The St Lawrence Forum and People Plan Toronto
Summary of Public Forum in Etobicoke
Saturday May 10, 1 to 3 pm
Etobicoke Civic Centre
Introduction
The Etobicoke Forum was an opportunity for residents and residents
groups to share experiences, learn from each other and better develop our
networks. It consisted of two parts; panel presentations, and open
discussion. The discussion focused on 2 questions:
“What are the obstacles to having our voices heard?”
“How can we address these obstacles?”
Dina Graser (People Plan Toronto) introduced the speakers and moderated the session.
Presentations
Jem Cain (New Toronto Good Neighbours) is a community activist who has worked to oppose land-use changes that would negatively impact on the south Etobicoke community. Examples of the results of her community advocacy were: a concrete plant that was proposed to be located immediately behind a residential area, was relocated to a more suitable area (already the home of similar industries) following a land swap. And she successfully opposed a strip club at Lakeshore and 4th Street.
Suggestions:
Be professional at all times; keep records of meetings
Be flexible – be prepared to change strategy;
Be active – e.g. write letters to editor, organise web petitions; carry digital camera; create a web site for the issue
Halima Saad (Madaddad Womens Initiative) is an immigrant from Somalia who spoke of her efforts to mobilize her community in addressing barriers facing “those who don’t belong to the system” such as employment, language and other barriers. In the course of this she has been involved in several land use issues such as the Woodbine racetrack redevelopment and has worked with the Community Organizing for Responsible Development (CORD) organization in seeking to obtain community benefits (such as affordable housing, job training and local employment) from the massive proposed project.
Jim Sturino (President, Royal LePage West Real Estate spoke about his experience with the Six Points Interchange (Kipling and Dundas/Bloor). Jim feels that the process developed by the City planning “worked”. He feels that there was adequate involvement including a public meeting with over 250 people present where the options were discussed.
Councillor Peter Milczyn discussed his experience with planning and his recommendations for improvements.
The Planning Act does not give all the tools needed to the city
It is important to do secondary plans and update zoning bylaws; however the developer will always ask for more than provided for by the secondary plan
The City of Toronto Act provides for an appeal panel from the committee of adjustment. However, to date, city council has deferred decision on this
Milczyn called for a review of the OMB by the Ontario Ombudsman’s office – given its strong track record in investigating organizations with a poor record of responsiveness to the public.
Graham Maguire (Martin Homes Association) described several land use issues that his association had been involved in:
The GTAA wanted to designate the area as airport operations area – noise issue
“greenfield North” project to replace a coal fired generating station with a gas generating station (Queensway/west mall area)
Millwood park redevelopment – community involvement in the area planning for a local park
Barriers/Recommendations
OMB -- should it be abolished or should powers be limited? One option - OMB should have power to send a planning proposal back to the city not to approve (or not approve) it
Citizen involvement as fourth leg of the planning system – Equity for citizens – lack of resources for residents associations
Support/expertise is not available – create a community resource design centre
Heritage needs special study on city basis – once it is gone it is gone and cannot be negotiated
Create a citizens task force to review planning process
Notes by Geoff Kettel
May 14, 2008