2 Cora Crescent “Oh, No!!!!!”
Back on July 23, we advised Glen Andrew residents that our Councillor Michael Thompson had taken a motion in front of Toronto Council asking that the City Solicitor be directed to file an appeal of the Committee of Adjustment’s approval of Variances for 2 Cora Crescent.
The Council meeting took place on July 19th which was the last day to file an appeal. We watched anxiously as the morning session dragged on and on.
When the Councillors were getting ready to break for lunch, Councillor Nunziata, who runs the show down there, said wait a minute, “Before we break for lunch, I have an important item that we have to bring forward. It is ‘time sensitive’ as there is a deadline today.”
She put Councillor Thompson's motion up on the screen so everyone could see it.
Members had to vote twice to hear and decide Mike’s motion [everything Council decides usually has to wander its way through one or two committees before it can come to Council to be decided.]
Councillors voted to hear Mike’s motion.
Councillor Holyday asked that every Councillor’s vote be recorded instead of just waving their hands.
We had to wait till all of them had chosen which button to push.
The vote went up on the screen for all to see:
Hard to read but all the green are Councillors voting to approve Councillor Thompson’s motion. The single red one is Holyday voting against. [Don’t ask why…he does this regularly.]
23 in favour. 1 against. Mike’s motion was approved. Yahhhhh! Good work Mike!
Gary and I waited till Sunday to get the word out to Glen Andrew. We wanted to see it published in the minutes and there it was:
City Council authorize the City Solicitor to both appeal and attend the Toronto Local Appeal Body as a party in order to oppose the Committee of Adjustment decision regarding the application of minor variance A0349/21SC respecting 2 Cora Crescent and to retain outside consultants as necessary.
Terrific. Congratulation to Mike and his staff for getting this done on time.
There are 7 pages of lawyers listed in the City Solicitor’s Office. 28 of them are under Ms Kelly Matsumoto in the ‘Planning & Administrative Tribunal’ section. She has dozens of assistants and clerks to help her. They know how to file an appeal.
But they didn’t.
They had 4 ½ hours from the time Council told them to get that appeal in.
And they didn’t.
They failed or refused to file the appeal.
Let’s go back to what Councillor Nunziata said: Mike’s motion was “an important item”. It was “time-sensitive”. “There is a deadline today”.
City lawyers sit in the Council chamber. Others watch Council meetings on their laptops and screens.
They heard Councillor Nunziata. They saw the vote go through.
And they still neglected or refused to file the appeal.
Whatever their excuses what their failure means is we won’t have to opportunity to work with a City lawyer and maybe an expert planner to make our case against these Variances at a hearing of the Toronto Local Appeals body.
It’s over.
There’s nothing we can do.
The Committee’s approval stands. The Variances are approved.
Mike Thompson is not happy. He and his staff did their best for us. He is trying to find out just exactly why City lawyers failed or refused to do what Council told them to do.
If you want to support Michael in his efforts to get to the bottom of this scandal, you write, call or email Michael at:
Toronto City Hall 100 Queen Street West, Suite B31 Toronto, ON M5H 2N2 Telephone: 416-397-9274 Email: councillor_thompson@toronto.ca
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