Provincial proposal aims to give residents greater say

By Han Dong

Recently, I attended an event at the Fort York Foundation Visitors’ Centre with the Hon. Ted McMeekin, Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, where he announced that the Government of Ontario is proposing reforms to the Planning Act and the Development Charges Act.  These proposed reforms would give residents a greater say in how their communities grow and would provide more opportunities to fund community services such as transit and recycling.

The Smart Growth for Our Communities Act was introduced on Mar. 5. The Smart Growth for Our Communities Act introduces reforms to the Planning Act and the Development Charges Act that would make sure that growth in Ontario is managed smartly.

Our proposed amendments would give residents a greater, more meaningful say in how their communities grow; and would make the planning and appeals process more predictable. The changes would also give municipalities more independence and would make it easier to resolve disputes at the community level.

The proposed Planning Act changes, if passed, would give municipalities and community groups an enhanced tool, called the community planning permit system, to encourage an innovative way to plan and address local needs. The development of this system would include residents and other stakeholders, and when one is in place, would not be subject to private appeals for five years.

The proposed changes would also ensure residents are better consulted at the beginning of the planning process for new developments, and encourage residents to provide feedback on the future of their communities. Furthermore, the changes would help municipalities resolve potential planning disputes earlier, reducing the involvement of the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB).

These changes would also extend the review of new municipal official plans to 10 years, instead of the current five-year cycle.

The proposed changes to the Development Charges Act, if passed, would help municipalities recover costs for transit services and waste diversion, and create clear reporting requirements for capital projects that were financed though development charges. The reforms are based on recommendations from the review of the land use planning and appeal, and the development charges systems.  We will also be setting up working groups of stakeholders to review further more complex development charges issues, and to take a considered look at some land use planning elements.

It is important that all communities are engaged in a meaningful discussion regarding Smart Growth in Ontario. The Smart Growth for Our Communities Act will assist residents of Trinity-Spadina by putting the tools for effective advocacy in residents’ hands. With these important tools in place, and at their disposal, residents can be assured that they have a meaningful say in how their community grows.

The Act, if passed, will strengthen the community’s voice, address local needs, allow for quicker dispute resolutions, and provide a well informed avenue for concerned residents. Helping communities grow is part of the government’s economic plan for Ontario.

The four-part plan is building Ontario up by investing in people’s talents and skills, building new public infrastructure like roads and transit, creating a dynamic, supportive environment where business thrives, and building a secure savings plan so everyone can afford to retire.

For more information on the Smart Growth for Our Communities Act, community information sessions, the OMB, and all other provincial issues, please contact my office at 416-603-9664, hdong.mpp.co@liberal.ola.org or visit www.handong.onmpp.ca.

Han Dong is the MPP?for Trinity-Spadina.

Photo: Neiland Brissenden, Gleaner News

HVRA lane-naming project leads to The Postman

By Annemarie Brissenden

There are nearly 500 miles between Miliford, Del. and St. Catharines, Ont. These days, it would take approximately 10 hours to drive a highway that meanders through New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and then New York, before finally reaching Ontario. One hundred and seventy-five years ago, it would have been a different matter altogether.

Imagine bundling up your seven children, ranging in age from three to 16, gathering your meagre possessions, and making the journey on foot. You travel at night, because you’re escaping slavery, and are being hunted. Should you not evade capture, you would be returned to a life in chains, or worse.

For Anne Maria Jackson and her children, who would eventually walk the equivalent of 20 marathons along the Underground Railroad, freedom would not be elusive. They would make it north and settle in Toronto, where the family would prosper.

The youngest child, Albert, would grow up to become the city’s first African-American postman. But that success would not come without struggles of a different sort. Albert Jackson’s white colleagues refused to work with him, and it would take the intervention of Canada’s first prime minister, Sir John A. Macdonald, to secure Jackson’s position at the post office. Jackson would remain in this role for the rest of his life, buying several houses in the greater Annex, which was also home to his postal route.

“It’s the largest family group ever to come to Canada [via the Underground Railroad],” explained David Ferry, the artistic director of Appledore Productions, which will debut The Postman, a promenade-style musical play that will recreate Albert Jackson’s life along local streets this summer.

Ferry first learned of the story following media coverage of the Harbord Village Residents’ Association’s Laneway Naming Project, which unearthed Albert Jackson’s story. Inspired as much by Jackson’s mother as by Jackson himself, Ferry promotes the play, in which different scenes will be performed from different porches along Jackson’s postal route in Harbord Village and the Palmerston Avenue area, with infectious enthusiasm.

In workshops, he bubbles with energy, and just can’t help himself from dancing along as the cast rehearses the musical numbers. Such ebullience is necessary as he marshals community members to help with logistics and volunteer their front yards for performances, and collaborates with seven playwrights of diverse backgrounds on the script.

“It’s my first experience working almost in a collective. You’re trying to be distinct in your writing, yet finding a singular voice,” explained Leah Simone-Bowen, Obsidian Theatre’s artistic producer, one of the play’s writers. Layne Coleman, who’s playing Sir John A. Macdonald, also spoke about Ferry’s unique approach. “There’s not harmony in the way the story telling usually is,” said Coleman, “but David is threading it all together with music, [which] adds some unity.” Coleman, who has played Sir John A. several times before, believes there is “something particularly mythic about the Jackson family.” Like Ferry, he’s inspired by their horrifying and remarkable journey.

“Consider what it’s like to walk 500 miles at night in the northeastern states pursued by very unscrupulous people,” he said, adding he’s learned so much about the history of Toronto, and the deep roots of the city’s Black community thanks to the play.

“Learning that there was so much history, and Black history, was stunning to me,” echoed Simone-Bowen. In some ways, “[Jackson’s] story is such a specific story,” but in others, “it’s very similar to every immigrant story ever,” she added.

“It is such an empowering story overall,” said Laurence Dean Ifill, the actor playing Albert Jackson. Not an at-risk youth while growing up (“my father was and still is a beautiful role model”) he believes “stories like this should be told. “Would it make a difference to someone?” wondered Ifill, who has always been interested in historical pieces when it comes to theatre.

He has been involved in The Postman ever since Ferry brought the idea to him while they both working on a Eugene O’Neill play three years ago. “[The play] is like a journey for me,” said Ifill.

Moved by the life Jackson and his wife built in the Annex, the actor notes how the end of Jackson’s journey is as inspiring as its beginning. Jackson and his wife achieved so much, and built such a life here. “They made a beautiful team,” he said. “All because his mother decided to escape. That’s beautiful.”

Photo by Cole Burchell, Gleaner News

Residents of the Bathurst and Ulster streets area awoke to sirens early in the morning of Mar. 16 as a two-alarm blaze demolished a garage and did damage to the side of a house on Ulster Street. Vehicles parked in front of the garage suffered serious damage as well but no injuries were reported. The cause of the fire is unknown, fire officials said. The blaze was reported at around 5:30 a.m. and fire crews had the flames under control 30 minutes later. Leigh Harrison, a resident on Bathurst Street whose balcony backs onto the scene of the fire, said she awoke at around 5 a.m. to her whole apartment being lit up by the glare and that “the fire was well underway by the time I left the house.” Harrison added that she had submitted noise complaints due to “rampant construction” on the property late last year. The City of Toronto Bylaw Investigation webpage confirms that 104 Ulster St. was the subject of a removal notice early last year. The house was said to be unsafe for multiple dwellings due to a lack of fire safety measures including fire alarm systems and adequate fire exits. Despite these concerns, up to 18 residents were living in the building at one point. The dwelling was renovated into a multiple-room household without a bylaw permit. Police on the scene did not comment on the blaze.

—Cole Burchell, Gleaner News

Infrastructure is the key to Green

By Terri Chu,

I ran into many neighbours at a recent community consultation for the Honest Ed’s redevelopment project. Westbank unveiled its plans, which consist entirely of rental units with a strong emphasis on the key buzzword of the day, “microretail”.

I heard barely any complaints about the rental-focused development, though a few people did object to the 29-storey height. On the environmental front, they said mostly the right things though details are murky at the moment. Very little has been done in terms of detailed plans as most of them are still conceptual. Included in the plans are my personal favourites: combined heat and power and urban agriculture (despite being token small plots). I am concerned about how much energy-sucking window area will be allowed, but have been assured they will stick to the 40 per cent maximum threshold.

I look forward to having higher density in the area, despite the existing car parking issues. It will be an accomplishment if the developers can encourage more people to live car-free and walk across the street and primarily take transit. Given how convenient Bloor Street is, this is certainly a possibility.

The Bloor-Danforth subway line is not nearly at the capacity that the Yonge line is, so I view development along it as a good thing. Let’s make sure we use the existing infrastructure that we have, not just build new (underused) lines. Density has been an issue for neighbourhood businesses as evidenced by the empty storefronts along Bloor Street. In the recent past, a home in this neighbourhood might have housed a half-dozen people, but it now typically houses two or three.

As gentrification takes hold, multi-unit homes are increasingly being turned back into single-family ones. Without adequate density, it is difficult to maintain walkable communities. Businesses need people to thrive, and one individual can only eat so many muffins.

More concerning than the Honest Ed’s project to me is the 80-storey project east of us at the old Stollery’s location at Yonge and Bloor. While the Danforth line still has some ways to go before reaching anywhere near the ridership that the Yonge line enjoys, Yonge-Bloor is already a dangerously busy station. Adding 80 more storeys in an area before existing infrastructure to service it is in place seems to me counterintuitive.

If done right, in theory the complex could provide everything that people need and its existence in and of itself relieves people from the need to travel. Not executed right, we are putting more people on an overtaxed subway system possibly encouraging frustrated riders to take the car instead. I can’t say Toronto’s development boom was “done right” given the need for Liberty Village residents to crowd source their own bus service.

I’d like to see bigger, grander plans for transit, waste, sewage, electricity, and then for those bigger plans to go ahead together as opposed to the piecemeal method of infrastructure we have been seeing of late. Letting development occur, then figuring out how to service it later hasn’t been serving us well. Toronto has tremendous opportunity, however, since a lot of development work is still going on. Anyone who has read my previous columns knows that I am a huge fan of district energy.

Unless there is a grand plan that involves more than just one developer, ambitious projects like that don’t just happen. As residents of Toronto, I think it’s important that we show support for good projects so developers know that we will not stand in the way of responsible, community-focused developments.

I think it’s also important we let the City know that we want to see a bigger plan in place and not just a hodgepodge of condos here and subways there (if they were correlated I might be less upset).

Good city planning needs engaged citizens to be part of the process.

I was heartened by seeing the turnout at this event but clearly there’s still a ways to go. Don’t be shy about writing your councillor and asking “what about the infrastructure?” Until we say it’s important, it isn’t.

Use whatever you have in the pantry for crust

By Susan Oppenheim

Who didn’t grow up 50-odd years ago with something that was totally special, totally yummy, and very, very easy to make?

Ask my mother, a daughter of an amazing baker, about her cooking skills, and she will make a joke. She admits openly that she didn’t cook. She worked full-time six days a week and I do not remember broccoli, cauliflower, or anything else cooked besides corn on the cob or mashed potatoes. Absolutely everything for the four boomer kids in our house came out of a box or a can.

About once a month there were four couples, my parents included, who got together for poker night. They took turns hosting the game, but when it was our turn my older sister and I would sneak onto the stairs and dare each other to run into the kitchen while they were engrossed in the dining room, playing out their hands. With the doors closed off so that no one saw us, we’d grab ribbon tea sandwiches. Imagine salmon and egg together in one bite on alternating white and brown bread.

­One thing my mum made on those occasions was an icebox cake, which was likely the predecessor to Oreo cookies! The base ingredients for this were chocolate wafers in a box sold upright and stacked, with a simple recipe on the side. It involved whipping cream, flavoured sugar, and the cookies. They were placed in a stack, horizontal with the sweetened cream between them, then frozen and eaten slightly thawed. I think you can still buy these cookies on grocery shelves today.

What I did not realize at the time was that this is not so different from a convenience store, non-bake icebox pie made with cookie crumbs and a filling of your choice.

It’s finally spring, so I’m posting a lemon meringue pie for you all with a standard graham cracker crust. Feel free to change this any way you want with chocolate cookies, vanilla wafers, even cookies in a cupboard that you stashed and never got to.

Lemon pie from

Kate Aitken cookbook

Make sure to separate your eggs when cold so no yolk gets into the whites.

Standard crumb crust

• 1 1/2 cups finely ground

graham cracker crumbs (or any                         cookie you have)

• 1/3 cup white sugar
• 6 tablespoons warm butter,             melted

Mix these together well and then pat into your pie plate. Pretty easy huh? If you don’t have a kitchen processor just put the cookies in a strong bag and roll your rolling pin over them, crushing until fine. Put enough into the pie plate to make a good base.

Filling

• 3 tablespoons cornstarch
• 3 tablespoons all purpose flour
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups boiling water
• 2 eggs separated
• 6 tablespoons lemon juice (fresh             squeezed)
• 2 teaspoons lemon zest (grate             the outside peel of the lemon)
• 1 tablespoon butter

Mix cornstarch, flour, sugar, and salt in the top of a double boiler; add the boiling water stirring all the time. Cook over direct heat until thick and smooth, stirring constantly. Cover and cook over boiling water for another 10 minutes. Mix together the egg yolks, lemon juice, and zest, then stir into the hot starch mixture. Blend well, and continue cooking for another three minutes. Remove from the stove, add the butter, and cool. Using a hand beater, beat it up light and fluffy then spoon gently into your crumb shell.

Meringue

• 2 egg whites stiffly beaten at             room temperature (no yolk)
• 3 tablespoons white sugar
• 1 teaspoon cornstarch

Combine egg whites, white sugar, and cornstarch using a hand mixer on its highest setting. Beat until peaks form and it is not sticky. Cover the lemon pie making sure you reach all the edges as the meringue will shrink a bit. Bake it in the centre of a 350 degree oven until puffy and browned, about 10 minutes. Serve cooled. If the meringue seems too much, just whip up some cream and use that.

Photo: Brian Burchell, Gleaner News

The stretch of Bloor Street West book-ended by Bathurst Street and Spadina Avenue is going through a transformation. The question is whether it’s a good one. We’re finally seeing an end to so many “Store for Rent” signs, but that’s been at the expense of a lot of chains moving in. It remains to be seen whether that will bring an end to the strip’s unique character. The futures of two landmark corners also remain up in the air. We’re still keeping an eye on the northwest corner of Bloor Street and Spadina Avenue, which the City has identified as a site that could facilitate a large building. Also on our radar: the parcel of land at Bloor Street and Brunswick Avenue that includes the By the Way Café and four buildings to the west of the restaurant. It was sold last year to a new owner who has renovated the commercial and residential spaces, and is now renting them out; good news at least in the short term.

Annemarie Brissenden, Gleaner News

Photo: Brian Burchell. Gleaner News

Owner/Developer: The Wynn Group

Status: Pending, before the OMB

We reported last year in this space that the City had rejected the Wynn Group’s proposal to build a 22-storey private student residence, fitness club, and recreate the Silver Dollar Room at the College Street and Spadina Avenue site. The developer has appealed the matter to the OMB, and final arguments were heard on Jan. 30. The City has also advanced the matter, declaring the Silver Dollar Room to be of cultural heritage value or interest. The storied hotel, home to poet Milton Acorn in the 1970s, provides low income housing to transient members of the community right now, and deserves a more creative, heritage-minded hand guiding its future. That said, given the OMB’s track record of siding with the developer, it’s unlikely that that will happen.

Annemarie Brissenden, Gleaner News

Photo: Brian Burchell, Gleaner News

Owner/Developer: Mix of private owners, University of Toronto

On the face of it, U of T is an academic institution. It’s also one of the city’s most prominent landowners and developers. And clearly, it’s still figuring out how to balance its academic needs with responsible development. Consider its proposal to develop a student residence at Spadina and Sussex avenues. On the one hand, the University is working with the Daniels Corporation, a company known for critically-lauded projects like Regent Park. On the other, community members are frustrated with the way the institution is pursuing the project, and believe it has yet to demonstrate that it respects the broader community. Neighbourhood representatives want the height of the proposed building lowered dramatically, and for the University to consider developing a residence that mixes students from different years, as opposed to dedicating it to first year students. Little progress has been made to date, but we expect this site to be under greater scrutiny in the coming months.

Annmarie Brissenden, Gleaner News

Photo: Brian Burchell, Gleaner News

Owner/Developer: Tribute Communities, Knightstone Capital Management

Status: Underway

For many community members, College Street is an example of what not to do when it comes to development. Height is the predominant feature of two major projects that are now underway: Tribute Communities’ College Condominium at 297 College St. and Knightstone Capital’s private student residence at 245-253 College St. At 15 storeys, the Tribute development at the edge of Kensington will also bring a 20,000-square-foot Loblaws to the neighbourhood. It’s set to open mid next year. Meanwhile, the OMB approved Knightstone’s application to build a 25-storey, 829-bed private residence in June, reversing the City’s January 2014 decision to deny the developer’s proposed plan. It not only sets a new height threshold for potential projects on College Street, it’s also what has community groups stepping up their opposition to similar developments elsewhere. But as long as the OMB continues to hold sway over Toronto’s built future, questions over height and preservation of heritage are largely out of the City’s hands.

Photo by Brian Burchell, Gleaner News

Owner/Developer: University of Toronto

Status: Under construction

Construction is well underway at 1 Spadina Cres., the nineteenth-century Gothic revival building that was previously home to Knox College and Connaught Laboratories. Once completed some time in the 2015/2016 academic year, the building will be a mix of old and new, with the restored historic building facing south, and the contemporary multi-storey glass façade providing an open embrace to the north. Unique due to its sustainable urban design and preservation of the heritage aspect, the faculty building is also aimed at creating a link between the community and the university. In a city that’s still learning how to balance its built history with its modern ambitions, this is a project to watch.

Annemarie Brissenden, Gleaner News

Photo by Brian Burchell, Gleaner News

While Bathurst Street still looks the same as it did at this time last year, much has changed at the planning level. In July, RioCan and the City reached a compromise regarding the redevelopment of 410-446 Bathurst St., the former site of Kromer Radio. Walmart will not be a tenant for at least 15 years in the mixed-use development, whose retail square footage has been reduced, overall height capped, sidewalks expanded, and street-level parking added for bicycles. And in August, City Council passed an amendment to the Official Plan that reflects the results of a multi-year study of the future of Bathurst Street from Dupont to Queen streets. Aimed at preserving Bathurst Street’s unique character and facilitating the transition from neighbourhood to mixed use, it includes provisions for enhancing pedestrian access, regulating height limits, and promoting retail frontages on the street.

Annmarie Brissenden, Gleaner News

Photo by Brian Burchell, Gleaner News

Owner/Developer: 500 Bloor Street Property Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Westbank Corp.

Status: Proposal pending

Community members are eagerly anticipating Westbank’s second open house on March 3, when it will present the initial concept for the redevelopment of the $100-million, 1.8-hectare southeast corner of Bloor and Bathurst streets. So far, Westbank is modelling a new approach to development in the area, bringing the community in for consultation prior to presenting a proposal. It’s a breath of fresh air for the neighbourhood, whose residents are long used to viewing developers as competitors, not collaborators. For architect Gregory Henriquez, however, it’s simply the right way to do business. Not only in tune with what are perceived as traditional Annex values, social activism and environmental stewardship, Henriquez has mused publicly about respecting the site’s unique history, establishing a St. Lawrence-type market in the space, and favouring purpose-built rental across different scales in lieu of condominiums. It remains to be seen whether Westbank and Henriquez will deliver on their promises, but we’re optimistic, given the progress so far.

Westbank’s second open house will be held on Tuesday, March 3, at 6.00 p.m. on the main floor of the Park Hyatt Hotel.

Annemarie Brissenden, Gleaner News