To Residents interested in the Don Mills Centre development application and proposed Community Centre:

 

Thank you to the great many who wrote with strong opinions on both sides of the issue.  I am unable to reply personally to all.  Please accept this summary of yesterday's events and possible future outcomes.

 

At City Council I moved to accept Cadillac Fairview's (CF) Settlement Offer - to permit the development in its currently proposed form and to accept a new 48,000 sq.ft. community centre.  The motion failed on a 16 to 17 vote.  Councillors voting in favour generally believed that a new community centre was an extraordinary community benefit - perhaps the largest ever to accompany a development application in Toronto.  Councillors voting against largely accepted the position of City Planning staff that the development represented poor planning - although planning staff carefully declined to be specific about how much (or little) change would be required to turn it into good planning.

 

Other parts of my motion were adopted - directing a Secondary Plan review to improve planning policies to protect the stability of neighbouring land uses; directing staff to survey nearby medical practitioners for interest in co-locating; requesting CF to continue to seek tenancies by medical practitioners; requesting CF to share its plans for public art; and directing the General Manager of Parks, Forestry & Recreation to explore the possibility of a combined community centre and twin-pad ice facility.  Council also passed a motion to request further negotiations with CF to resolve planning issues, including height and placement of density.

 

Looking to the future:  the City's failure to accept the Settlement Offer will result in the withdrawal on October 7 of the offer of the proposed community centre - a terrible result for the people of Don Mills.  Secondly, the OMB appeal will take place over seven weeks starting in April, 2010.  Having questioned City planning and legal staff about the strength of the City's case at the OMB and listened carefully to their responses, I am not confident that the City will achieve significantly reduced heights, different placement of density or similar objectives on other items at the OMB. 

 

The OMB outcome may very well be very similar to the current development proposal - but without a community centre.  If so, those who fought so hard to oppose the Settlement Offer will simply have deprived the people of Don Mills something they've long been asking for and had within their grasp. 

 

I thank the dedicated service organizations of Don Mills, including the Don Mills Residents Inc, the Civitan Charitable Organization, Better Living Health & Community Services for their great efforts in pursuit of new community facilities and acceptable development - and for the extraordinary work they do every day in our community.  Thank you as well to MPP Kathleen Wynne and MP Rob Oliphant for their efforts. 

 

I look forward to continuing to work with residents and groups throughout the community to achieve the best possible outcomes in the aftermath of Council's decision.

 

I welcome your further comments.   Best wishes.....Cliff Jenkins 

 

Recorded Vote on Acceptance of the Settlement Offer:

 

In favour: Maria Augimeri, Ramong Cho, Glenn De Baeremaker, Frank Di Giorgio, Mike Feldman, John Filion, Rob Ford, Cliff Jenkins, Gloria Lindsay Luby, Giorgio Mammoliti, Peter Milczyn, Cesar Palacio, John Parker, Anthony Perruzza, Karen Stintz, Michael Walker.  Total 16.

 

Opposed:  Paul Ainslie, Sandra Bussin, Shelley Carroll, Janet Davis, Mike Del Grande, Adam Giambrone, Suzan Hall, Doug Holyday, Norm Kelly, Pam McConnell, Joe Mihevc, Denzil Minnan-Wong, Joe Pantalone, Gord Perks, David Shiner, Michael Thompson, Adam Vaughan.  Total 17.