Sunday, June 12, 2050
Tuesday, August 1, 2023
2 Cora Crescent - Solicitors Fail to Appeal
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
Saturday, July 29, 2023
Proposed Development for Existing Shopping Centres
Glen Andrew residents
The Executive of your Glen Andrew Community Association were invited to a ‘preview’ of the Tridel development proposed for the Lawson School site on Ellesmere at Grangeway.
Executive members Eva D’Ornellas, Iain Mcleod, and Jack Law along with myself and new member Dan McIntosh met with Tridel’s architect and planner as well as Mr. Brad Saunders, CEO of Community Living Toronto [CLT].
A lot of water will have to flow under the bridge before this proposal comes before Scarborough Community Council for approval. A whole lot more will have to flow before anything actually gets built but we appreciated Tridel and CLT giving us the opportunity to make them aware of some of the things that may concern Glen Andrew residents.
1. Several of our local grocery stores are proposed to be torn down, like the Freshco store at McCowan and Ellesmere and the Superstore up on Brimley near the 401. Where will we, and all the new residents in these developments shop for food?
2. A portion of the new apartments have to be ‘affordable’. Some of them are supposed to be ‘suitable for families with children’. We understand there is a housing crisis in Toronto and we asked Tridel what these terms mean and how many units are involved.
3. We asked how the new street and the new driveway they propose on the east side of Grangeway will operate with the existing driveways to The Blue Danube and the two condo towers on the west side of Grangeway.
4. With the SRT scheduled to shut down in November of this year and the recent ‘de-coupling’ incident what do they think will happen to the SRT service yard property?
5. Schools, parks, and community centers like Centennial Rec Centre can’t handle the number of people who will live in all the developments proposed for our Scarborough Centre. The former Scarborough Board of Education and the City of Scarborough bought 705 Progress decades ago so we would have a place for a new school and park. Will Tridel help us persuade the City and Board of Education to get on with it and build these?
Lorne Ross.
Sunday, July 23, 2023
Friday, July 21, 2023
Wednesday, June 7, 2023
Continuing The Fight Against Proposed Rooming Houses
Hello Bendale
The Glen Andrew Community Association ( GACA ) thought we had won the battle to preserve the neighborhood character back in January 2022. We were wrong.
The current owner of 2 Cora Cres. is single, lives upstairs, and already rents to two tenants in the basement. Three cars are already usually parked in the Cora side driveway.
The newest proposal is not a so-called minor variance but a complete teardown with the following features:
- reconstruct the house to face Doerr Road and add an additional 2 stories plus a basement at the back that will dominate and overlap 4 Cora Cr.
- add a completely new second story and balcony, the new balcony and seven rear windows will look directly into the living room window of No 4 Cora cr.
- Besides the new front entrance on Doerr Rd, there will be another two entrances added to the side facing Cora Cr.
- the “existing brick driveway will remain” on the Cora Cr. side and a brand new garage and driveway will be added to the Doerr Rd side.
- the positioning of the stairwell and multiple exterior entrances divides the house into six separate segments. Perfect for rooming house or AIRBNB purposes.
We don’t know who the investor is but they seemed to have tempted the owner of 2 Cora to try again.
This excessive proposal does not represent a minor adjustment and variance and should have not even been considered by the City Planning Department.
If this application succeeds then it will be used by other investors as an example to build more like it.
The virtual Committee of Adjustment ( COA ) hearing is Wednesday, June 28th, 2023 at 10:00 a.m.
You must register your concerns to the COA by email in pdf format with your name and address by Wednesday June 21st coa.sc@toronto.ca
Also contact Councillor Michael Thompson with your concerns councillor_thompson@toronto.ca
GACA
Councilor Michael Thompson agreed that No 2 Cora was a threat to the character of our neighborhood and would oppose the application.
Let's hold him to his promise, please email him and the Committee of Adjustment
Community Meeting to discuss 2 Cora Crescent - YouTube
Current bungalow with three car parking, two roomers renting downstairs
North side, facing Cora Cr, new 3-story addition with balcony, 2 new raised separate entrances, and existing driveway to remain.
Facing Doerr Rd, additional new entrance , new garage and new driveway
Rear view facing the front of 4 Cora Cr. Totally overlaps and dominates 4 Cora with its balcony and windows
South Side view, will dominate the backyard of 12 Doerr Road
Tuesday, May 30, 2023
More Condos?!
Do you shop for groceries at Freshco or use Shoppers Drug Mart for your medical prescriptions?
Developers have proposed to replace the North East corner of McCowan and Ellesmere Rds with another massive condo complex.
The Real Canadian Superstore and pharmacy at Brimley Rd. and Progress Ave. have also been rezoned for similar development.
In order to suppress opposition to this proposal city planning has limited the public notification catchment distance to a ridiculously low 120 meters from the site.
If you value having these important and necessary services in your neighborhood contact your local councilors with your concerns, Michael Thompson and Paul Ainslie.
Unless you act now, the days when you could access the Scarborough Town Centre and surrounding area with your automobile are numbered.
Metrolinx is also planning to install protected dedicated bus lanes down the middle of Ellesmere Road, which means no more center-lane left-hand turns.
If you believe traffic congestion is bad now just wait until the city includes the planned bike lanes on all the major roads.
Preliminary Report - 1215 to 1255 McCowan Road – Zoning Amendment Application (toronto.ca)
https://urbantoronto.ca/database/projects/1215-mccowan.47444
Looking North East from corner the of McCowan and Ellesmere Rds.
Super Store at Progress and Brimley also rezoned for condos
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