In response to my request for a review of the Holland/Sherwood intersection following the bike/car collision this fall, staff are moving ahead with two modifications to hopefully reduce the risk of the "gapping"-type incident that occured there. The painted measure may move ahead soon if the weather cooperates, but the delineator will have to wait until spring; delineators have been removed from the roads for the winter to facilitate plowing. Here is staff's response.

Yesterday evening we learned that the City intends to close the Forward Avenue family shelter effective December 15. The news is now reverberating throughout our community, especially those providing services to the families who now reside there. We and colleagues Councillors Deans and Taylor have pressed upon our City staff our immediate concern that those affected families be appropriately housed and have received some assurances as outlined below.

This morning, I attended a verbal update by City staff on the status of the Magee House. While there is no hard-and-fast date to demolish that building, I was encouraged to hear staff say that it is “a matter of when, not if.”

As of today, the owner has failed to demonstrate a viable plan for either preserving the building or demolishing it. That deadline was set on the basis of an expert engineering opinion this summer that winter would be seriously compromise the building and create a public safety hazard.

You may recall that EBC has recently submitted a Zoning By-Law Amendment application to permit a 20-storey building at 1950 Scott St in Westboro. We are hosting a community open house so that residents can review the details of this application further, and have the opportunity to ask question and provide input. 

The open house is Thursday, December 6 from 6:30-8:30pm at the Van Lang Field House. 

Attention all artists! This is happening! Details below...

I THE OPPORTUNITY

As you may be aware, there is a Site Plan Control application currently circulating for the properties at 16 - 20 Champagne Ave in the Civic Hospital / Little Italy area. The application is to demolish the existing two houses and detached garages to build a 3.5-storey apartment building with 15 to 18 rental units and no parking. In addition to the Site Plan Control application, they require three Minor Variances: 

1. to reduce the minimum number of parking spaces required to 0; whereas the By-law requires a minimum of 4 parking spaces for this site and number of units.

Cannabis is now legal in Canada, and one of the first issues with which the new Council will be seized very soon is whether or not to allow its sale in retail storefronts. Thanks to the ham-fisted approach taken to weed sales by the Doug Ford government at Queen’s Park, the question is less straightforward than it might seem.

Our office was very pleased to provide some financial support to the 5th annual Feminist Fair, happening this Sunday at Makerspace North. 

EBC - a construction firm - is making one of its forays into property development with a proposal at the corner of Scott/Clifton (the Buddhist temple lot) for a 20-storey tower. I have just recently been briefed on this and my office will be working over the next few days to set up a public consultation on the proposal. In the meantime, you can view the proposal details here.