Among the many pieces of regressive legislation being pushed through the provincial parliament by the Ford government, Bill 39, the so-called “Better Municipal Governance Act" is one of the more egregious.

The CWNA made the following submission to the Standing Committee on Heritage, Infrastructure and Cultural Policy during the comments period:

CWNA Position on Bill 39 - Expanded Strong Mayor Powers

The strong mayor powers about to be enacted by the Ontario legislature for the cities of Toronto and Ottawa deprive local communities of their full say in decisions affecting their lives. Bill 39 should be withdrawn.

At the request of Toronto Mayor John Tory, the Doug Ford government is proposing legislation that would allow the mayor to pass bylaws with the support of just 8 of 25 city councillors. We at the Church Wellesley Neighbourhood Association deplore this move to concentrate so much power in one top elected official.

We join former Toronto mayors David Crombie, Art Eggleton, Barbara Hall, David Miller and John Sewell in their warning that the newly proposed powers eliminate “any meaningful role of city councillors and therefore the voice of the local residents who elect them.”

Mayor Tory has pledged that he will only use the powers sparingly. That is to say he will only ignore the wishes of the majority of council when he deems it necessary. This is too much discretion for any one elected official to wield.
 
What is even more worrying is that these powers, once in place, can be abused by any future mayors to bypass the majority of council.
 
The province has already passed legislation granting the mayor power to veto council decisions believed to “potentially intervene with provincial priorities,” which makes the mayor first and foremost accountable to the province rather than the people of Toronto. Bill 39’s proposed expanded power to pass bylaws with only one-third of council is extreme and unacceptable.
 
Local quality of life issues will suffer. Decisions about such matters as development, housing, transit, and the environment - all of which are or could be declared provincial priorities - will now be subject to mayoral fiat. The province will have yet another tool to override local representatives.
 
We urge the province to drop this ill-considered and profoundly undemocratic legislation and demand that Mayor Tory take back his request for these autocratic powers.

On November 28 the Ford government passed Bill 23, the “More Homes Built Faster Act,” which ignores most of the recommendations of the government’s own task force on housing affordability.   The law’s provisions have been well covered in the media over the past months; among some of the more controversial measures, the law:

• eliminates development charges for housing the province defines as “affordable,” hence downloading infrastructure costs to municipal governments.
• limits municipal rental replacement bylaws that currently ensure that, when rental apartments are demolished to make way for new development, the tenants are entitled to a replacement unit at comparable rent.
• limits municipal site plan controls (leading to issues with garbage collection, encroachments on laneways and sidewalks, wind tunnels, ugly buildings and more) 
• weakens heritage building protections
• weakens green building standards
• reduces parkland dedications in new developments
• removes lands from the Green Belt to build tract housing
• weakens Conservation Authorities
  
  

 CWNA is a member of the Federation of South Toronto Residents Association, which made a detailed submission on Bill 23.
      
Even though the law is now on the books, most provisions have not yet taken effect and there is a chance that some of the more controversial measures will not come into force. The comment period on many of the provisions has been extended, so you can still make your opinion known. Here’s a useful chart with links to the comments forms.

The CWNA will continue to work hard to make our neighbourhood a great place to live in this ever more challenging environment.

The red-brick Georgian style building at 37 Maitland Street is on the City's heritage register. It was built sometime between 1853 and 1868 and was once the residence of William Galbraith, a flour and grain merchant. It is currently used as law offices.  ​

The Biltmore Apartments at 33 Maitland Street was designed by architect Herbert Charles Roberts, who designed several buildings in the immediate area in the  late 1920s and early 1930s. The building currently has no heritage status, though local heritage advocate Adam Wynne nominated it for heritage protection in June 2022. ​

The properties were put up for sale earlier this year, at which time Colliers International published an "investment summary" detailing the rationale for a 38-storey tower.  The current development proposal is 11 storeys higher. 

Details about the proposal can be found at the City's  Development Application Information Centre (Supporting Documentation tab).  A response from the City will be forthcoming, after which a public consultation will be scheduled.  You can add your contact information in order to be notified of the public consultation on on the Development Application Information Centre page.​​

Last November, Colliers Strategy and Consulting (on behalf of YI Developments Limited) submitted an application for a 57 storey tower at the southeast corner of  Yonge and Isabella Streets (619-637 Yonge; 7-9 Isabella) that would bring 606 residential units to the site.  

The  Yonge Street frontage would be retail space, with the residential entrance  on Isabella Street, and servicing, parking and loading accessed via Gloucester Lane.

The site is within the Yonge Street Heritage Conservation District, which the City of Toronto designated in 2016 under the Ontario Heritage Act.  However, a group of developers, including YI Developments, has appealed The Heritage Conservation District Plan to the Ontario Land Tribunal. The current development proposal calls for the demolition of the existing buildings. 

City staff released a Preliminary Report with recommendations in January 2022. 

In July 2022, the Toronto Preservation Board recommended that City Council designate the existing buildings as heritage properties.  

The report recommends that City Council state its intention to designate the property at 625 Yonge Street (including 621, 627, 629, 631, 633, 635, and 637 Yonge Street, and 1, 3, and 5 Isabella Street) under Part IV, Section 29 of the Ontario Heritage Act for its cultural heritage value. 

According to the report, the buildings:

...constitute a representative example of Edwardian Classicist-style commercial main street buildings. Part of Yonge Street's historic commercial streetscape since the early 20th century, the property maintained a long association with the automotive industry, beginning with its original use for Thomas Crow's carriage business. It then housed the Dominion Automobile Company's showroom, the second store location of Canadian Tire, and other automobile companies. From the late 1970s through the late 1990s, the property housed a series of clubs that served the LGBTQ2S+ community, notably including the Domino Club and Komrads."

On August 18,  the City issued a Notice of Intention to designate the buildings  as heritage properties. 

33 and 37 Maitland Street are for sale as a potential development site. Colliers International has compiled an "investment summary" document, which details the rationale for a 38-storey tower. 

33 Maitland is a 3-storey apartment building with 37 units. 37 Maitland is a 2-storey office building that is listed as a heritage property, built in 1853. They are located between the Village Green rental complex and the Cosmopolitan condominiums. 

According to the document, given the height of other buildings in the area, an argument can be made for a 38-storey tower. "The proposed height is based on a hypothetical angular plane between the proposed 15-storey mixed-use building located at 506 Church Street and the recently built 52-storey condominium building at 501 Yonge Street."  (506 Church Street has since been approved at 14 storeys). 

There will be no opportunity for community consultation until a developer purchases the properties and submits a development proposal. 

In 2020 and 2021 the City hosted two public consultations and two stakeholder meetings  on the redesign of the George Hislop and Norman Jewison Parks and Alexander Street Parkette. (See the Yonge Street Linear Park Improvements page at Toronto.ca  for background.)

Revitalizations of George Hislop and Norman Jewison Parks had been  scheduled to start in late 2022; however there have been delays with the projects and construction is now expected to start in 2023. Alexander Street Parkette's improvements were originally planned for 2023, as they must be coordinated with a garage roof replacement project for 25 Maitland's underground parking.  
 
Alexander St. Parkette
The parking garage roof work will entail removing all of the landscaping above it. The City is now in discussion with the property manager of 25 Maitland Street (The Cosmopolitan) to coordinate the timing of their repair work with the park improvements.

​​The goal is that both projects would be completed sequentially during the outdoor construction season of 2023. This schedule needs to be confirmed with both parties. The City will be implementing the park plan developed through consultation, below. ​

A larger image of the above Alexander Street Parkette plan is here.

George Hislop Park and Norman Jewison Parks
 
The detail design stage of work for George Hislop Park and Norman Jewison Park has now been completed and the consultant is preparing construction documents for tender. 
 
Among the improvements, George Hislop Park will feature an LGBTQ2S+ art installation; artist Catherine Tammaro has been engaged to create Indigenous placemaking elements in Norman Jewison Park.
 
The anticipated schedule for these two parks is a construction start in 2023.​​​

A larger image of the George Hislop Park plan is here (after opening, click the image for maximum size).

A larger image of the Norman Jewison Park plan is here (after opening, click the image for maximum size).

Barbara Hall Park and the Wellesley Green P Lot

Although Barbara Hall Park was rebuilt in 2014, ongoing issues with the usage of the park have led to an initiative to rethink its design; community consultations are likely to commence in late 2022.

Looking further forward, the Green P parking lot that sits across from the Wellesley subway station has been promised, in Toronto's Official City Plan, as parkland for many years. 

In the recently released, "TOCore Implementation Strategy: Downtown Parks and Public Realm Plan," 15 Wellesley East is listed as one of the “New Parks Secured through Development and Acquisitions.” 
​
The City has not yet determined if the entire lot will go to parkland or if some will be allocated to affordable housing. 

Improvements to existing parks and the addition of more green space will be a welcome change to our rapidly densifying neighbourhood.

City Council has approved the development application for 506 Church Street (Crews / Tangos).  The City Staff final report regarding the 14-storey, 165-unit mixed-use condo building is here. 

Some extracts from the Report: 
The current proposal incorporates numerous revisions from the original application as summarized below: 
- reduced building height from 15-storeys to 14 storeys;  
- reduced density from 8.08 to 7.47 times the area of the lot;
- refined streetwall height and massing to respond to the low-rise context of the Church Street Village;
- introduction of a step back from the north property line above the 10th storey to improve massing;
- reduced unit count from 173 to 165 units, and maintained proportion of two bedroom units at 38% and three bedroom units at 10% of the total units; 
-  increased amenity space from 3.8 to 4.63 square metres per unit; 
- reduced parking count from 40 to 32 parking spaces; 
- refined the layout of the non-residential space at the ground floor to accommodate desired entertainment uses. 

The developer will pay Section 37 benefits of $1,700,000 to go toward local streetscape and laneway improvements. 

Throughout the application process, local residents and stakeholders have emphasized the importance of preserving this part of Church Street as a place for 2SLGBTQ+  people to come together. 

According to the developer, the ground floor non-residential space has been configured in cooperation with the current operator of Crews and Tangos to permit a potential return to the site following construction of the new building. In addition, City staff in Economic Development and Culture are developing a Cultural Districts Program to support cultural districts across the city, including the Church-Wellesley Village. 

In August, City Council issued a notice under the Ontario Heritage Act, designating the building housing Crews and Tangos as heritage properties in order to assure its protection during and after construction. 

More background and details can be read in the Staff Report.​

The 150-year-old house at 34 Maitland St. was set alight in the late afternoon of Oct. 8, 2020, five months after it had been nominated for heritage designation.
Toronto police at 51 Division are still investigating the arson and there are as yet no suspects. said Const. Edward Parks.  

Hazelview Properties, which manages the site for the owners -- listed on tax records as TC Core GP Inc. and TCR 208 Equities Inc. – did not respond to requests for comment.

This fire was followed three months later -- in the early hours of Jan. 16, 2021 -- by a second fire. Soon after the second fire, engineers and the city of Toronto deemed the three-storey building structurally unsafe, Hazelview Properties said at the time. The owners tore it down in April, 2021. 

The first fire broke out just two days after the Architecture Conservancy of Ontario featured research stating that the Second Empire house was at risk. The vacant property had been subject at times to city work orders. 

“There are two separate and simultaneously burning fires associated with this incident,” according to the Fire Marshal’s report, conducted by investigator James Gillespie.  

The fire was intentionally set by matches or a lighter in two separate rooms, one on the first floor and the other on the second floor, according to the report. 

The main floor blaze was set in a room that was empty of furniture except for an upright piano, the report says. 

“The ignition sequence was the intentional application of an open flame to a combustible material intentionally introduced into the room,” the investigator wrote. 

​On the second floor, someone set fire to clothing piled, along with paper, in a corner, the report says.