Some local residents are not happy about yet another townhouse proposal on Bayview Avenue.
Developers have applied to construct 11 townhomes at Bayview and Old Colony Road, between York Mills and Highway 401, where single-detached homes currently sit. Bayview between Lawrence Avenue East and Highway 401 has already seen a tremendous change in recent years, and local residents are concerned about how rapidly their neighbourhood is transforming.
“I’ve never seen in all my days one stretch of a neighbourhood under so much intensification pressure at one time,” said Coun. Jaye Robinson. She has created a design guideline for the neighbourhood that she hopes will be used to enforce the style, size and location of future developments.
“We needed to come up with a design strategy to try and pull back the reins here,” she said. “The OMB is really pushing our hand on this.”
The Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) has ruled in favour of several applications in this area that the city had denied. Robinson believes this has set a precedent on Bayview for the development of large buildings out of the set zoning regulations.
“There is a major concern from long-term residents here about loss of privacy, among other things,” said the John Nicholls, president of the York Mills Garden Community Association (YMGCA).
“The whole neighbourhood is changing.”
Nicholls said that the YMGCA and residents are also concerned with issues such as waste management and traffic, issues prone to disruption in areas where density increases.
“This proposal, along with the preliminary report, has gone to North York Community Council, and we are in the process of scheduling a meeting,” said Guy Matthew, the City of Toronto planner on the project.
“The outstanding issues listed in the city preliminary report will all need to be addressed before anything moves forward.”