March 9, 2010
UPDATE ON SALVATION ARMY SITE

Dear Lawrence Park – Bayview Residents,

Last Thursday night a community meeting was held regarding the development of the Salvation Army property at 2130 Bayview Ave. After discussions with Cliff Jenkins, who convened the meeting, the developers, Tribute Communities, made a presentation and following this we had another in-camera discussion. The Tribute proposal calls for 180 units totalling some 310,000 sq ft (including basements, but not the underground garage). The plans were slightly modified from those that were available from Cliff.

The main issues arising from the discussions / presentation are as follows. Cresford has sold its interest in the land to their silent partner who is now in discussions to sell the property to Tribute. Tribute has prepared a plan for the property and is assessing whether to move with the purchase. Part of their decision will be whether they can move ahead quickly and gain city approvals before the Council elections in the Fall - this is a very aggressive timetable which will likely require our support if it is to be met. The plans at the moment are quite preliminary (there was a sense that their preparation was somewhat rushed). On a positive side the height of the buildings will be a little less that that proposed by Cresford.

Issues raised at the meeting include: 1) The development in considerably downscale compared to that of Cresford with a sale price around $6-700K. 2) The proposed 180 units represents over a doubling of that proposed by Cresford. There was great concern about the impact this would have on traffic in the area, particularly onto Bayview at rush hour. 3) The ramp to the underground garage is sited on the north side of the property which will place considerable traffic volume at the lights onto Bayview. 4) There will be a garbage storage area next to the ramp which will be accessed on a weekly basis. This has the potential for noise and odour around this area. 5) The plan calls for the removal of some additional trees in the north-west corner of the development, as well as units closer to the property line in this corner than was the case with Cresford. 6) Concerns were also expressed that there will be lowering of the ground in some places that may damage the roots of existing trees. 7) Some of the units on the north of the property (those nearest Bayview) will have penthouse decks which will overlook some of the existing properties on Dawlish.

There was a general feeling that while there are significant issues with the planned development, we should attempt a dialogue with Tribute to determine whether our concerns can be addressed. Cliff commented that if we are to influence the course of the development, it was critical for us to organize as a community and demonstrate that we are determined to have our concerns addressed. As such the following course of action was decided upon. 1) We resurrect Lawrence Park – Bayview Property Owners’ Association. 2) A small working group including, Stephen Lye, Jason Marks and Peter Hawrylyshyn will help coordinate the community efforts. We will request that leadership of the Lawrence Park Ratepayers’ Association join this working group. 3) We will engage a planner to assist us (ideally David Butler). David’s input proved to be extremely important in our discussions with Cresford. Even though this required financial support from all of us, we were able to have this reimbursed by Cresford in our minutes of settlement. We are currently setting up a bank account to fund our efforts to ensure that any development of the Salvation Army site meets our concerns. We will request that each household contribute $500 to this our working fund. Again, we will seek reimbursement from Tribute in any settlement agreement. 4) We will meet with the city planners (hopefully this coming week) to get their view on the development and for them to hear our concerns (it was emphasized that Tribute are being very aggressive in their timelines).

In order to prepare for a meeting with city planners please review the issues cited above and if there are other concerns that you think of please respond ASAP to Steve Lye (stephenlye@hotmail.com).

Thank you for your support. Please remember that if we are to have any influence on this development we must be organized and effective in our dealings with Tribute.

Regards,

Stephen Lye, Jason Marks, Peter Hawrylyshyn