The Sherwood Park Residents’ Association annual general meeting was held Wednesday night at The Sherwood, a residence for seniors, on Yonge St north of Sherwood Ave. The meeting reviewed as many as five developments in the neighborhood including efforts by homeowners on Keewatin Avenue to stop multiple unit developments at 200-214 Keewatin which they feel will change the neighborhood’s density.
Councillor Jaye Robinson said she had spoken with the developer and directed him to stop sending letters to elderly residents. This was being done, as she believed, to frighten them and cause them to move out. “I don’t know whether he will stop, but I told him to” Ms Robinson said.
The Councillor is head of the public works and infrastructure committee. She offered a cautious but positive response on whether there would be room on streets like Eglinton for all the amenities listed on planning wish lists: wide sidewalks, benches, trees, bicycle lanes and racks, street parking and multiple lanes of traffic. In all of this, congestion had to be avoided, she declared.
There was extended discussion of the Ontario Municipal Board and the view held at City Hall (and by herself) that Toronto would be better off without it. She noted however that Toronto is the creature of the Province, and has no leverage against the OMB. The Committee of Adjustment will shortly be supplemented with an appeal body of some type, presumably to deflect reference away from the OMB.
SPRA president Ben Daube offered a view that it was better to try to work with the developers than focus on the OMB. Among items updated for the meeting was 1860 Bayview where the new Whole Foods is being built. Residents of Rappert Ave. behind the development have approved the brick which will form a separating wall between their cul-de-sac and the shopping centre. The south wall of the development has been moved north permitting wider sidewalks and a better view east toward Bayview.
