1327 Queen Street East Development Application.
Working Group Meeting #2 - Report.
Servicing Report
Servicing Report from the developer's consultants Counterpoint Engineering was quite vague - they reported they'd just received back the bore hole results and had some information - like that they had a groundwater movement result (underground water flow is West - so from the garage into the hole). They also reported no contaminates in their water sampling.We learned 55% of the storm water that lands on the site would go into the (mixed!) sewers. This is way too high Toronto & East York is averaging I believe, 43% after a storm water diversion efforts over the last 10 years - new developments have to reduce that average not increase it.
(PLUS - storm water is mixed with sewage in our sewer system?! - and then has to be treated at Ashbridges?! Is the Leslie Street reconstruction installing the backbone for separate systems?!)
I asked about the River under the site - which no one claimed any knowledge of (turns out it's under Alton Ave (Agnes Lane), about 70 metres to the west of the proposed hole).
I asked more more detail on the flows at different strata; and more information on contaminants. The Garage lot to the east is undoubtedly seeping carcinogens west towards the old river valley at Agnes Ln (as is by the way, the abandoned cleaners site - just to the West (Super Contaminants flowing East through strata in the underground valley)). Yet soil ground water testing indicates all safe. I wonder if when the hole is dug of the resulting low pressure it creates with it's drainage tile around it with result in the release of all these presumably stable contaminants?
The Loading Dock / Garbage Port
Several people talked about Garbage and Residential and Retail that will use a unified Loading Bay - some said a garbage truck would take lots of maneuvering to get into it - and back and forth and such, to make the corner into the Bay as it is designed - and what about in winter when traffic lanes generally become narrower? Our point is, the right-to-the-property-line design won't work - and plus the several guidelines say there should be a set-back off the ally (and off the front too).Transportation Report
Transportation Impacts Report from Rock Port consultants, BA Group - presented by BA Group Principal Alun Lloyd (P. Eng) - was one of those post-modern affairs I think, where the speaker tries to make it as boring as possible, so the sheep go to sleep.One member of the group struggled out of the haze to bring up the hellish congestion that the whole neighbourhood is struggling with - and that got me off my elbows and I sprinkled the rest of the talk with some real talking points (I hope) - I bought up Traffic Queueing Counts that were included in the report - didn't they reflect area roadways at capacity? I bought up the 17 to 20 cars that would be added to peak hour flows from this one building - and then add to that the other 4 projects with-in a few blocks - and then extrapolate that from the Don Valley to Victoria Park - doesn't that create really scary peak numbers on already congested streets?
City of Toronto Transportation signed off on the whole higher density thing - even though we are at peak hour (6-7 hours a day) capacity as it is.
(Note local area mode share for Cars is about 30%; Transit: 45%; Walking/Cycling: 25% - none of these ideas were discussed. - See Road to Health2)
The speaker mentioned the fact that they did know the Contraflow on Knox was there - but the fact the \at the count was flawed - that there was missing data didn't seem to hurt the validity of the study at all as the City Transportation accepted all elements of the developer Transportation Impacts Study (as this is just a dance we do - nothing actually real is pinned down and accounted for in these things?).
Fire Servicing
Several people talked about recent fires in the area off of Memory Lane - how would fire trucks manage on the narrow lane ways?. Fire Truck access to the area is an issue apparently (as it is with all developments that use the alleyway behind to take turning time pressure off the Major Arterial). Fire says as a matter of policy alleys are not considered access points for Fire Trucks ... So how do Fire Crews get at this complex after it's built? (and in a separate development proposal - the townhouse project that is happening just to the south of it, now we hear).Heritage Discussion
Missed in the Working Group process was the possible Heritage designation of these very old buildings. This was raised at the initial Public Meeting in the Gym - but got left off the Working Group's list as we made our way through the dozens and dozens of issues raised. Councillor Fletcher raised it at the meeting, and I and another spoke to it as well. This should be on the agenda in the next meeting on September 22nd. (The Toronto & East York Community Council - at a meeting in August(?) - voted to ask Heritage Toronto to look into the properties towards a possible Heritage Designation.)The Take Away
There's a lot of unfinished business piling up in our rear - and no feedback - or organization(?) it appears, from Planning, on what will be brought back to the table, and when.Time is too short for all the unresolved items that are left lying around behind us - even just at this half way point through the proposed Working Group process, citizen's unanswered questions lay everywhere.
One Working Group participant summed up Meeting #2 this way:
"I left the meeting feeling like my time had been wasted. 2 hours of community time for what could have been summarized in 20 minutes - or simply distributed in printed form. I didn’t learn much and I don’t believe anything the neighbourhood said was really "heard"."
Looks like we need more that 4 meeting to get at all this stuff.
We are breaking new ground with this mid-rise stuff - and everyone seems to be playing it business as usual.
We haven't even started on the Built Form, the Existing Character ...
.. And the biggest issue: It's several stories too high and much too wide from any angle.
Michael Holloway
ETCC member
References
1 Map Image: Zoom of U of T Don River Valley Historical Mapping Project | Plan of the City of Toronto, Villiers Sankey, City Surveyor, 1902 | http://maps.library.utoronto.ca/dvhmp/maps.html
2 A Healthy Toronto By Design - Road to Health - Improving Walking and Cycling in Toronto | Toronto Public Health, April 2012 | http://www.toronto.ca/health/hphe/pdf/roadtohealth.pdf
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