The Town Hall meeting Monday night in the Lea Room of Leaside arena saw a wide range of topics discussed. A summary of Councillor’s Burnside’s agenda is here.
- The replacement of the playground at Trace Manes Park. Jillian Walsh has raised $800,000 to pay for this project in memory of her daughter Georgia. The City has contributed an additional $200,000 and developer Shane Baghai $250,000. Thus some $1,250,000 is on hand. There was no start-date mentioned but it would seem that it cannot be long delayed.
- The reconstruction of the corner of Millwood Rd and Laird Drive in the summer and fall of 2017. Burnside explained that unseen delays created a confluence of bottlenecks and obstructions that snarled this part of Leaside through the fall. He noted that a re-make of the wide corner at Millwood Rd. and Southvale will occur in the summer of 2019, the City having taken pity on residents for the summer of 2018.
- The pilot plan proposed by the North Leaside Traffic Committee to permanently close access to Bayview Ave at Glenvale Blvd., Broadway Ave. and Craig Crescent. It would not happen quickly and there are many requirements. But an informal survey of some 750 people in the area found 69 percent supported the idea. This would lead to a formal poll of perhaps 3,000 residents in which at least half will be required to participate in the vote for it to be valid. Of these, 60 percent would have to agree to the closures. Further hurdles await at Community Council and with caveats about traffic obstruction which such closures might cause elsewhere. The pilot, if approved, would last nine to 12 months, Mr. Burnside said. The concept is seen by many non-Leaside residents to the west as quite radical.
- The recently completed redistribution of municipal constituencies from 44 to 47 approved at the OMB still faces a court challenge from Ward 5 Etobicoke Councillor Justin Di Ciano for reasons not stated at the meeting. The new wards, if confirmed, will keep Leaside intact within a ward similar to Ward 26 but with a different number. It will be made slightly smaller by dropping off the Wynford Heights neighbourhood.
In discussion flowing from questions, Burnside said the issue of homelessness requires federal funding to accommodate the growing number of refugees who are now living in spaces for the homeless. Spaces were increased from 4200 in 2016 to 5700 in 2017 but the number of refugees housed by Toronto went from ten percent of the spaces to 25 percent.
ANGER
There was also anger, as there typically is among homeowners in Midtown, at the weakness of municipal bylaws. One man called them “meaningless.” Others wondered resentfully why the Planning Department is required to consider the same type of variances rejected in the past. In response, City Planner John Andreeysk said proposals had to be considered on their merits, an explanation which some at least found difficult to accept In a discussion of traffic and the need for new routes out of Leaside to the east, Mr. Burnside mentioned that a hoped for ramp off lower Don Mills to the Don Valley Parkway northbound had to be abandoned because there is not enough space in the valley.
