wants a review of the entire Quarry Lands property to determine what would work best.
But John Alati, a lawyer for Libfeld's company, says the buildings will fit in. "We think it's compatible with the neighbourhood. You don't have to look the same or be the same to be compatible,'' he said, adding that compatibility can be achieved with elements such as buffers or setbacks between existing and new development.
Local Councillor Brian Ashton has talked with the developer to see if a compromise can be worked out. The city owns property in the western section of the Quarry Lands.
One idea being floated is to spread the new buildings around the site, with higher towers closer to busy Victoria Park. The planning department supports the idea.
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
CCQLD Release - Hundreds rally to oppose urban planning nightmare
City leaders must ensure responsible development on former toxic dump with 1960's zoning
April 8, 2010 (TORONTO): --- Question: What do you get when you combine truckloads of toxic waste with archaic 42-year-old zoning? Answer: A seven-tower high rise complex on a former dump site in the middle of a predominantly single family-home residential neighbourhood.
Except this is real-life Toronto in 2010, and nobody is laughing.
Hundreds of people will be rallying Sunday April 25th at 2pm at the Quarry Lands in Toronto’s east end (Gerrard Street east of Victoria Park) to demand accountability from political leaders and an end to the madness. The residents are seeking development more in line with the surrounding community based on 21st century planning principles.
The full 49-acre Quarry Lands site in Birchcliff represents a rare opportunity for the best kind of city-building: a visionary, green, mixed-use brownfield redevelopment in the heart of a thriving community. Instead, Toronto residents could be left with an eyesore that nobody wants and a density roughly seven times greater than the surrounding community.
Birchcliff residents opposed to the high rise development – with between 23 and 27 storeys per tower -- have the support of local city councillors, city planning staff and environmental groups including the Toronto District Conservation Authority.
“This isn’t a NIMBY issue, it’s bad planning,” said Mark Brender of Concerned Citizens of Quarry Lands Development (CCQLD), the community group organizing the rally. “As a community and a city, we simply cannot allow this kind of development to happen. If 40-year-old zoning trumps modern planning and progressive thinking about what works for communities, we’re throwing up the white flag in our collective ability to build a world-class city.”
The planned 1,455-unit development on 18 acres owned privately by the Conservatory Group is permitted under high-density zoning rights dating back to1968, when the city planned to bulldoze parts of the east end of the city for the Scarborough Expressway. The highway was later scrapped but the land zoning was never changed by the city.
To make matters worse, the land was an unregulated municipal landfill from 1954 - 1960 and was then sold by the city to private developers. The City still owns lands adjacent to the proposed apartment tower complex, portions of which are so contaminated they are economically unremediable for development.
“The City had responsibility for this land in the past, and so it has responsibility today to make things right,” Brender said. “This will be a litmus test for the willingness of Mayor David Miller, the mayoralty candidates and council at large to show leadership in building healthy communities for all Toronto residents.”
-30-
Contact
Mark Brender:
mbrender@sympatico.ca
April 8, 2010 (TORONTO): --- Question: What do you get when you combine truckloads of toxic waste with archaic 42-year-old zoning? Answer: A seven-tower high rise complex on a former dump site in the middle of a predominantly single family-home residential neighbourhood.
Except this is real-life Toronto in 2010, and nobody is laughing.
Hundreds of people will be rallying Sunday April 25th at 2pm at the Quarry Lands in Toronto’s east end (Gerrard Street east of Victoria Park) to demand accountability from political leaders and an end to the madness. The residents are seeking development more in line with the surrounding community based on 21st century planning principles.
The full 49-acre Quarry Lands site in Birchcliff represents a rare opportunity for the best kind of city-building: a visionary, green, mixed-use brownfield redevelopment in the heart of a thriving community. Instead, Toronto residents could be left with an eyesore that nobody wants and a density roughly seven times greater than the surrounding community.
Birchcliff residents opposed to the high rise development – with between 23 and 27 storeys per tower -- have the support of local city councillors, city planning staff and environmental groups including the Toronto District Conservation Authority.
“This isn’t a NIMBY issue, it’s bad planning,” said Mark Brender of Concerned Citizens of Quarry Lands Development (CCQLD), the community group organizing the rally. “As a community and a city, we simply cannot allow this kind of development to happen. If 40-year-old zoning trumps modern planning and progressive thinking about what works for communities, we’re throwing up the white flag in our collective ability to build a world-class city.”
The planned 1,455-unit development on 18 acres owned privately by the Conservatory Group is permitted under high-density zoning rights dating back to1968, when the city planned to bulldoze parts of the east end of the city for the Scarborough Expressway. The highway was later scrapped but the land zoning was never changed by the city.
To make matters worse, the land was an unregulated municipal landfill from 1954 - 1960 and was then sold by the city to private developers. The City still owns lands adjacent to the proposed apartment tower complex, portions of which are so contaminated they are economically unremediable for development.
“The City had responsibility for this land in the past, and so it has responsibility today to make things right,” Brender said. “This will be a litmus test for the willingness of Mayor David Miller, the mayoralty candidates and council at large to show leadership in building healthy communities for all Toronto residents.”
-30-
Contact
Mark Brender:
mbrender@sympatico.ca
Saturday, April 3, 2010
Quarry Rally - Sunday April 25, 2pm
Hi everyone,
On Sunday April 25 at 2pm, it’s time to make a very public stand for the future of the Quarry Lands.
The Rally for the Quarry 2010 will take place in the open parkland on the north side of Gerrard Street, halfway between Victoria Park and the Quarry plaza, just to the east of the Olco service station. We envision hundreds and hundreds of people – parents, grandparents, children, families from our community -- rising together to say that seven high-rise towers in the heart of Birchcliff is a development outcome that we are unprepared to stand by and let happen. As a city and a community, we can and must do so much better.
We will let the private developer, Conservatory Group, know that on April 25.
Allowing archaic 40-year-old zoning to run roughshod over unanimous opposition from the community, local leaders and urban planners is no way to build a world-class city. City negligence led to the situation we have today. It was the City that allowed this land to become contaminated, it was the City that sold portions of the Quarry land to private interests, and it was the City that was asleep at the wheel for decades while the planning context changed. Now it’s up to the City to make things right.
We will let the City know that on April 25.
The media will be there. Local politicians will be there. We will have speakers and information tables. We will be circulating a petition demanding that Toronto’s political leaders take immediate action to prevent a high-density, high-rise development concept ever being implemented on these lands. We will be demanding that Build Toronto (which owns a parcel of land on the Quarry) live up to a promise it made to our community more than two years ago: that any development involving Build Toronto on this land will result in something special and visionary – something of which we can all be proud.
For seven years, Concerned Citizens of Quarry Lands Development has been working to build consensus around a better vision for these lands than the tower complex proposed by the Conservatory Group (also known as Gerrard Clonmore Developments). We have done lots of talking and even more listening. We have never shouted….until now.
We will shout on April 25.
Outreach is underway to media, political leaders, and most importantly to the community to let everyone know how important it is that they come out and be counted. The greater the turnout, the more attention we will receive from media and the stronger our case becomes. The most important thing we need to do now is reach every street and every house with our message. Please forward this message to everyone in your address book who lives in Birchcliff or The Beach. If you can help with delivery of flyers on your street or area, please send your name and phone number via email as soon as possible to Wilf and Sybil Longley at slongley@sympatico.ca. Someone will be back in touch with you shortly.
A final note: The land on which the rally will be held is owned by the City of Toronto. We have written confirmation from city officials that we are allowed to have the rally on this site.
Thank you to everyone doing fantastic work planning for this event. This is just the beginning. See you on April 25th.
Sincerely,
Board of Directors
Concerned Citizens of Quarry Lands Development
On Sunday April 25 at 2pm, it’s time to make a very public stand for the future of the Quarry Lands.
The Rally for the Quarry 2010 will take place in the open parkland on the north side of Gerrard Street, halfway between Victoria Park and the Quarry plaza, just to the east of the Olco service station. We envision hundreds and hundreds of people – parents, grandparents, children, families from our community -- rising together to say that seven high-rise towers in the heart of Birchcliff is a development outcome that we are unprepared to stand by and let happen. As a city and a community, we can and must do so much better.
We will let the private developer, Conservatory Group, know that on April 25.
Allowing archaic 40-year-old zoning to run roughshod over unanimous opposition from the community, local leaders and urban planners is no way to build a world-class city. City negligence led to the situation we have today. It was the City that allowed this land to become contaminated, it was the City that sold portions of the Quarry land to private interests, and it was the City that was asleep at the wheel for decades while the planning context changed. Now it’s up to the City to make things right.
We will let the City know that on April 25.
The media will be there. Local politicians will be there. We will have speakers and information tables. We will be circulating a petition demanding that Toronto’s political leaders take immediate action to prevent a high-density, high-rise development concept ever being implemented on these lands. We will be demanding that Build Toronto (which owns a parcel of land on the Quarry) live up to a promise it made to our community more than two years ago: that any development involving Build Toronto on this land will result in something special and visionary – something of which we can all be proud.
For seven years, Concerned Citizens of Quarry Lands Development has been working to build consensus around a better vision for these lands than the tower complex proposed by the Conservatory Group (also known as Gerrard Clonmore Developments). We have done lots of talking and even more listening. We have never shouted….until now.
We will shout on April 25.
Outreach is underway to media, political leaders, and most importantly to the community to let everyone know how important it is that they come out and be counted. The greater the turnout, the more attention we will receive from media and the stronger our case becomes. The most important thing we need to do now is reach every street and every house with our message. Please forward this message to everyone in your address book who lives in Birchcliff or The Beach. If you can help with delivery of flyers on your street or area, please send your name and phone number via email as soon as possible to Wilf and Sybil Longley at slongley@sympatico.ca. Someone will be back in touch with you shortly.
A final note: The land on which the rally will be held is owned by the City of Toronto. We have written confirmation from city officials that we are allowed to have the rally on this site.
Thank you to everyone doing fantastic work planning for this event. This is just the beginning. See you on April 25th.
Sincerely,
Board of Directors
Concerned Citizens of Quarry Lands Development
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
OMB Update and AIMS Environmental Report
Hi everyone,
There has been no decision yet from the Ontario Municipal Board hearing last week, and we're not expecting to hear anything for another few weeks at least. There is nothing unusual about this time frame and we aren't reading anything into it one way or another. A note to the community from Councilor Brian Ashton outlining the city's participation appears below.
In other news, we have received the long-awaited environmental report from consulting firm AiMS Environmental. We originally commissioned the report in the fall of 2008 in order to get an independent assessment of the City's environmental testing on its own lands (via a DCS report from September 2007); and an expert appraisal of materials obtained through a Freedom of Information search of the Ontario Ministry of the Environment.
In general, the AiMS review does not highlight any significant new environmental information. It does, however, provide a number of recommendations for ensuring that the environmental sensitivity of the site is fully taken into account in any development proposals; and for maximizing public consultation and input throughout the process. These can be found on pages 13 -16 of the report. As a whole, the report is a strong resource and a wealth of environmental information. The full report can be downloaded here (10.8MB, PDF).
Thanks,
Mark
NOTE FROM COUNCILLOR BRIAN ASHTON RE. OMB HEARING
Dear Residents:
Following is an informal and condensed overview of the Ontario Municipal Board Hearing regarding GCD's rezoning appeal before the Ontario Municipal Board commencing on February 16, 2010:
"The OMB hearing on this Gerrard/Clonmore site concluded on Friday with final submissions by legal counsel. The decision on these appeals is now reserved and the member, Mr. Chris Conti, advised that he expected to get a written decision out in 4-5 weeks.
This was a complex hearing with many issues, including the historic uses put to the Quarry lands over the decades. On Thursday, we called two witnesses from the TRCA to support our argument about a wetland being disturbed by the first building proposed for Block 2 near Gerrard Street. The other side, of course, argued that the existing marsh arises from a completely man-made situation of a formerly excavated quarry site now filling up and supporting some sporadic growth. On the main issue of land-use, we submitted that the rezoning should be turned down, or should be seen as premature, pending the completion of the Quarry Lands study which has been halted in Phase 2.
It is possible that the Board could approve the request to change the zoning bylaw, but not approve the site plan.
The participants were accommodated and gave their testimony in a late afternoon session. Their points were clear, varied, and not repetitive, and I believe the Board got a good sense of the neighbourhood perspective on these planning appeals.
This was one of our more difficult hearings and it will be very interesting to review the OMB Decision when it issues."
Your continued individual and community support is greatly appreciated.
Councillor Brian Ashton
There has been no decision yet from the Ontario Municipal Board hearing last week, and we're not expecting to hear anything for another few weeks at least. There is nothing unusual about this time frame and we aren't reading anything into it one way or another. A note to the community from Councilor Brian Ashton outlining the city's participation appears below.
In other news, we have received the long-awaited environmental report from consulting firm AiMS Environmental. We originally commissioned the report in the fall of 2008 in order to get an independent assessment of the City's environmental testing on its own lands (via a DCS report from September 2007); and an expert appraisal of materials obtained through a Freedom of Information search of the Ontario Ministry of the Environment.
In general, the AiMS review does not highlight any significant new environmental information. It does, however, provide a number of recommendations for ensuring that the environmental sensitivity of the site is fully taken into account in any development proposals; and for maximizing public consultation and input throughout the process. These can be found on pages 13 -16 of the report. As a whole, the report is a strong resource and a wealth of environmental information. The full report can be downloaded here (10.8MB, PDF).
Thanks,
Mark
NOTE FROM COUNCILLOR BRIAN ASHTON RE. OMB HEARING
Dear Residents:
Following is an informal and condensed overview of the Ontario Municipal Board Hearing regarding GCD's rezoning appeal before the Ontario Municipal Board commencing on February 16, 2010:
"The OMB hearing on this Gerrard/Clonmore site concluded on Friday with final submissions by legal counsel. The decision on these appeals is now reserved and the member, Mr. Chris Conti, advised that he expected to get a written decision out in 4-5 weeks.
This was a complex hearing with many issues, including the historic uses put to the Quarry lands over the decades. On Thursday, we called two witnesses from the TRCA to support our argument about a wetland being disturbed by the first building proposed for Block 2 near Gerrard Street. The other side, of course, argued that the existing marsh arises from a completely man-made situation of a formerly excavated quarry site now filling up and supporting some sporadic growth. On the main issue of land-use, we submitted that the rezoning should be turned down, or should be seen as premature, pending the completion of the Quarry Lands study which has been halted in Phase 2.
It is possible that the Board could approve the request to change the zoning bylaw, but not approve the site plan.
The participants were accommodated and gave their testimony in a late afternoon session. Their points were clear, varied, and not repetitive, and I believe the Board got a good sense of the neighbourhood perspective on these planning appeals.
This was one of our more difficult hearings and it will be very interesting to review the OMB Decision when it issues."
Your continued individual and community support is greatly appreciated.
Councillor Brian Ashton
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
CCQLD Statement at Ontario Municipal Board
Hi everyone,
Below is the statement CCQLD made at the Ontario Municipal Board hearing this afternoon. The Board is considering Gerrard Clonmore Developments' site plan application on one of its proposed high-rise tower blocks, as well a rezoning application for smaller unit sizes on a select number of units. The City is opposing the application and CCQLD is one of three groups granted participant status by the Board.
The hearing is likely to last until mid-to-late next week. We won't know until the end of hearing if the Board decision will be given out at that time or after a longer period of deliberation. Either way, after the OMB hearing is complete, as a community we will need to regroup and plan our next steps.
An update on the independent environmental report CCQLD has commissioned from AiMS Consulting: We have seen a first draft and have replied with some questions and requests for elaboration in some places. We expect to have the final report within the next two weeks and will share it at that time.
CCQLD Participant Presentation to Ontario Municipal Board, re. Quarry Lands
Feb. 17, 2010
Thank you Mr. Chairman,
We appreciate the opportunity to be here today. Very quickly, I’d like to provide the board with some brief background about our organization before outlining several reasons why we oppose this application.
Concerned Citizens of Quarry Lands Development was formed in 2003, after hundreds of area residents turned out to a public meeting in response to GCD’s minor variance application to the Scarborough Committee of Adjustment. CCQLD was incorporated as a not-for-profit organization in 2005, focused exclusively on this issue. We hold yearly Annual General Meetings, with our Board of Directors elected by our membership. Membership is $10 per year and is open to anyone, with voting restricted to members living in the area. We currently have approximately 180 members from the community. Our board of directors meets regularly, and our board and other members have organized, taken part and attended countless initiatives over the past six years, including brownfield conferences, community meetings, design charettes, city meetings, previous OMB hearings, and most recently the Special Committee meetings that arose out of the standstill agreement from November 2008.
Our objectives as outlined in our constitution are to “represent the interests of the residents of the general area defined by, but not limited to, Main Street to the west, Birchmount Rd on the east, from Lake Ontario to the south to Danforth Ave. on the north, in their desire to see an appropriate use of the lands known as The Quarry Lands.”
Our constitution states that CCQLD starts with the premise that the land use proposed by one owner/developer, GCD, “does not represent the best use of the lands.” It goes on to say that CCQLD “will make reasonable efforts to determine and advocate for the best use of the lands. It is not a prescribed goal of the Association to develop such a plan; however, it accepts that should it occur that it would be of significant benefit.”
We say this to make the point that this is not NIMBY-ism at play. Far from it. We understand the need and rationale for urban intensification, and we agree with it. Many people in our community -- in fact probably the majority of people seven years ago when our group was formed -- wanted the quarry lands to stay as is or be used as a park. CCQLD recognized long ago this is not a realistic nor even necessarily desirable outcome. Instead, we choose to see this land as an opportunity to do something special, and we believe we have helped move the community a long way over the past six years to a stage where the public discussion now focuses around a number of visions of what we want or are prepared to see happen there.
In order to manage expectations, we have repeatedly stated to our members and the community that whatever takes place on the quarry lands, it won’t necessarily be a mirror of the overwhelmingly single family homes that surround this property and make up the surrounding area. We have also repeatedly stated that the eventual development must be responsible development. It must be something that enhances our community, and provides an outcome of which all parties can all be proud.
With respect, the application before you envisions a development that meets none of these criteria.
We are opposing this application for several reasons:
First, as you know, the City of Toronto had been engaged in a Birchcliff Quarry Lands Area Study over the full 49-acre Quarry lands site prior to the Special Committee meetings. But the Quarry Lands study has been an extremely valuable and helpful process for area residents, and I would guess city planners and perhaps even GCD itself. The debates and discussions were at a high level because of the knowledge that has been transferred, the information sharing, and the exchange of positions and ideas. This is the right way to go about building a city. CCQLD commends city planning staff, the community, our city councilor and everyone involved for their commitment to a process that is not easy, but one that is absolutely necessary. And it needs an opportunity to be finished in order for a comprehensive plan to be developed. We cannot create healthy communities and healthy neighbourhoods – green, pedestrian-friendly, livable, with appropriate services and facilities – in isolation.
Secondly, we are opposing this application because the outcome it would help facilitate is fundamentally at odds with good planning and city building in the 21st century. As you know, the zoning on this property is from 1968 and was framed in the backdrop of a planned Scarborough expressway. We cannot overstate how much the planning context has changed since then. This land would never be zoned for high density towers today, for countless well-thought out reasons, many of which are expressed in the Toronto City Plan. By approving this application for smaller unit sizes, ostensibly to reflect current market conditions, the OMB would be making this high density, high rise development more economical and easier to build, and thereby enabling and indeed reinforcing the worst of 1960s planning in the modern, forward-thinking, progressive city of Toronto in 2009.
The proposed development contemplates 1,455 units over roughly 18 acres – an area that only covers roughly two-fifths of the quarry site. Yet the proposed development on these 18 acres would result in a density more than seven times greater than the surrounding community. This is not responsible development by anyone’s standard, and it is not a development the OMB should be party to enabling.
And third, we wish to highlight what is actually happening here: the applicant is attempting to move ahead with a development that is soundly opposed by the City and by neighbourhood residents, and they are attempting to make it more economically viable by appealing to current market conditions and current practices as a justification for rezoning. Yet on the other hand, they are holding fast to outdated high density zoning from the 1960s that would never be granted today. We submit that this violates the principle of fairness. The corollary would be that the 1968 zoning can also be changed based on current planning standards and best practices, in which case a development such as this, in our opinion would not be considered on this land.
Similarly, we do not believe the argument that this development has already been ‘approved’ by the city whether it be 20 years ago or 40 years ago is germane to the matter before you. Logically this would be the same as saying that a development from 100 years ago was approved at that time, and so now we must move ahead. Things have changed drastically since the 1960s, and we know the proposed development is not at all consistent with good city-building or community building.
This is a community that is extremely concerned about the proposed development, not development per se. On behalf of our membership and the surrounding community, we strongly urge you to side with responsible development and deny this application.
Thank you.
Below is the statement CCQLD made at the Ontario Municipal Board hearing this afternoon. The Board is considering Gerrard Clonmore Developments' site plan application on one of its proposed high-rise tower blocks, as well a rezoning application for smaller unit sizes on a select number of units. The City is opposing the application and CCQLD is one of three groups granted participant status by the Board.
The hearing is likely to last until mid-to-late next week. We won't know until the end of hearing if the Board decision will be given out at that time or after a longer period of deliberation. Either way, after the OMB hearing is complete, as a community we will need to regroup and plan our next steps.
An update on the independent environmental report CCQLD has commissioned from AiMS Consulting: We have seen a first draft and have replied with some questions and requests for elaboration in some places. We expect to have the final report within the next two weeks and will share it at that time.
CCQLD Participant Presentation to Ontario Municipal Board, re. Quarry Lands
Feb. 17, 2010
Thank you Mr. Chairman,
We appreciate the opportunity to be here today. Very quickly, I’d like to provide the board with some brief background about our organization before outlining several reasons why we oppose this application.
Concerned Citizens of Quarry Lands Development was formed in 2003, after hundreds of area residents turned out to a public meeting in response to GCD’s minor variance application to the Scarborough Committee of Adjustment. CCQLD was incorporated as a not-for-profit organization in 2005, focused exclusively on this issue. We hold yearly Annual General Meetings, with our Board of Directors elected by our membership. Membership is $10 per year and is open to anyone, with voting restricted to members living in the area. We currently have approximately 180 members from the community. Our board of directors meets regularly, and our board and other members have organized, taken part and attended countless initiatives over the past six years, including brownfield conferences, community meetings, design charettes, city meetings, previous OMB hearings, and most recently the Special Committee meetings that arose out of the standstill agreement from November 2008.
Our objectives as outlined in our constitution are to “represent the interests of the residents of the general area defined by, but not limited to, Main Street to the west, Birchmount Rd on the east, from Lake Ontario to the south to Danforth Ave. on the north, in their desire to see an appropriate use of the lands known as The Quarry Lands.”
Our constitution states that CCQLD starts with the premise that the land use proposed by one owner/developer, GCD, “does not represent the best use of the lands.” It goes on to say that CCQLD “will make reasonable efforts to determine and advocate for the best use of the lands. It is not a prescribed goal of the Association to develop such a plan; however, it accepts that should it occur that it would be of significant benefit.”
We say this to make the point that this is not NIMBY-ism at play. Far from it. We understand the need and rationale for urban intensification, and we agree with it. Many people in our community -- in fact probably the majority of people seven years ago when our group was formed -- wanted the quarry lands to stay as is or be used as a park. CCQLD recognized long ago this is not a realistic nor even necessarily desirable outcome. Instead, we choose to see this land as an opportunity to do something special, and we believe we have helped move the community a long way over the past six years to a stage where the public discussion now focuses around a number of visions of what we want or are prepared to see happen there.
In order to manage expectations, we have repeatedly stated to our members and the community that whatever takes place on the quarry lands, it won’t necessarily be a mirror of the overwhelmingly single family homes that surround this property and make up the surrounding area. We have also repeatedly stated that the eventual development must be responsible development. It must be something that enhances our community, and provides an outcome of which all parties can all be proud.
With respect, the application before you envisions a development that meets none of these criteria.
We are opposing this application for several reasons:
First, as you know, the City of Toronto had been engaged in a Birchcliff Quarry Lands Area Study over the full 49-acre Quarry lands site prior to the Special Committee meetings. But the Quarry Lands study has been an extremely valuable and helpful process for area residents, and I would guess city planners and perhaps even GCD itself. The debates and discussions were at a high level because of the knowledge that has been transferred, the information sharing, and the exchange of positions and ideas. This is the right way to go about building a city. CCQLD commends city planning staff, the community, our city councilor and everyone involved for their commitment to a process that is not easy, but one that is absolutely necessary. And it needs an opportunity to be finished in order for a comprehensive plan to be developed. We cannot create healthy communities and healthy neighbourhoods – green, pedestrian-friendly, livable, with appropriate services and facilities – in isolation.
Secondly, we are opposing this application because the outcome it would help facilitate is fundamentally at odds with good planning and city building in the 21st century. As you know, the zoning on this property is from 1968 and was framed in the backdrop of a planned Scarborough expressway. We cannot overstate how much the planning context has changed since then. This land would never be zoned for high density towers today, for countless well-thought out reasons, many of which are expressed in the Toronto City Plan. By approving this application for smaller unit sizes, ostensibly to reflect current market conditions, the OMB would be making this high density, high rise development more economical and easier to build, and thereby enabling and indeed reinforcing the worst of 1960s planning in the modern, forward-thinking, progressive city of Toronto in 2009.
The proposed development contemplates 1,455 units over roughly 18 acres – an area that only covers roughly two-fifths of the quarry site. Yet the proposed development on these 18 acres would result in a density more than seven times greater than the surrounding community. This is not responsible development by anyone’s standard, and it is not a development the OMB should be party to enabling.
And third, we wish to highlight what is actually happening here: the applicant is attempting to move ahead with a development that is soundly opposed by the City and by neighbourhood residents, and they are attempting to make it more economically viable by appealing to current market conditions and current practices as a justification for rezoning. Yet on the other hand, they are holding fast to outdated high density zoning from the 1960s that would never be granted today. We submit that this violates the principle of fairness. The corollary would be that the 1968 zoning can also be changed based on current planning standards and best practices, in which case a development such as this, in our opinion would not be considered on this land.
Similarly, we do not believe the argument that this development has already been ‘approved’ by the city whether it be 20 years ago or 40 years ago is germane to the matter before you. Logically this would be the same as saying that a development from 100 years ago was approved at that time, and so now we must move ahead. Things have changed drastically since the 1960s, and we know the proposed development is not at all consistent with good city-building or community building.
This is a community that is extremely concerned about the proposed development, not development per se. On behalf of our membership and the surrounding community, we strongly urge you to side with responsible development and deny this application.
Thank you.
Saturday, February 13, 2010
OMB Hearing To Go Ahead
Hi everyone,
We received some surprising and slightly discouraging news this past week.
Build Toronto, the economic development corporation that has been assigned responsibility for the approximately 17 acres of city land on the Quarry site, now says that a significant portion of its land is environmentally unsuitable for any development. The remediation cost of removing and replacing contaminated and unstable soil, we were told at a meeting on Feb. 10, makes development on this parcel economically unfeasible. Despite CCQLD and the community being assured several years ago by the city that all its land was environmentally sound and easily developable, Build Toronto says it came to its recent conclusion through more detailed geotechnical surveys of city-owned land.
This information fundamentally changes the nature of discussions we have been having with city planners, the developer GCD (Gerrard Clonmore Developments), Build Toronto and others through the ‘Special Committee’ meeting process since January of 2009. As many of you are aware, and as Councillor Brian Ashton outlined at the CCQLD Annual General Meeting last month, the discussions had revolved around finding a development concept over the full 49-acre quarry site that would be suitable to all parties – one that would be a significant improvement over the four-block, 1,455-unit high-rise tower complex for which GCD currently has zoning on its land. This was to be done by essentially spreading density over the full site in a comprehensive design plan. With roughly 40 per cent of city-owned land now effectively off the table, however, this has become a much more difficult proposition.
In the short term, this means that the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) hearing scheduled for Tuesday of this week is going ahead. Matters under consideration are a GCD rezoning appeal for removing minimum unit sizes for some of its proposed units, and a filed site plan application for one of its four tower blocks. The city will be arguing against GCD’s appeal. The CCQLD is one of three community groups (also including Our Community Speaks and East Beach Community Association) that will have an opportunity to speak in opposition to GCD’s application via participant status.
Following the OMB hearing, regardless of which way the decision goes, we will continue to explore all possible avenues to reach an outcome acceptable to our community. It will also be time to mobilize all our resources together make sure our position is heard loudly and clearly at the municipal and provincial levels. More on this in the days to come…
We’ll be in touch again after the OMB hearing. Thanks as always for your support.
Mark
We received some surprising and slightly discouraging news this past week.
Build Toronto, the economic development corporation that has been assigned responsibility for the approximately 17 acres of city land on the Quarry site, now says that a significant portion of its land is environmentally unsuitable for any development. The remediation cost of removing and replacing contaminated and unstable soil, we were told at a meeting on Feb. 10, makes development on this parcel economically unfeasible. Despite CCQLD and the community being assured several years ago by the city that all its land was environmentally sound and easily developable, Build Toronto says it came to its recent conclusion through more detailed geotechnical surveys of city-owned land.
This information fundamentally changes the nature of discussions we have been having with city planners, the developer GCD (Gerrard Clonmore Developments), Build Toronto and others through the ‘Special Committee’ meeting process since January of 2009. As many of you are aware, and as Councillor Brian Ashton outlined at the CCQLD Annual General Meeting last month, the discussions had revolved around finding a development concept over the full 49-acre quarry site that would be suitable to all parties – one that would be a significant improvement over the four-block, 1,455-unit high-rise tower complex for which GCD currently has zoning on its land. This was to be done by essentially spreading density over the full site in a comprehensive design plan. With roughly 40 per cent of city-owned land now effectively off the table, however, this has become a much more difficult proposition.
In the short term, this means that the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) hearing scheduled for Tuesday of this week is going ahead. Matters under consideration are a GCD rezoning appeal for removing minimum unit sizes for some of its proposed units, and a filed site plan application for one of its four tower blocks. The city will be arguing against GCD’s appeal. The CCQLD is one of three community groups (also including Our Community Speaks and East Beach Community Association) that will have an opportunity to speak in opposition to GCD’s application via participant status.
Following the OMB hearing, regardless of which way the decision goes, we will continue to explore all possible avenues to reach an outcome acceptable to our community. It will also be time to mobilize all our resources together make sure our position is heard loudly and clearly at the municipal and provincial levels. More on this in the days to come…
We’ll be in touch again after the OMB hearing. Thanks as always for your support.
Mark