We've had a busy spring and summer and wanted you to know about some of the community efforts that we've been working on.
New pedestrian crosswalk on Broadway You’ve probably noticed that we have a new pedestrian crosswalk on Broadway. The RRA worked with the City and NTCI to get a crosswalk before the beginning of this school year. Since Broadway is now a one-way street and school buses must unload students on the north side of the street, crossing the street to get to NTCI is a safety issue for students, especially those using assistive devices. This is a win for all residents in the neighbourhood given the heavier car and construction vehicle traffic.
Landscaping on NTCI’s Broadway border
As part of our negotiations with the new St. Monica’s church and condo development on the north side of Broadway, the developer (Collecdev) agreed to design and install a soft landscape area in the green space between 25 Broadway and the new crosswalk. This is part of the community benefits agreed to by Collecdev as required by City planning. It will include new trees, perennial bushes and a bench that will memorialize our great friend and RRA co-chair Terry O’Sullivan who passed away this summer (memoriam). Terry played a major role in our negotiations with Collecdev and helped to get a much-improved design for the site.
Construction management
One of our major ongoing efforts is managing the construction that is happening all over our neighbourhood. We have monthly meetings with several of the local developers to monitor their progress and ensure they are:
managing the traffic flow of their trucks and equipment
maintaining appropriate work hours
monitoring noise, air quality and vibrations
cleaning roadways and sidewalks
Meetings with the following developers have been be collaborative and effective:
Times Group at 55-65 Broadway
Reserve Properties at 100, 110-120 & 117-127 Broadway
We have had less success with the developers at 75 Broadway (Hazelview). They have not agreed to monthly meetings and have not cooperated with our requests to follow the construction management plans as approved by the City. We continue to request the help of the Hub Coordinator in dealing with this issue.
Green roof on NTCI
You may know that the rooftop of NTCI was originally designed as a green roof. Unfortunately, it has not been maintained and has deteriorated significantly over the years. We began discussions with the TDSB and the original landscapers who installed it to try to revive it. Interestingly, this is the same group that is doing the landscaping for St. Monica’s and the soft landscaping adjacent to the school on Broadway, as mentioned above. The school administrators are very supportive and are considering ways of involving students in a learning effort in the roof’s revival. Since safety is an issue, the TDSB is looking at constructing a protective barrier around the roof before any new work can be done.
Air quality monitoring
We are working with the University of Toronto to monitor the air quality of our community. Monitors are being placed in major intersections in the neighbourhood as well as on residents’ balconies to determine the effects of all the construction activity on the quality of our air. This is a multi-phase project that we hope will influence how the City approves demolitions and new construction while maintaining our air quality. Noise monitoring will be the next area to be addressed.