Councillor Shelley Carroll

Find out the latest news and upcoming events in your neighborhood. Politics, news, views, and links from Ward 33 Councillor Shelley Carroll.

Friday, April 28, 2006

El Ad/Parkway Forest Strategy Approved by Council

Hello All,

What a brilliant community clean up we had. Tons of thanks to the kids and staff at Cherokee P.S. for cleaning up Shawnee Park. Thanks to Officer Pickerell and Div 33 for helping out.

Superstar residents surrounding Sheppard and Leslie intersection cleaned up all morning in THE POURING RAIN! Top Superstars have to be Brian Ralph from Marowyne and the whole Sturdy family from Clovercrest.Take a look at their amazing work around the Southeast corner of the intersection and all the way up the hill to the Hospital.

Lots of help friends working hard from the Toronto Iranian Club and the Don Valley East Provincial Riding Association, and many new friends pitched in. The Mayor dropped by to catch us working in the rain as well as M.P.P. Kathleen Wynne. Of course we wasted no time putting them to work as well!

Below you will find the letter going out on Parkway Forest. We are working on a householder that will explain even more but won't be out until later this Spring.


This letter is being forwarded to all members of the Parkway Forest Working Group as well as residents on record as attending previous meetings on the Parkway Forest development application. Please feel free to share this letter.

I know that all neighbouring residents need to understand how Council reached the decision to support the City Staff’s OMB Direction Report, and secondly, we need to understand the next steps so our local neighbourhoods can continue to be involved. As I’ve said of this OMB Direction report so many times, “We need to stay in the driver’s seat.”

On Community Council’s Decision:

City planning staff took a long time to understand what case the developer would make, using Provincial Policy and Toronto Policies to defend their application. This is always the first step in the process where a developer’s has already appealed to the OMB. Planners must arm themselves properly for what they are up against. Planning and Councillors could easily refuse the preliminary report last year. The original 3600 new unit design was a long way from any policy direction.

Many of the tall buildings first proposed were too far back from either Don Mills or Sheppard. These buildings have since been removed. But the policy statements do give the Developer a case as far as intensifying closer to those arterial roads. This meant that staff, with help from the community working group, had a legal obligation to review the revised designs, demand changes, and finally, to use policy arguments to demand enough control over the long term in this community to protect it from development impacts.

The final revisions submitted by the Developer, reduced in design by over a thousand units, proved to be more strongly in keeping with policy, particularly the Provincial Policy Statement (PPS) for rapid transit corridors. Therefore, staff had to design an Ontario Municipal Board defense position focused on our need as a City to protect the surrounding neighbourhoods from adverse effects.

The direction demands that staff, with help from Community and Councillor, be granted the authority to demand building changes where adverse effects are still an issue, particularly at the corner of the development. We need the control over traffic management, over a decade or more of development, to be able to demand that issues are addressed as they arise. We are asking that Henry Farm and Parkway Forest infiltration issues be addressed as requirements to proceed with each construction phase that brings new residents.

Finally, and this is the key recommendation, we need to review all issues (e.g., infrastructure, traffic, health, etc.) before the developer can apply for a zoning amendment to go beyond 1,655 units to the absolute cap of 2,200 units. The report is very clear about this number of 1,655 and gives no permission to go to 2,500 or more.

On the Issue of Next Steps:

We must take a strong position, supported by City policies, to make our case at the OMB. To simply say no to the OMB Direction Report and go to the OMB hearing on June 12th without a position would be irresponsible. I will not take such a risk with the quality of life in this community just to score political points. Without a strong City position, we leave the developer with a strong case for the whole 2,500 units being built, in only 8 short years. The City’s position, endorsing the OMB Direction report, reduces that number to 2,200 (pending a further review and approval after 1,655 units are built) and extends the construction over a more manageable timeframe.

I saw several emails on Community Council day that spoke of such things as ‘Low Rent, High Rise Tenements’ and ‘Ghettos where there are already too many renters’. I want to be very clear. There are NO NEW RENTAL UNITS in the current proposal. The Developer is applying to build 332 rental units to replace those being demolished. The rest of the proposed new units will be ownership units. We have proposed phasing this development so that NO NEW RESIDENT will arrive for at least 5 years.

The real and present issues such as heights and density, traffic and schools must be reviewed at various points throughout the 7 construction phases and we will demand this during the OMB hearing which begins June 12th.

It is important to note that the Developer has already indicated that they are prepared to go along with City Planners’ requests for slower phasing and build-out, further reductions to building height and massing at the corner, and to reduce the number of units to 1,655. They have agreed that they would have to apply for a new amendment for the remaining units up to 2,200, the new maximum. All of this is on the condition that Council supported the staff report. They were quite clear at Community Council that without our endorsement of the report, they would go to the OMB prepared to fight for 2500 units over 8 short years.

City Planning Staff are working very hard to stay in the driver’s seat and keep us there with them. They are telling the OMB that we need authority over the changes in this community throughout a process that may last as long as 15 years. The City and the local community would have a role in something the Provincial Policy Statements call ‘Reurbanization of Rapid Transit Corridors’. Reduce the process to 8 years without the ability to re-visit vital community issues, and reurbanization could turn into urban devastation.

The OMB hearing is on June 12th and neighbourhood groups have already been registered to speak to the application and to Council’s position. If this OMB direction is the outcome of the tribunal, it will be necessary to immediately set up a Parkway Forest/Henry Farm Community Planning Council to play a key role in the future of our community. My office will make every attempt to keep you up to date throughout the summer.

Wednesday, April 19, 2006

Community Clean Up Events

Everyone is welcome to join us.......

20 Minute Clean-Up - Friday, April 21st at 1PM

Join Ryan, Jennifer, Collette and Jesse as they help the children at Cherokee P.S clean up their schoolyard and neighbouring Shawnee Park. Officers from 33 Division will be lending us their helping hands as well.

Community Clean Up Day - Saturday, April 22nd from 10AM - 12 noon

Join Shelley and Mayor David Miller as well as many community volunteers as we target the Sheppard Leslie intersections. Volunteers from North York Rotary Club will once again be returning to the North west section of Leslie and Sheppard and work their way up the East Don Parkland walkway. Shelley and the rest of the team will be hitting the South East corner and working our way along the Betty Sutherland Trail. Mayor David Miller will join us after 11AM.

Everyone is welcome. Help us keep our Beautiful City, Beautiful!

Thursday, April 13, 2006

Taking the RENO Plunge???????

Are you thinking of taking the Renovation Plunge? I know I am. It looks real easy when I'm lying on the couch watching HGTV. But a safer and more thoughtful approach would be to attend one of the forums below. Get the facts before you start so you end up with a 'Divine Design' instead of a 'Holmes on Homes' disaster.

City offering home renovation forums

From April 20 to May 2, the City of Toronto is hosting free forums on home renovations. City staff and representatives from other organizations will cover a variety of topics, including:

• planning additions or alterations to your home
• permits and other approvals
• property standards
• healthy renovations
• fire safety
• energy efficiency
• water conservation incentive programs
• recycling construction materials
• heritage preservation
• financing
• working with contractors.

The forums will run from 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. on:

• Thursday, April 20 at Toronto City Hall, 100 Queen St. W.
• Monday, April 24 at the North York Civic Centre, 5100 Yonge St.
• Tuesday, April 25 at the Scarborough Civic Centre, 150 Borough Dr.
• Thursday, April 27 at the Etobicoke Civic Centre, 399 The West Mall
• Friday, April 28 at the York Civic Centre, 2700 Eglinton Ave. W.
• Tuesday, May 2 at East York Collegiate, 650 Cosburn Ave.

To register, members of the public are asked to call Access Toronto at 416-338-0338. Further details are available at www.toronto.ca/reno.

Great Exchange of Traffic Beefs!

Last Monday night, the Ward 33 Advisory committee hosted an open community meeting on transportation and Traffic issues. Not many extra folks attended but the members of the Ward Advisory represented the community well.

Many questions were asked and many traffic trouble spots were highlighted for staff.
Members explained difficulties from the perspective of pedestrians, cyclists and of course neighbourhood drivers. Traffic Services managers Allen Pinkerton and Jay Malone left the meeting with a great deal of information to follow up on.

We also had Traffic Planning expert, Victoria Witowski speak on the Sheppard Ave Corridor and how traffic is being monitored throughout the onslaught of Subway Development Applications. As Victoria walked members through her 12 foot long aerial photo map, I think the high point for me came when she finished going through all of the sites and said, "And as you can see, we are pretty much finished." I asked her to expand. " If you look at the corridor from Bayview to the Don Valley Parkway, you can see that all potential sites are already built or 'in process'. There are no other potential sites where Planners would ever be likely to say yes." Amen to that!

Wednesday, April 12, 2006

Yard Waste Pick Up delayed

This message from Solid Waste Services was just received.

Please note that due to the enormous amount of yard waste, we are almost a day behind in Yard Waste Collection. Most of Wednesdays' yard waste will be collected promptly tomorrow morning.

Monday, April 10, 2006

Toronto Police Services - Community Alert

Mail/Internet fraud


The Toronto Police want to remind the community to be aware of frauds via mail, the telephone or the internet.

Recently some community members have received by mail, literature from an organization claiming to be a Financial Corporation. The mail was received in a plain white envelope, with the recipient's name and address typed on the front. The envelope has only the Don Mills Postal station as a return post mark on it. In the envelope there is a small pamphlet suggesting that you let them help you with your current money matters including Auto and Mortgage financing. They want you to respond by "direct marketing communication" only, meaning they want you to fill out a questionai re that includes giving out personal information, no contact phone number is made available.

Do not give out any information, under any circumstances to anyone you do not know. Don't give out any information over the phone or the internet, especially a credit card number. If you receive mail to your door, by phone or internet wanting money or donations for charity, find out if they are a recognized and reputable organization by having them quote their registered charity number and calling the Better Business Bureau. If someone calls claiming to be from your financial institution and wants you to disclose personal information to discuss your accounts, do not give out this information, go directly to the bank in person. Remember this..."if it sounds too good to be true...it usually is!"

If you, or someone you know feels they have been the victim of a fraud or Identity theft, please call the Police non emergency number at 416-808-2222.

For more information on this or any other crime prevention matter, please contact the 33 Division Crime Prevention Officer PC K. Downie #5535 at 416-808-3395

Thursday, April 06, 2006

Ward 33 AC Traffic Management Info Session

Special Meeting Offered By Ward 33 A.C.:

Traffic Management Information Session

Monday, April 10th

Fairview Mall Library

(Fourth Floor, Room A, 7:30 to 9:30 p.m.)


All residents are welcome at a special meeting of the Ward 33 Advisory Committee on Monday night. Ward 33 A.C. has invited City Traffic and Transportation Planning staff to hold an information session for our community.

We want staff to present on two topics which are of ongoing concern in our region:

1) How staff evaluate traffic issues in the area. What are the criteria for changes in traffic control measures? Local criteria, provincial criteria?

2) How staff evaluate potential traffic issues when considering private development applications. Who follows up to determine if negotiated traffic measures for development actually addressed the issue? Is there an overall traffic management plan for intensification?


Additional questions can be submitted at the door so that your local traffic concerns can be added to the agenda. Questions and answers on the presentations will also be allowed, time permitting.

The regular members of the Ward 33 Advisory Committee will hold a meeting of regular business at 6:30p.m. You are welcome to come early, observe and get to know these good neighbors.

Community Alert - 33 Division

Daytime Break and Enters


This is a notice to all 33 Division Community members in regards to the latest rash of day time break and enters, particularily into Apartments.

The Police want to remind you that when entering your Apartment building be aware of your surroundings. DO NOT let strangers into the building. Make sure to close the entrance door behind you, making sure others use their own key to gain entry. If they are legitimate visitors allow them to buzz in or phone up to the tenants they are visiting. Treat the whole building as if it is your own apartment, by telephoning police whenever you observe suspicious behaviour, in and around the premise including the laundry room, stairwells and parking area.

Make sure to notify the manager/superi ntendant of any maintenance issues that could facilitate a crime to take place ie, broken or poor lighting in stairwells and parking areas, insecure entry's (doors/windows). Be sure to install a good quality deadbolt lock with proper 3" screws and strike plate.

Contact the appropriate people to organize tenant safety meetings and implement programs such as Neighbourhood Watch, now known as CPAT (Crime Pevention Association of Toronto) 416-225-1102

You can also request the Crime Prevention officer from 33 Division PC Downie #5535 416-808-3395 to attend a community or safety meeting for a more in depth discussion on Crime prevention and tips.

If you see anything suspicious, in and around your home, note the descriptions of individuals and/or vehicles and licence plates. Please contact police immediately.