Councillor Joe Cressy
Toronto City Hall
100 Queen Street West, Suite C50
Toronto, ON M5H 2N2
Dear Councillor Cressy: December 10, 2016
I am perhaps one of your newest constituents; my husband and I bought our house on Robert Street in July. We are thrilled to be joining the vibrant community of the Harbord Village and have already formed friendships with several of our neighbours. We are planning a major interior renovation to our house while restoring the facade in accordance with the heritage designation.
In our conversations with our neighbours we have discussed the various development proposals in our immediate vicinity and specifically the student residence proposed by the U of T at the corner of Sussex and Spadina. I was quite taken aback at the scale of the project. I have taken the time to carefully read Bousfield's Planning & Design Rationale and am struck by how the report "cuts his coat to suit his cloth", in other words seeks justification for the height and density in various municipal and provincial planning documents while ignoring obvious problems of scale, usage and location.
The intersection of Sussex and Spadina is the entryway into the neighbourhood courtesy of the one-way street system. The anomalous building at 666 Spadina, built in an era that seemed to have valued modernity and increasing the tax base at the cost of good planning, stands today as a potent reminder of inappropriate scale and density. It has received heritage designation for what it exemplifies; it should be left as it is, as clearly some thought was given to allowing for light, space and air around it to mitigate its enormous (for this location) mass. The proposed eradication of the green space with townhouses would simply make a bad situation worse and serve no one but the developers. Affordable housing is in short supply but there are many other ways to increase density in more appropriate locations.
The building 698 Spadina housing the Ten Editions bookshop is being considered for heritage designation. This shows that Heritage Preservation Services recognizes the value of maintaining this building (and not just its facades); its scale, style and use as a small commercial enterprise fit harmoniously with the surrounding neighbourhood.
The university should not be encroaching on neighbourhoods with their property acquisitions any more than they already have. The Huron-Sussex residents have struggled like David with Goliath to maintain the character and residential use of their neighbourhood; Harbord Village residents do not want to also feel the (literally) towering presence of the U of T’s buying power as it extends its boundaries in all directions without being checked. Also, Bousfield’s report glosses over the real impact the project will have; can you imagine 550 students trying to cross Spadina Avenue at 8:45 AM? The traffic and streetcars would come to a standstill on a daily basis.
As my representative at City Council, I ask you to strenuously oppose any development by the U of T or other developers to the west side of Spadina and beyond.
Yours sincerely,
Carolyn F.
Robert Street