The Clean Train Coalition has produced petition cards which they are going to take to Queen’s Park as part of their response to the Environmental Assessment conducted by Metrolinx.
We’ll be dropping them off at your doorstep; if you support the demand for immediate electrification of the rail line, please fill it out, sign it and drop the completed card in our mailbox at 80 Ritchie Avenue by Friday, August 28. We will arrange to get them to Queen’s Park. You do not need to put postage on these as we will be hand delivering them.
Many thanks for participating in this important initiative!
Roncesvalles Lofts at 25 Ritchie will be having their hearing at the Ontario Municipal Board on Tuesday, June 23 at 10 am. I will be out of town at that time and I would encourage any of you who feel strongly about challenging their proposal to attend the meeting and make your concerns heard.
Just a quick note to let you know about a great film screening at the Revue Cinema on Sunday June 14th at 7 pm, which will be a fundraising event for the Clean Train Coalition. The film is called Toxic Trespass and is a documentary which investigates the high level of chemical contamination in Canadian children. Please click on this invitation for more information: ctc-fundraiser-email
On Saturday May 30, 2009 High Park Baptist Church is celebrating their 100th Anniversary with a Neighbourhood BBQ Bash from 11:00AM to 2:00PM. Everyone is welcome to come to this family event. We will be BBQ Burgers & Hot Dogs for 50 cents drinks are free. There will events for both young and old…..there will be Jumping Castles, Face Painting, a Picture Booth, Live Music, even a Building Tour. There will be Cotton Candy, & Popcorn……we will even have a “Pie the Pastor” and “Dunk the Deacon”.
So, please mark your calendar and come out to High Park Baptist Church 9 Hewitt Ave. @ Roncesvalles, just north of Howard Park. Come and have some fun…..
John Phillips has asked that I forward this information (email below) regarding the Feather Factory Ontario Municipal Board Hearing. John will be going to the Hearing to oppose the application, and wanted anyone who also opposes the proposal to understand that the OMB will rule on the application based on whether:
The variances requested (by the Feather Factory in their application):
(1) maintain the general intent & purpose of the By-law
(2) maintain the general intent & purpose of the Official Plan
(3) are desirable for the appropriate development & use of the land & building
(4) are minor”.
Cheers
Peter
Hello Neighbours:
Thanks, Peter, for the update.
Yes, Feather Factory Lofts has gone back to an earlier proposal to provide 39.0 sq.m of indoor residential amenity space and 30.97 sq.m of external residential amenity space.
This is still less than half of what the City of Toronto called for — 86.0 sq.m. of indoor, and 86.0 sq.m of outdoor, amenity space.
It is important that we the community continue to tell the authorities what we think.
The only way to do that is at the OMB hearing on May 25 and 26.
The OMB requires that your LETTER (NOT an email) BE READ INTO THE RECORD at the hearing. The actual reading of the letter can be done by a ?Participant? at the hearing. Usually, this is a community member who is attending the hearing.
I will be glad to take your letters to the hearing and read them into the record. Please drop off your letter to 69 Ritchie Avenue by the evening of Sunday May 24th.
Whether you are writing for the first time, or if you have are simply updating a letter you sent previously to the City of Toronto, please address it to:
Ontario Municipal Board
Re: Case No. PL090277
2154 Dundas Street West
Minor Variance A0174/09TEY
Please make sure you keep your letter “on topic” (which is to say, the amenity spaces and the effect it will have on the community).
Don’t forget to drop your letter off at 69 Ritchie Avenue by Sunday evening 24th of May.
This is a great initiative! A Roncesvalles Village-wide yard sale, organized by the area Resident Associations. The date is this Saturday, May 23, from 9:00 till 3:00 (raindate May 24). This is the second year of what will hopefully become a major annual event in our neighbourhood.
From the organizers:
Your participation in this community-wide initiative is very much appreciated. By registering your yard sale you are helping to make RAYS as successful as it can be.
One way you can help make RAYS an even greater success is by talking to your neighbours and encouraging them to also have a yard sale. Just remember the RAYS mottoes for our success on May 23: “Strength in numbers” & “The more, the merrier!”
Lastly, as a reminder: we are strongly encouraging participants to donate 10% of their sales to the Wabash Community Centre/Sorauren Park Fieldhouse.
Please note that this month’s Roncesvalles-Macdonell Resident’s Association meeting will focus on the Metrolinx expansion of the Georgetown Corridor. I would encourage everyone to attend, and make your views on the project known to both the RMRA executive and to the Metrolinx representatives who will be present.
The meeting will be held at Fern Avenue Public School, 128 Fern Avenue, on Tuesday April 28 at 7 pm.
I know there is a lot going on right now, but nothing as important, and as controversial, as the proposed expansion of GO services and the proposed rail line between Union Station and Pearson Airport.
Right now we have around 50 trains per day on the line which goes past most of our front doors, taking commuters from Georgetown to downtown. With the expansion, there will be more than THREE HUNDRED per day. That will be one every six minutes.
Metrolinx, the government funded body which is overseeing this expansion, has rejected the call for making this an electric powered line, choosing to use older diesel engines instead. We consider this to be environmentally irresponsible and very backward thinking, given both the global impact of climate change and the local impact of pollution in densely populated areas of Toronto.
What can you do? First off, tell all your friends and neighbours about this significant threat to our neighbourhood, and go with them to the Metrolinx information session on Tuesday, April 21 2009 from 3:00 pm to 8:00 pm at Lithuanian House, Hall B, 1573 Bloor Street West, Toronto.
Ask the representatives from Metrolinx some tough questions:
Why are they rejecting the obvious logic of electrifying the line immediately?
Why does their Environmental Assessment not consider the impact of diesel exhaust in our neighbourhood and our children’s lungs?
How will the vibration of 300+ trains per day (an increase of 500%) affect the foundations of your house?
What measures are they planning to lessen the noise of the increased number of trains?
Please, PLEASE, make sure you go to the Metrolinx information session and make sure they know that we need answers and that we aren’t going to go away until the expansion respects our neighbourhood’s right to health, safety and the integrity of our homes.
If we can get a large number of neighbours showing up right after work around 5:30 pm, that will let them know that we are concerned. We’ve had success with our collective voices with the Feather Factory and 25 Ritchie Ave Lofts, let’s make sure we use them loud and strong on this most important, and permanent, development in our neighbourhood.
We’ve now founded a group called the Clean Train Coalition along with a number of other neighbourhood associations along the tracks from Weston right down to Liberty Village, we met for the first time last night and it felt great to have such common purpose. Please let us know if you want to get involved; we’ll be posting information on the RHGS website as well.
As you may know the Committee of Adjustment hearing for 25 Ritchie Avenue (Roncesvalles Lofts) takes place this Wednesday, April 8 from 3-6 pm. I’ll be going to the hearing, and I have posted my letter of objection below, along with the hearing notice. Please take a moment to read both, and send your own letter by the afternoon of Tuesday April 7th to David Driedger, File Administrator, Committee of Adjustment; Fax (416) 392-0580 or email
Please be sure to quote the following file number on your letter:
File Number A0011/09TEY
25 Ritchie Avenue
Mario Ribeiro
Cheers;
Peter Fleming
==
1
David Driedger
Office of the Committee of Adjustment
Toronto City Hall, 100 Queen Street West
Toronto, ON M5H 2N2
Fax: (416) 392-0580
April 6, 2009
Re: File Number A0011/09TEY
Mario Ribeiro
25 Ritchie Avenue, Toronto
Dear David Driedger:
I would like to make my opinions known on the above mentioned file, which comes before the
Committee of Adjustment on April 8, 2009. I would like to object to the following variances
requested by the developers of 25 Ritchie Avenue:
3. Section 4(4)(b), By-law 438-86
The minimum required number of on site parking spaces is 57.
In this case, 44 on site parking spaces will be provided.
Although the parking study provided by the developer suggests that the planned parking would
be adequate, it is important that the Committee of Adjustment understand the context of the
property. There is a very limited supply of permit street parking available, as Ritchie Avenue is a
short street bounded by three major arteries which prohibit parking after 7 am. Current
development in the area includes 2154 Dundas Street West, kitty-corner to the 25 Ritchie
property, which has now been granted Heritage Designation status exempting it from the need
to provide on-site parking for the 44 units in the building. This development will rely on permit
street parking for its residents and therefore any additional development in the area which
cannot provide on-site parking will only add to the significant parking issues currently faced by
the neighbourhood.
4. Section 2(1); Section 4(4)(c)(ii); and Section 4(17), By-law 438-86
The minimum required dimensions of a parking space are 2.7 m by 6.0 m, and the space
must be accessible and unobstructed at all times.
In this case, the proposed parking spaces will have dimensions of 2.6 m by 5.9 m and five
of the proposed surface parking spaces will be obstructed, by the location of a proposed
off-site loading space.
Obstruction of parking spaces by the movement of goods and services would significantly affect
local traffic, as trucks idling on the street would be required to move if the owners of the
obstructed parking spaces needed egress or ingress. This variance cannot be approved without
also considering the impact of variance 5, below.
5. Section 4(6)(C), By-law 438-86
One type G loading space is required on the lot.
In this case, no type G loading space is to be provided on the lot.
Loading for a building of this scale cannot be accommodated without a Type G loading space;
this omission would significantly affecting local traffic, pedestrian movement and parking. Ritchie
Avenue is a narrow residential street that has become almost impassable since construction on
25 Ritchie began. The proposed development’s vehicular access is immediately opposite the
vehicular access to the multi-storey High Park Lofts across the street, where there have already
been problems with parking and loading.
6. Section 4(2), By-law 438-86
The maximum permitted height is 14 m.
The altered six-storey building will have a height of 21.6 m.
The building as currently approved has a significant visual impact on the local community, even
in its partially completed state. Increasing the height an additional storey would add to the
already imposing nature of the building and be radically out of context to the exisiting two and
a half storey buildings on the street.
7. Section 4(12), By-law 438-86
A minimum of 114 m2 of indoor residential amenity space is required.
The altered six-storey building will have 54 m2 of indoor residential amenity space.
This variance if approved would significantly diminish the quality of life of the inhabitants and
would not provide sufficent space for the condominium board to meet and provide support and
leadership for the residents of the development.
While I support the need for greater density in our existing neighbourhoods, especially those
so well served by public transit, I feel that the currently approved density and scale of the 25
Ritchie Avenue development is more than sufficient to provide the developer with a return on
their investment. I oppose any increase in unit number or square footage, and reduction in
amentity space or parking mandated by current zoning By-laws. The exisiting By-laws ensure
that development occurs in appropriate context to neighbourhood scale and character; the
proposed variances for 25 Ritchie Avenue do not.
Sincerely;
Peter Fleming
80 Ritchie Avenue
Toronto, ON M6R 2J9
