Glen Andrew Community Association is now on Facebook and Twitter

Scarborough, Toronto Needs a New MAYOR!

Hello Scarborough,

The Mayoral vote is on June 26th.

We need everyone in Scarborough to VOTE in this ELECTION and we appreciate your immediate support by sharing it on social media and with your friends & neighbors today. 

 

Eligible voters need to confirm today, May 26 with MyVote to check, add, or update your information on the voters’ list and if necessary, apply to vote by mail. 

 

To assist in knowing more about all the candidates, "The Local" Mayor Candidate Tracker has most of the bios uploaded and should assist in a portion of your voting decision. 

https://thelocal.to/toronto-mayor-candidates-2023/

 

Here are the Confirmed Mayor Candidates: 

https://www.toronto.ca/city-government/elections/by-election/by-election-candidate-list/

EVERY vote matters!

Part time work available

 Looking for a youth to provide snow clearing and grass cutting in the Glen Andrew Community, snow blower and lawn mower supplied, please contact dave at dundalkfarm@gmail.com

The Character of Our Community is under Threat - Rooming Houses

A few months ago, the Glen Andrew Community Association shared this post about rooming houses that sacrifices the true character of our community. There are plenty of ways rooming houses negatively affect our community. 

Please read about it here

The Character of Our Community is under Threat.

A Message from your Glen Andrew Community Association

 2 Cora Crescent is on the corner of Cora and Doerr Road. That’s just east of Brimley a bit north of Brimorton Drive. 

It’s what most of us would call a bungalow. Like many of our homes, it was built 60 years ago with three bedrooms on the main floor, a full basement and a carport on the side.  

It looks like the owner converted part of the basement into an apartment some time ago.

OK… no problem there. A lot of us have put in a basement apartment for grown children before they can afford their own home, maybe an elderly parent, a relative coming to the big city or just to help with those huge mortgage payments. 

No problem as s long as the number of cars is under control.

But the owner of 2 Cora wants to build a two-car garage in place of the carport and build what most of us would call a second storey over both the existing home and the new garage.

Well…that’s pretty ambitious but not totally out of keeping with some homes in the neighbourhood.

There are a fair number of Glen Andrew homes with a second storey over the garage or ‘back splits’. A few have ripped off the roof of a bungalow and built a full second storey. They fit in pretty well.

So what’s the problem with 2 Cora? 

The plans filed by the owner show 2 Cora will have 7 bedrooms, and seven bathrooms, and two kitchens, and two furnaces/hot water heaters. There are two rooms in the second storey labelled ‘T.V. Lounge’ and ‘Reading Library’. It’s pretty easy to convert these two rooms to additional bedrooms or kitchens after the City Building Inspectors leave. 

The 7 bathrooms tell the story: this is a rooming house. 

The owner’s plans are caught up in the Zoning By-law. The owner needs approval from the Committee of Adjustment for four variances to get a Building Permit.  The Committee will make their decision on January 13th.

The members of the Committee have a bunch of things they have to consider before they can approve a Variance.  The key ones for Glen Andrew are that they cannot approve a Variance unless it is -

…desirable for the appropriate development or use of the land, building or structure; and
…general intent and purpose of the by-law and of the official plan are maintained. 

On January 13th when this comes in front of the Committee, we have to make sure the members of the Committee pay close attention, read the plans and ask questions. Like:

    

    • Why does a single-family home, even one with a basement apartment, need 7 bathrooms?

    • Or two furnaces

    • How do we know the TV Lounge and Reading Library will not be converted to even more bedrooms or kitchens when our Building Inspectors can’t get in to see unless you let them?

I think if the members of the Committee take the time to look at the plans they will reach the same conclusion we have: 

    •    These plans are for a rooming house which is NOT permitted in Glen Andrew. 

    •    The proposed development is NOT appropriate. 

    •    The application should be refused.

Our President Iain McLeod will be writing to the Committee and to our Councillor Michael Thompson. He will be asking that this application be refused.

If you feel strongly about this as we do, please write to our Councillor Michael Thompson at

Toronto City Hall

100 Queen Street West, Suite B31

Toronto, ON M5H 2N2

or email Councillor Thompson at: councillor_thompson@toronto.ca

Please write to the Committee of Adjustment at:

Michael Mizzi, Secretary-Treasurer 

Scarborough Committee of Adjustment 

150 Borough Drive 

Toronto, Ontario M1P 4N7 

Or email Mr. Mizzi at: coa.sc@toronto.ca

You can write or email Councillor Thompson any time up to January 13th but letters/emails to Mr. Mizzi have to be in by January 6th.

Glen Andrew is a beautiful place to raise our families and enjoy our senior years. Let’s keep it that way.

Yours truly,

Lorne Ross.

Saratoga Drive, Scarborough.

Rooming Houses in Our Community

ROOMING HOUSES IN GLEN ANDREW COMMUNITY

Dear Glen Andrew residents:

On July 14th City Council came very close to passing By-laws that would allow any house in Glen Andrew to be converted to a rooming house.

“What’s a rooming house?” 

It is any home in Glen Andrew that someone buys and converts into 6 rooms, each with either its own kitchen and the people who live there share a bathroom; or each unit having its own bathroom and the people living there share a kitchen.

Mayor Tory thinks this is a great idea. He pulled it off the agenda when a storm of protest rained down on Council from neighbourhoods like Glen Andrew.

The Councillors he appointed to his Planning and Housing Committee think it’s a great idea. They voted 5 to zero in favour of it back on June 28th. All 5 of them represent ‘downtown’ Wards shown in yellow below:

• Not one of them comes from Scarborough.
• None of them come from North York or Etobicoke.
• Every one of them is confident that if they give Property Standards staff an extra $4.5 million a year they will take care of any/every property standards problem that may arise when absentee landlords convert the house next to you to a rooming house.
• Every one of them is confident if they give our Fire Department an extra $1.8 million a year they will make sure every absentee landlord does a great job rewiring the house next to you and putting in smoke alarms.

These 5 think rooming houses are such a great idea they want to waive Building Permit fees for absentee landlords when they break up the house next t you into 6 rooming house units. You pay Building Permit fees. I pay Building Permit fees. Absentee landlords won’t.

We Are So Rich - Free Money Number One: You and I are charged fees for Building Permits when we want to improve our homes. But hey, that would be pretty hard on some guy who wants to buy the house next door to you and convert it to a rooming house. So he will get his Building Permit free of charge!

We Are So Rich - Free Money Number Two: These 5 Councillors believe the city has so much cash sitting around we should give absentee landlords grants to buy and convert the house next door to you. They want to call it the “Multi-Tenant Housing Renovation and Retrofit Program.”

We Are So Rich - Free Money Number Three: These 5 Councillors represent Ward where rooming houses have been permitted for some time. The owners pay a fee between $100 and $300 a year. It helps cover the costs of enforcing basic property standards.

But charging absentee landlords annual fees just makes these rooms less ‘affordable’… so no way. They want to drop the annual license fee to $25 per room AND no charge at all for ‘non-profit’ absentee landlords.

Worried About Fire Safety: No Problem! Toronto Fire Department told these 5 Councillors that 11 rooming houses caught fire over the last five years because of faulty wiring.

But these 5 Councillors believe it’s just too expensive for absentee landlords to do a thorough electrical inspection. I mean we can trust these guys to run all the new wires and plug them into the old fuse box in the basement all by themselves, right? So no inspection for their home wiring job.

Security Deposit: One of our Councillors from Scarborough asked Staff to think about maybe charging rooming house operators a security deposit to get their license. If the absentee landlord failed to meet minimum property maintenance standards (including things like grass cutting, snow clearing, garbage removal, wildlife control), the security deposit could be cashed in and used to pay for remediation.

Staff response was: No! We can’t do that! “It would be a challenge to calculate and charge a security deposit…” and “, it would put an additional financial burden on operators…”

So forget that!

Fraternity/Sorority Homes: Absentee landlords can break up the house next to you and call it a fraternity or sorority house. The people who move in just have to be members of “…an active chapter of a bona fide national or international student fraternity or sorority.”

Sure! Property Standards staff are all trained and ready to check out the ‘bonafides’ of every fraternity run out of any one of the 194 countries around the world. No problem reading documents in any of the worlds’ dozens and dozens of scripts!

Another Layer of Bureaucracy Will Solve Everything 

The old City of Toronto has a ‘Rooming Housing Licensing Commission’. 

It has the power to issue, suspend, renew, or revoke a rooming house license. 

It can place conditions on the owner of the rooming house in doing so. 

The 5 Councillors who think this is a great idea want to give it a new name and expand it to cover the whole city. They will call it the ‘Multi-Tenant Licensing Tribunal’. 

It’ll cost just $422 thousand a year. Well…that’s actually only a ‘preliminary estimate’. That doesn’t include the buildings they have to rent and fit-out, interpreter costs, Tribunal remuneration, and legal support costs. No problem! We’ll hear about those costs later. 

Block Busting and Speculators Rejoice! 

If this thing passes there will be no limit on where they can go. No limit on how many can go on the same street. 

No doubt there are some well-meaning, well-financed rooming house operators who are interested in maintaining their properties. It’s the ones who don’t that concern Glen Andrew homeowners. 

If this thing passes our Councillors will have handed every small-time property speculator just exactly what they need to start buying up and running down homes anywhere in Glen Andrew. 

Property Standards Officers have an awful job. They only get called in when people run out of all patience with a neighbour who is supremely disinterested in maintaining their property. They try their best to persuade people to maintain their property. If that fails they have to resort to inspections, issuing citations, waiting for court dates, lawyers, evidence, appeals, etc. By the time they get a conviction, IF they can persuade a Judge to take it seriously… the fines are trivial. With no security deposit and a $26 annual license fee, the speculators will look at court costs as just the cost of doing business. 

When enough of the homes on a street are broken up and run down, it gets easier to buy up more homes on the street. The process continues until everyone is so fed up the City might as well look at the speculators’ plans to knock them down and build apartments and townhouses.

 

When Scarborough decided it wanted its own high-density mixed-use ‘downtown’ north of Ellesmere in Scarborough Centre, the promise was made to the people living in Glen Andrew that their stable, family-oriented neighbourhood would be protected from speculators. That promise has been kept for 40 years. 

If these five downtown Councillors and Mayor Tory pass this rooming house by-law It will be ‘open-season’ on Glen Andrew’s family-oriented housing. All along Ellesmere. All along Brimley Road. All along McCowan. Anywhere near our local plazas.

Where Does Our Councillor, Michael Thompson Stand? 

When the 5 Councillors on Planning and Housing Committee discussed the Rooming House By-law back on June 28th every other member of Council was allowed to attend the meeting and ask questions.

You can watch the video of the meeting by going to: http://app.toronto.ca/tmmis/video.do?id=19740 and clicking on the tab for PH25.10.

Councillor Cynthia Lai for the Agincourt area of Scarborough attended the meeting.

• She spoke up.
• She asked questions on behalf of her residents.

Councillor McKelvie for the east end of Scarborough attended the meeting.

• She spoke up.
• She asked questions on behalf of her residents.

Councillor Ainslie showed up and at least listened to what everyone had to say.

Councillor Thompson did not show up.

Which way will Michael Thompson vote when Mayor Tory and the 5 downtown Councillors bring this back to Council in September?

You can tell Councillor Thompson which way you would like him to vote by emailing his office at: councillor_thompson@toronto.ca

Lorne Ross for the Glen Andrew Community Association.

You can read the 71 page report from City Staff at: https://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2021/ph/bgrd/backgroundfile-168253.pdf

You can read a news story about how this all started in Parkdale at:
https://nowtoronto.com/news/fighting-parkdale-s-housing-crisis-parkdale-neighbourhood-land-trust

Petition to stop the Metrolinx Busway on Ellesmere Rd.

 Glen Andrew Community Association, along with the members of the Highland Creek community ask you to sign the petition to stop the Metrolinx Busway along Ellesmere Rd.

You can read more about what this plan will do to traffic and to businesses on our blog here: Update on Metrolinx Transit Expansion Projects

Sign the Petition to stop Metrolinx Busway along Ellesmere Rd. 

Update on Metrolinx Transit Expansion Projects

Mayor and Members
Toronto Executive Committee
via email to: Cathrine Regan
Committee Secretary
exc@toronto.ca


RE: EX25.5 Update on Metrolinx Transit Expansion Projects - Second Quarter 2021


Dear Mayor Tory and Member of Executive Committee:


Staff tell you on page 15 of their report that they support the Durham Scarborough BRT.


We are writing to tell you the people of Highland Creek do not support it.


I am writing to you as President of the Highland Creek Community Association. Our Executives asked Mr. Douglas Phillips to study and understand what this project is all about.
Mr. Phillips and his team of volunteers have been working on this since September 2019. They have attended several meetings, read reports, written letters, and tried to work with Metrolinx and get answers from them. Studies have been promised, but nothing completed yet.
Highland Creek is a residential community, with only two small plazas, no high-rises, and no commercial businesses. It has many mature and beautiful trees, and its properties are well maintained.
The team’s conclusion: Metrolinx, aided and abetted by your staff, are bound and determined to push their busway 2.7 kilometers straight down the middle of Ellesmere Road, with raised concrete curbing on both sides, all the way through the Highland Creek Community from Military Trail to Kingston Road, dividing our community in two. This is a dangerous and extremely costly project. It is totally unacceptable. It is not needed and unnecessary.
The Highland Creek CA Executive joined Mr. Phillips and his team’s conclusion: this project must be stopped. The Community put together a door-to-door campaign and contacted every household in Highland Creek asking residents for their comments.
The Community unanimously said: ‘STOP THE DSBRT BUSWAY’.

The 550 ‘Yellow Pins’ on this air photo are households all across Highland Creek who took the time to fill in and return a ballot to us stating their opposition to the Busway.

Over 300 Highland Creek Residents asked for and have put out a lawn sign or banner to voice their opposition.

NO BRT ON ELLESMERE

Over 1,300 people have signed our on-line Petition.

Mayor and Members: The people who live in Highland Creek do not want your Busway.

They do not want ‘No Left-Hand Turns’ from their homes, their library, their community park, and their local side streets which would all be cut off permanently by the concrete barrier. This plan would highly impede emergency vehicles.

The busway your staff supports brings absolutely zero benefits to the people of Highland Creek:

We have been told that even after you build the busway, the TTC’s York Mills bus will continue to run in the curb lane. We will get to watch Durham buses run down the middle of Ellesmere Road taking

University students to class...MAYBE saving them 60-90 seconds in their daily commute from Oshawa, Whitby, Ajax, and Pickering for the two or three years they go to classes.

Mayor and Members:

The Community supports the U of T Scarborough Campus.

There are already several GO/TTC bus services direct to the U of T campus.

Nobody in the right mind will take this proposed BRT from Oshawa through 40 stops to the U of T!

Metrolinx already operates buses from Durham Region along Hwy. 401 to Scarborough Centre and beyond to the Finch Subway Station. Add one more stop at the U of T: use Morningside, problem solved!

• Zero cost.

• Zero trees cut down.

• Zero private property expropriations.

• Zero driveways cut off.

• Zero public streets cut off.

• No library or park cut off.

• AND Durham residents could get service right to the front doors of the Pan-Am Centre much easier/faster/safer than what Metrolinx and your staff support.

Mayor and Members: The message from the people of Highland Creek could not be clearer:

NO BUSWAY THROUGH HIGHLAND CREEK.

Yours truly,


David Anderson, President 

Douglas Phillips, Chair

DSBRT Committee
Highland Creek Community Association 

cc:

Gary Anandasangaree MP – Scarborough-Rouge Park gary.anand@parl.gc.ca

Vijay Thanigasalam MPP – Scarborough -Rouge Park vijay.thanigsalam@pc.ola.org

Mike Adler – Scarborough Mirror madler@toronto.com