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Letters to the Editor
Posted Feb. 2013
Hi, I have heard
that a decision has been made to widen Port Union Rd. Apparently this was
casually mentioned at a meeting regarding the townhouses to be built at No
Frills, in which only a few of the closest homes were invited to attend.
It was not relayed to the rest of the community. I guess we are supposed
to learn about this through the rumour mill. I knew that widening was
under review but there had not been any community update regarding this
for the past few years. Why was there no mention of this important change
in the Jan or Feb CCRA newsletters? I would have thought this would be in
Councillor Moeser's section for sure. I believe there is to be 4 lanes, a
median, and bike lanes on each side. This will undoubtedly mean that
existing trees will be removed along Pt Union and traffic flow will be
close to the fences of the private homes. I believe the community should
know the facts about this - and not have to rely on hearsay passed from a
few people who were at that townhouse meeting. Can you please follow up
with this important change to our community and ensure the residents in
the Centennial Community are informed? Thanks.
Bonnie Ballam
Posted Feb 2013
To Councillor Moeser
Councillor, It would be appreciated if you
would take a moment to review your file on this property to confirm its
existing and potential land use (e.g. as is) and then ensure that the
selling agent, Prudential Realty, is aware of it.
Thus informed, Prudential can then meet their
full disclosure commitments and inform potential buyers accordingly.
A review of your file will show that the owner
prior to current one(s) was a speculator/developer who, while undertaking
a failed attempt to subdivide the property, utilised it as a rental
property. As a developer/speculator no attempt was made to improve the
appearance of the property to have it fit within the standard of
surrounding properties.
I also understand the survey plan being handed
out by Prudential has been annotated to show a proposed subdivision of the
property with two lots fronting onto Satchell. This is not in accordance
with current zoning and was previously rejected by the City. Use of such a
marked-up plan could be deemed as misleading to potential buyers with
intent to increase the property’s marketability.
A review of your file will also show this as
the property that was clear cut of over 30 mature private and city owned
trees while the city stood impotently on the side. I am still, to this
day, baffled that the City did not plant new trees, either along the
boulevard or back along the property line.
I am Winston Beard, owner of 79 Satchell Blvd.
We look onto the open backyard of 198 Lawson. The entire 180 feet of
property abutting Satchell is exposed. We and other neighbours look
forward to the day when an owner of 198 will recognise their neighbourhood
responsibilities and create visual screening to their backyard, which is
all too often used as a vehicle, boat and equipment storage area, and
maintain this property at the same standard as the rest of this excellent
neighbourhood. We are sorry to see the current owners leave as they indeed
had such plans for the property.
Thank you for your attention to this matter. I
trust that lessons learned from the situation at 367 Lawson will encourage
you and the City to act proactively and ensure potential buyers are not
misled a property’s potential.
Cheers
Winston
Beard
Posted Jan 2013
To Whom it May Concern,
This letter is to
demonstrate a position of strong opposition to the application for
the 50 stacked town homes that are proposed to be built on 17 Island
Rd.
There are many concerns for this proposed building project--the main
one being that a small commercially zoned lot is being considered
for residential zoning. It makes absolutely no logical sense to
build a dense, residential complex that does not match the
aesthetics of the surrounding community. In addition, I cannot
imagine any family wanting to reside in a home where they are
surrounded by the noise of the 401, No frills or a child and youth
services group home.
According to the proposal, these town homes will have limited
parking. This will result in residents occupying parking reserved
for NO FRILLS customers, as well as congest Island road when
additional parking is required. This is problematic for many reason.
The first is the direct affect on local business owners who will
lose customers due to limited/no parking. it is also assumed that
each unit will have only one vehicle and limited visitors, and that
there will be only one family per unit. I cannot imagine anyone
wanting to own a home that is in the middle of a commercial zone
with no direct access to parks and schools. As a result, I believe
the outcome will be an unkept, low income community that will become
a focal point upon entrance to the otherwise beautiful West Rouge
area.
In addition, There are
very few main roads in the West Rouge community; Port Union and
Island road are two of them. By building densely populated town
homes in this location, it will add to the already congested traffic
flow. In addtion, Port Union is a one lane road (for the most part)
and is used to access both the GO train and the 401 by local
residents. This will not only add to the current congestion, but
might force people to rush through residential streets to avoid such
traffic, resulting in increased residential traffic that can
compromise the safety of children who are walking to and from
school, etc. In addition, if there are 50 families with children in
this complex, this could result in over 50 school aged children.
There is no school in the immediate area, and if neighbouring
schools are already at capacity, the result will be crowded schools
and undesirable portables for students and the community.
Why is there a need to
build on every green space left in our community? Why do we insist
upon increasing our carbon footprint? This is not in the best
interest of our community and environment.
The builder proposing
this project does not care about the West Rouge community or the
negative impact that will result if these homes are built. This
builder is only concerned with making as much money as possible and
he can only do this by creating a densely built community. I urge
you to keep this space zoned for commercial use so that our
community can continue to support local businesses.
In closing, please
honour and respect the residence of this community by listening to
their voices on this matter and recognizing that we have chosen this
community because it is scarborough's gem and a desirable place to
live and raise our families. We should be able to do so without our
community being compromised in the long term for someone else's
short term profit.
Thank you for your
consideration.
Posted Jan 2013
As a long time
resident of the Centennial Community,
I am extremely
concerned about the City’s proposed
service reduction
to our local fire station #215 at 5318
Lawrence Ave. The
2013 Budget calls for the permanent
removal of the
Aerial truck and its crew from our
community. This
will remove 50% of the fire response
capability from
our community and result in a significant
delay in having an
Aerial truck respond to any
emergency in our
community.
The geographic
location of our community creates
significant
challenges for proper fire department
response. The city
plans to take a total of five trucks
and 101 front-line
staff permanently out of service at
stations across
the city. The Fire Chief’s own report
states that the
most significant impact will be in our
community,
creating much longer response times for
firefighters to
arrive.
I urge you to
contact Councillor Moeser immediately
to express your
concern with these proposed cuts and
insist that he
stand up for our community and not
put us at
increased risk in the name of “efficiencies”.
You can also call
or write the Mayor’s office directly to
let him know that
our community deserves the same
level of service
as every other community in Toronto.
Ed Kennedy,
President
Toronto
Professional Fire Fighters’ Association
Councillor Ron
Moeser
Toronto City Hall
100 Queen Street
West, Suite B33
Toronto, ON M5H
2N2
Phone:
416-392-1373 Fax: 416-392-7429
Email:
councillor_moeser@toronto.ca
Constituency
Office:
5504 Lawrence
Avenue E., Scarborough, ON M1C 3B2
Phone:
416-338-5306
Mayor Rob Ford
Office of the
Mayor
Toronto City Hall,
2nd Floor,
100 Queen St.
West, Toronto ON M5H 2N2
Phone: 416-397-FORD (3673)
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