COMMUNITY MEETING INFORMATION.

I talked to Greg Hobson-Garcia today and was both pleased and somewhat alarmed by what I heard. First, he has already received quite a few submissions from the community challenging the developer's application. (Keep sending them.) He has also received the report form the Toronto Region Conservation Authority saying they cannot support the application for a number of reasons listed in a previous post. He is waiting on reviews of the application from other City departments. The mayor is advised of the community's interest in this and has asked for feedback from the planners. If residents keep the pressure up, I sense that the Planning Department's decision in their final report will hopefully end up being a refusal.

Here's the problem, though. If that is the case, the Planning Act says that a final report that is a refusal can go directly to Etobicoke-York Community Council without the need for a public meeting first. At Community Council, the report would be presented and the eleven members (west Toronto Councillors) have the power to either rubber stamp the Planning Department's decision, modify it or instruct the planners to reverse their decision and accept it! The planners' job is merely to advise council; they have no authority - the politicians have total power.

So, that could mean, for example, that a motion could be put forward to limit the townhouse row to six units and it could be passed on the spot - all without a public meeting first. This on-the-spot-modification-to-pass-at-community-council has all happened before.

Greg is trying to set up the Community Council meeting for January. We should know exactly when during this month of November. At that public meeting, it will be possible for residents to make a short deputation. In order for anyone to do this, they need to know the meeting date and they need to get on the deputation list by calling Sandra Domotor, Etobicoke-York City Clerk, at 394 8083.

Meeting dates will be passed on by the planner to those people who have requested to be on his notification list. To do that, contact Greg Hobson-Garcia at 416 394 2615 or e-mail him at ghobson@toronto.ca. This is a new file from the earlier "monster home" application, so you need to make sure that you get on the list for this current one. We will also post the information on this blog.

We also need to be aware of the fact that a developer can appeal to the Ontario Municipal Board when there is failure to announce a decision on an Official Plan Amendment by the City's Planning Department within 90 days of receipt of the developer's application. That time will be up in early December.