Beach Triangle Residents Association
Neighbourhood News and Information
The Beach Triangle Residents Association, Toronto, Ontario
BTRA Chairperson's Report
By Hans Looije
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Season's greetings to all. In my first year as president I have been very busy. When I joined the executive 14 years ago during the racetrack redevelopment days, I stayed in the background. Now that I am retired, I thought I would have a lot more time on my hands (how wrong could I be?)
One of the biggest changes since last year has been the election of a new councillor for our ward. Mary-Margaret McMahon has been very accessible and I have met with her seven times so far. I'm pleased to report that she believes in consulting with the community and getting people together.
During the past year we have seen the start of the Rainsford One condominium development. The start of construction has not been without its problems. And we are starting to see many, many more development proposals in the beach:
- The Neville Park development was successfully fought at the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB)
- The Kippendavie development went to the OMB and the residents did get some concessions
- The development at 580-592 Kingston Road on the Glen Davis Ravine is currently being fought at the OMB
- The Belfair Church development, which is keeping the facade of the old church
- The Corpus Christi school redevelopment
- There are also development proposals for Woodbine/Kingston (Beach Club), the Licks site (Lakehouse), and Rainsford Phase II.
It appears that the city planning department is letting developers build what they want, ignoring the voices of resident associations that spring up to oppose the disruption to their neighbourhood. Some associations have fought the city and developers at the Ontario Municipal Board and won, but at great financial and personal cost. In response all the resident groups, including the BTRA, are now in discussions leading to formation of a federation so that we have a bigger voice at city hall. This federation would be able to tackle unwarranted development, environmental issues, and pool the small resources of the existing resident associations.
The BTRA Board urges Triangle residents to support this initiative, in order to make our collective voice heard.
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