City will be asked to fight 2 Laird at OMB

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Click to make larger

The saga of 2 Laird Drive drags on at City Hall with local councillors recommending to the full council that the city fight the present plan which is now before the Ontario Municipal Board. Members of North York Community Council so voted at their September 10, 2013 meeting. The developer, Knightstone Capital, says opposition at the OMB would be a foolish expense because city staff has already recommended acceptance of the development based on revisions the developer has made. But height is the burning issue, with  opponents demanding that the condominium be limited to five storeys. As it stands, the application calls for 2 Laird grow to 7 storeys. It would be built as a 78 unit residential building with 94 parking spaces underground. Knightstone agreed to changes earlier this year. City staff has bought into these changes but it still has some minor requirements related to set back, the elevation at street level and a pedestrian walkway on Krawchuk Lane.  An outdoor amenity area is proposed on the rooftop overlooking Millwood Drive. As a result, from a zoning perspective, the proposed building would be considered 8 storeys in height. The 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th floors have a variety of balconies, terraces and setbacks along the west and south sides of the building. The 6th and 7th floors facing Millwood Road and Malcolm Road are also stepped back 2 to 5 metres from the main face of the building. The ground floor of the building would include grade related dwelling units along both public streets and the public lane. The units along the public lane have been designed as grade related townhouse units, 3-storeys in height, in response to the existing townhouses opposite on Krawchuk  lane. The main entrance/lobby to the building is located near the Malcolm Road entrance driveway with a direct connection to the public sidewalk. At grade, open space is comprised of private patios along Malcolm Road, Millwood Road and Krawchuck Lane with varying building setbacks. With the exception of the corner building element at Millwood Drive/Malcolm, the building is generally set back 3.1 metres from Krawchuck Lane, 1.2 – 4.0 metres from Millwood Drive and 3 metres from Malcolm Road. The corner building element is set back 2 metres from both streets.  Staff report on 2 Laird.  Larger picture 

Colt surveys pasture realm from garage roof

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And how did he get down? It’s simple really. This one-year-old colt descended the same way he clambered up on the roof. The garage from which he surveys the world in this unusual picture is built into the side of a hill (inset). It is not a wide path to the roof, but if you are a sure-footed young creature with four legs for balance it can be done. We judge that little length of roof just off the ground to be about a foot and a half in length. Pat and Stephen Downey of Hampton, New Brunswick run this horse farm with Stephen’s brother Archie. It was Archie who got up early the other day to find the colt up on the roof. He snapped a picture and sent it to his brother. No one believed it. The old photo shop trick, you know. But it was all real and it took some coaxing to get the colt back down to his pasture. Those old shingles must taste awful. 

Songwriter lists Rosedale home for $2.4 million

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Co-writer of Miley Cyrus hit Wrecking Ball sells Astley Ave. home.  Globe and Mail 

“Driver applied brakes but too late” say women

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“Driver tried to stop”

Two women passengers on the OC Transpo bus  that collided with a VIA train Wednesday say that driver Dave Woodard did respond to the cries from passengers telling him to stop. But he did so too late. This information, aired on CP24,  has been unreported by the media and is being transmitted even now quite incidentally. Previously aired information about the seconds before the collision have come from motorists and train passengers who seemed to suggest that the bus slammed into the train without slowing. If Woodard did in fact apply the brakes in a futile attempt to avoid the crash it would tend to suggest that he had been distracted or asleep in the moments before he heard the passengers shouting at him, not disabled or unconscious as some have speculated. 

Anne Golden panel of 13 to consider transit funds

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Anne Golden

Premier Wynne has more or less passed the ball (at least publicly) on how to pay for the subway century to a panel of 13 like-minded people. It will be chaired by Anne Golden of Ryerson University. Ms. Golden is a greatly-honoured academic and member of the Liberal Party. She led the United Way of Toronto for many years. The political sensitivity of Ms. Wynne’s decision may be clear to some by the simple reality that the Premier did not herself just say what she’s going to do. At a news conference today at Queen’s Park she did however exhort voters to embrace her own mind-set. “This is a culture shift for this region, it’s a culture shift for the North American context, that people think not in terms of the automobile, they think about transit,” she said. “So we need to make sure that we make the fairest choices possible.”  Did you get that?  There will be taxes coming. 

Via, GO Transit train service disrupted by gas leak

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CP24

Grilltime on Laird adds packaged specialties

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Korean short ribs. Yum.
Andy Elder has added a nice angle to his choice-meat shop Grilltime at 62 Laird Drive opposite the Telus building. Visitors will now find additional refrigerator cases with some favorite marinated delights. Among the most popular, we’re saying, is the de-boned chicken marinated in the package. They aren’t too readily available in our neighborhood but Andy has them at a very good price. Another mouth-watering packaged meat is the marinated Korean short ribs. They broil up in just minutes and The Bulldog will be going back for seconds. Just as an aside, Grilltime is approaching a five-year anniversary at the Laird location. It’s easily found sitting between the Starbucks and Kenrae Rd. Grilltime is open Tuesday to Friday 10 to 7, Saturday and Sunday 11 to 6. (416) 467-4745.

Work speeding ahead at Millwood and Rumsey

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Towns of Rumsey

Things are speeding ahead at the little development at the corner of Millwood and Rumsey Rds to build five town homes. Homeowners nearby should be pleased that the long forlorn property is finally going to look like it belongs in their neighborhood. The project is owned by South Hills Homes which took over from Castleton Homes as things began to get tough for the latter firm. There have been rumblings that the widely respected Castleton was having trouble. Until very recently, Castleton Homes had literally dozens of projects going in Leaside. It’s owner, home-town lad Tony Paglialunga, was quite literally king of home-building in Leaside. Many will be saddened by the difficulties his firm has faced.

Couple feared lost on New Zealand vacation

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Connor Hayes and JoannaLam

Friends in Canada and police in New Zealand fear that a young couple from Ottawa have been lost after their rental van was swept off the road by a landslide in a rugged part of the country’s South Island. Today more parts of the wrecked van were washed ashore more than 50 km from where it left the road, the New Zealand Herald reported. Joanna Lam, 24, and her boyfriend Connor Hayes, 25, have not been seen since Sept. 10 while they were travelling on the island. Police have already found the van’s real wheels and chassis at the bottom of a gorge, but haven’t located the body or engine of the vehicle. The fuel pump was found 7 km north of the mouth of the Haast River, the Herald reported. Early Wednesday morning, New Zealand time, 16 volunteers and police officers set out to scour the river and below the gorge. There are two boats in the river and a helicopter is searching from the air. Friends in Ottawa became concerned when Ms. Lam failed to appear for work in Ottawa at a job she had recently obtained

Porter Airlines says service returning to normal

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Porter Airlines says its booking and reservation service is coming back online after the collapse of the system’s nerve centre in Minneapolis caused dozens of flight delays and cancellations on Tuesday. The outage affected the airline’s website and call centre as well as passenger check-in. 

Confusion in charge at Porter Airlines

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Confusion seems to be in charge at Porter Airlines tonight as the company has had to cancel dozens of flights in and out of Billy Bishop airport. The cause appears to be a computer collapse of some type in Minneapolis. The unusual geography of this breakdown is unexplained by the airline but it appears that other carriers may be effected. There may be a mutual booking system service supplied by the same company but that has not been confirmed. Passengers seem to be utterly on their own as far as re-booking, refunds or any other functional service to help them move on. Most are heading home, to hotels or to Pearson Airport for a night trying to find alternative transport. The breakdown has stranded Porter flights originating in destination cities is all over central Canada and nearby parts of the U.S. They are unable to load and take off. It is not clear whether ground control and air traffic control facilities are operational. Officials say they don’t know how long it will take to fix the issue. Pearson officials say flights at their airport have not been affected.

City nixes condo sign 5 times the legal size

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Bulldog April 17, 2013

In his monthly letter to constituents Josh Matlow (Ward 22) describes how the large sign we photographed last April became no more. It’s cool mistress promised an “evolution in modern condo living”  (Stop snickering, it means lady). For $199,000 sometime, if approved, and built, you would be evolutionized on the exciting Eglinton LRT.  What a thrill. Or, maybe you would rather live over a candy store. In any case, Mr. Matlow’s chagrin is understandable and he is on a private war against condo signs promising the world, especially when the buildings haven’t been approved. This sign went down after the Toronto Sign Variance Committee met to discuss what is called a first party sign proposal for the monumental message at 2221 Yonge St  just south of Eglinton Ave. Approval was sought for the sign, a full 524 square metres in size. The maximum is 100 square metres. So it had to come down.