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Council Highlights
Archive
2007 |
 The
Council Highlights are provided as a service to
constituents in Ward 25. The following is a brief
summary of Council’s meeting held on March 3, 4 and 5th,
2008.
City supports climate change goals by
greening its vehicle fleet (GM 12.6)
Council unanimously approved the
Green Fleet Plan 2008-2011, which will see the City
purchase more environmentally friendly vehicles. These
vehicles will help the City Fleet meet or surpass its
emission reduction targets adopted by Council: it will
reduce locally produced smog emissions by 20 per cent by
2012, and meet Kyoto greenhouse gas reduction targets.
The City Fleet will acquire a minimum: 80 vehicles in
2008, 100 vehicles in 2009, 140 vehicles in 2010 and 200
vehicles in 2011. The City will test electric and
hydrogen powered vehicles. Also, the City’s street
sweepers will be replaced with dustless models that will
trap the swept particles, preventing them from becoming
airborne. The Fleet Services Division will work with
other divisions to reduce the overall number of vehicles
used and kilometres travelled, and to use vehicles more
efficiently.
See:
http://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2008/gm/agendas/2008-02-14-gm12-ai.htm.
New bylaw to allow property owners to
generate and sell electricity (PG13.1)
Council unanimously approved a new
bylaw that allows for the production of energy from
renewable energy sources and cogeneration sources
city-wide, and for the distribution of the energy
off-site, such as the electrical system or to a district
energy system. The new bylaw brings clarity to the
current situation where the 43 zoning bylaws are silent
on the issue, mainly because they were written at a time
where options, including solar panels or windmills, were
not available. The integration of 'green energy' into
the electrical system or district energy systems will
help reduce greenhouse gases and air pollution in the
city. Use of such power sources will help the City
reach its climate change goals.
See:
http://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2008/pg/agendas/2008-02-13-pg13-ai.htm
Local
Planning Triumphs over Centralized Planning (PG13.4)
Council adopted
a set of revised Guidelines proposed by Councillor Adam
Vaughan (and actively supported by Councillors Karen
Stintz, John Filion and I) which will effectively ensure
that the vast majority of local planning matters will be
dealt with by local Community Councils. Councillor
Vaughan’s guidelines modified a prior set of guidelines
proposed by planning staff which would have delegated
the authority to staff to determine which matters are of
city-wide interest (and thus should be heard by six
councillors on the Planning & Growth Management
Committee downtown). For example, when a street is
designated as an Avenue in the Official Plan, it
almost automatically implies increased densities and
heights of six to eight stories. So while Bayview, York
Mills, Leslie and Lawrence in Ward 25 are not Avenues,
any proposal by planning staff to so designate them
would ensure local consultation and decision by North
York Community Council.
See:
http://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2008/cc/bgrd/pg13.4att.pdf.
Council to
appeal precedent-setting OMB Decision (CC17.4)
Council voted to
appeal, to Divisional Court, a very unfortunate Decision
of the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) on a development
proposal at 4187 Dundas Street West and 567-571 Prince
Edward Drive in Etobicoke – which, if allowed to stand
would have very negative
implications throughout the City.
The decision by the OMB effectively ignored (or placed
little value on) very important provisions in the new
Official Plan (OP) respecting the protection and
preservation of our existing stable residential
neighbourhoods. It follows closely a similar Decision
at 2425-2427 Bayview Avenue in Ward 25, but is much more
serious. The Etobicoke application for a 10-storey
building on Dundas Street West also included several
adjacent residential lots previously containing
single-family homes. By sanctioning a development
which not only fails to provide adequate transitioning
with an adjacent residential neighbourhood, but actually
intrudes directly into it, the OMB is effectively
declaring the most critical neighbourhood protection
provisions of the OP to be ineffective. I will report
on the outcome of this appeal and its implications for
the stable residential areas of Ward 25.
Sale of 192A
Bloor Street West to McDonalds (GM12.7)
Council approved
a staff recommendation to sell the subject property to
McDonalds Restaurants for about $3.4 million.
Thirty-six years ago the site was leased to McDonalds
under terms which have not proven to be advantageous for
the City. The lease term was 99 years and provided for
renegotiation of the lease rate at the 33-year and
66-year marks. The result has been that the lease rate
has been well under market value for many years. Staff
advised Council that if the property were unencumbered
by this lease, it would be worth an amount, which I am
obliged to keep confidential, that is considerably
greater than $3.4 million. Many Councillors believed it
to be expeditious to sell the property for the lower
amount rather than be forced to accept an arbitrated
lease amount for the second 33-year term. I moved that
the City not accept the purchase offer from McDonalds,
but instead continue negotiations on the lease while
remaining open to an offer which better matched the true
value of the property. My motion did not pass -
instead Council voted to adopt staff recommendations and
sell the property at well below the unencumbered market
value.
See
http://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2008/cc/decisions/2008-03-03-cc17-dd.pdf.
Retail holiday shopping locations and
hours remain unchanged (ED12.5)
A report outlining new options for
holiday shopping was received for information by
Council, which means the status quo remains. Most
stores in the City must continue to close on New Year’s
Day, Good Friday, Easter Sunday, Victoria Day, Canada
Day, Labour Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas Day.
Chapter 510 of the Municipal Code lists 15 categories
of exempt store types that are permitted to remain open.
In addition, stores in the Eaton Centre, Distillery
District, Queen's Quay Terminal, Downtown Yonge BIA and
the Bloor Yorkville BIA are permitted to remain open on
certain designated holidays. See:
http://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2008/ed/agendas/2008-02-20-ed12-ai.htm.
City endorses plan to build a
creative city (ED12.3)
Council adopted the Creative City
Planning Framework, a plan to increase economic
competitiveness and long-term prosperity by adopting a
Cultural Planning model and developing "Creative
Toronto." Cultural Planning seeks to leverage the
connections between place, culture and the economy.
"Creative Toronto," one of the four pillars outlined in
the Agenda for Prosperity: a Prospectus for a Great
City, states that Toronto can compete in sectors that
add value, increase productivity and grow the economy
through research, development and the commercialization
of ideas. The Creative City Planning Framework was
developed in conjunction with The Agenda for Prosperity
and supports its priority actions. City Council adopted
the Agenda for Prosperity at its January 2008 meeting.
The report will be used to guide major strategic
policies having an impact on Toronto’s economic
competitiveness and growth.
See:
http://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2008/ed/agendas/2008-02-20-ed12-ai.htm
Toronto-Ontario Agreement on
Cooperation and Consultation (EX17.9)
Council ratified the Agreement on
Cooperation and Consultation between the City of Toronto
and the Province of Ontario, signed on January 15, 2008.
Under the agreement, the two governments will consult
with each other on proposed changes to legislation,
regulations, bylaws and resolutions, and on policy
matters of mutual interest, as provided in the City of
Toronto Act, 2006. The Act, which came into force on
January 1, 2007, gives the City new tools and
flexibility to better respond to residents’ needs.
See:
http://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2008/ex/agendas/2008-02-06-ex17-ai.htm
Leaf and yard waste collection and
Christmas tree pick-up extended (PW13.1)
Council voted to extend the current
leaf and yard waste, as well as Christmas tree
collection schedules starting in September 2008. Given
that religious holiday celebrations now extend into the
second and third weeks of January, and that changing
climate conditions have altered seasonal weather
patterns, the extended spring and fall leaf and yard
waste collection, and extended Christmas tree collection
will provide better service to residents. Under the new
schedule, bi-weekly collection of leaf and yard waste
will occur from March 16 through to December 31, and
Christmas tree pick-up will take place bi-weekly from
January 5 to 23. Currently, the City provides
single-family residences with curb side collection of
leaf and yard waste beginning the first full week of
April and continuing through until the first week of
December, on an alternating weekly/bi-weekly schedule.
Christmas trees are currently collected from
single-family residences weekly during the first two
weeks of January.
See: http://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2008/pw/agendas/2008-02-08-pw13-ai.htm.
Non-Council
Items
- Mayor's
Fiscal Review Panel.
This panel was hand-picked by Mayor Miller during
the debate over the new vehicle and land transfer
taxes - to find savings and efficiencies at the
City. Surprisingly, their February report, entitled
“Blueprint for Fiscal Stability and Economic
Prosperity” barely touches on matters of efficiency
and savings (leaving it to others via a "Catch the
Little Things" program). Instead, it veers off into
municipal governance, proposing to place much
greater powers in the hands of the Mayor and
advocating radical changes to city planning policy.
It also proposes that the City “systematically
review capital assets” - a course of action that
appears to merely sell-off assets, without
addressing the underlying structural problems of the
City.
See
www.toronto.ca/mayor_miller/index.htm.
In my view, the report should have addressed three
things:
1. its purported mandate - to
examine savings and efficiencies at the City - to
determine whether they could solve the City's $1 billion
structural problem. Had they done that, they likely
would have found savings in the tens of millions of
dollars - impressive numbers, but not enough to dent the
real problems.
2. the structural operating
problem - the Government of Ontario requires the City to
run the province's social assistance programs and
subsidize them in the amount of $700 million annually
($2.6 billion program cost with only $1.9 billion in
provincial funding).
3. the structural capital
problem - the City takes on massive amounts of new debt
every year (usually $200 - $300 million) to fund
infrastructure growth instead of funding it through its
intended vehicle - development charges. This problem is
partly solvable by the City (perhaps about 20%), but the
co-operation of the provincial government is required to
unlock the full solution in the Development Charges Act.
If you wish to comment on any issue, please call or
write to me: 416-395-6408 or
councillor_jenkins@toronto.ca. Please feel free to
forward these Council Highlights to others who may be
interested in these municipal issues. If you wish to
unsubscribe to this newsletter, you can also do so with
a simple call or e-mail. Recent issues of Council
Highlights have generated so much incoming email that I
have not been able to respond individually to all
correspondents. I will certainly read all
correspondence, but may unfortunately have to respond
with a “form” letter under
some circumstances. For regular matters, please
feel free to call or email my staff. May Doyle:
416-395-0374 or
madoyle@toronto.ca, Neil Carter: 416-395-6409 or
ncarter@toronto.ca, Carmela Morresi: 416-395-6408 or
cmorres@toronto.ca
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