OpenFile

ORIGINAL FILE PITCH

Opened date: Thursday, July 15, 2010 Opened by jomoon

The TTC plans to expropriate homes and build second exits at the Donlands and Greenwood subway stations, several residents will lose their houses and many others will face partial expropriations of land and will be directly impacted by this rushed decision by the TTC. Although the group at Donlands is not opposed to the second exit per se, they are opposed to the proposed location. Family homes vs a dilapidated garage? There are other possible sites yet it would appear that TTC is acting swiftly to force a rushed decision before the fall elections; and are not interested in a solution that minimizes the impact to the community and would be more beneficial to the businesses on Danforth. I recently posted about the situation here: http://riverdalerapids.ning.com/profiles/blogs/shocked-to-learn-about.

Original photo:

UPDATE: The Toronto Transit Commission is moving ahead with plans to build new exits for two east-end subway stations despite calls from outraged neighbours to delay the project.

Commissioners voted Wednesday to accept staff recommendations on locations for the emergency exits, which would affect homes near Greenwood and Donlands stations. The plans must still be approved next month at city council.

The TTC agreed to an alternative proposal by a residents’ group to investigate using a property on Linnsmore Cres., just north of Danforth Ave., for a second exit for Greenwood station. The TTC’s original plan called for the destruction of two homes at 245 and 247 Strathmore Blvd.

But people who live near Donlands, the next stop to the west on the Bloor-Danforth line, were disappointed when commissioners voted to reject a motion to defer a decision on that station’s exit to allow more consultation. The TTC is pursuing two locations at the corner of Strathmore and Dewhurst Blvd. One site would mean the expropriation of homes at 1 and 3 Strathmore.

A deferral “won’t solve anything,” commission chair Adam Giambrone told the meeting.

TTC staff are still expected to consult with area residents, according to the Donlands motion passed Wednesday. The motion includes a commitment to consider additional options and to form a construction liaison committee.

Former councillor Jane Pitfield, who is running to succeed retiring Ward 29 Toronto-Danforth councillor Case Ootes, brought forward one such new suggestion. It would place the second exit east of Donlands station in the parking lot of Wilkinson Public School.

“It does not make sense to move forward while still considering other options,” she pointed out in her deputation.

But that is exactly what carried the day.

For the third time in just over two weeks, resident Lisa Dymond of the Strathmore Donlands Action Group made an impassioned plea for a better process. People who live near the two stations complain that they were blindsided by the TTC's actions.

“There needs to be a seat at the table for urban planners. There needs to be a seat for engineers, and there needs to be a seat for residents,” she said.

After the two-hour-plus meeting, she stood in the city hall foyer with red-rimmed eyes and said a few days of pause might be in order. “Then we’ll plan our next steps.”

The Greenwood group remains hopeful that the homes at 245 and 247 Strathmore will be spared, even though the residence it identified as an ideal site for a second exit now looks less suitable.

Homeowner Gus Vagenas appeared at Wednesday’s meeting to express his indignation at learning from a news report only the day before that his house at 9 Linnsmore Cres., which has been under construction, had been volunteered for expropriation.

City staff told commissioners they have since learned that another property owner on Linnsmore is interested in selling.

The TTC has added a meeting to its schedule ahead of city council’s next two-day meeting, Aug. 25-26. Chief general manager Gary Webster promised to bring updates on both projects to the commission’s Aug. 23 meeting.

Update July 13: There's good news and bad news for neighbours of two east-end subway stations who oppose the Toronto Transit Commission's plans to expropriate several homes in order to build new exits.

Residents living near Greenwood station are cautiously pleased that the TTC has agreed to consider an alternative site that would spare two homes on Strathmore Blvd.

But one subway stop to the west at Donlands, neighbours are still fuming that their concerns are not being heeded.

At a public meeting Monday, TTC manager of engineering Susan Reed Tanaka okayed the residents' proposal to expropriate a vacant property at 9 Linnsmore Cres., across the street from Greenwood station. She said the commission would pursue the "acceptable" alternative, while keeping its original plan of taking over 245 and 247 Strathmore Blvd. on the table.

"I feel much better but not sure yet," said Grace Calia, who lives at 247 Strathmore. "I don't want to leave."

Calia and her husband, Danny, a retired TTC maintenance worker, have lived in the house for 51 years.

The TTC has come under fire for leaving area residents in the dark about its building plans until the last minute. People living within a one-block radius of the proposed sites learned of the proposal last month from a letter delivered to their mailboxes. Among those who received the letter were people shocked to learn their homes were to be expropriated.

Reed Tanaka opened the TTC presentation with a formal apology for not having brought more detailed information to a previous meeting June 29. “We should’ve asked for more public input and we apologize for that,” she said.

About 200 people attended Monday's information meeting at Danforth Collegiate and Technical Institute, including mayoral candidates Rob Ford, Rocco Rossi and Sarah Thomson. George Smitherman had visited the neighbourhood earlier in the day and met with the Calias.

While conceding “this has not been a very good consultation process,” TTC chief general manager Gary Webster told the meeting that the organization hopes to continue working with the Donlands residents group, which expressed its disappointment with the proceedings.

“I feel betrayed,” said Lisa Dymond, who speaks for the Strathmore Donlands Action Group and gave a presentation criticizing the decision process.

The TTC's original choice for a Donlands second exit would have built on the site of houses at 1 and 3 Strathmore. But Reed Tanaka announced Monday that the TTC would pursue an option that takes out the east lane of Dewhurst Blvd. instead.

“That alternative is 10 metres to the west [of the original TTC choice],” Dymond said. “It was not in our document. We asked where it came from, and they said they don’t know. Even they rated it as severe in ‘neighbourhood impact.’ ”

Dymond is skeptical that the Dewhurst plan will gain city council approval and questioned how emergency services would deal with a narrowed street. Audience member Elaine McLellan called it “insanity”, citing traffic and parking problems.

In a 2002 fire and safety study, the TTC identified 14 high-priority stations that required second exits. Greenwood and Donlands are two of the stations that have only one pedestrian exit from the platform level.

Staff reports on the proposals for the two stations will come before the commission at its meeting on Wednesday at 1 p.m. Once approved, the plans will go to city council.

OpenFile's original story, June 29:

Neighbours of two east-end subway stations have won some concessions from the Toronto Transit Commission after speaking out against its plan to expropriate several homes in order to build new exits.

 “It’s time for the TTC to come up with a model to enhance our community, not destroy it,” Strathmore Blvd. resident Lisa Dymond said Tuesday night at a community meeting to discuss proposed second exits for Donlands and Greenwood stations.

The TTC's initial plan would raze four homes on Strathmore to construct the exits. People living within a one-block radius of the proposed sites learned of the proposal only two weeks ago from a letter delivered to their mailboxes. Among those who received the letter were people shocked to learn their homes were to be expropriated.

Tuesday's meeting at St. David’s Church on Donlands Ave., across the street from one of the stations, attracted about 250 people, most of them angry about a project they felt was too far along in its planning before they were advised of its existence.

The TTC is committed to upgrading stations that have only one pedestrian exit from the platform level. A 2002 fire and safety study identified 14 high-priority stations requiring this alteration. A new exit has already been completed at Broadview and construction at Pape is underway. Work at College, described as an extremely high priority, has been delayed due to negotiations with the large commercial landlord at College Park.

TTC chair Adam Giambrone was on hand for Tuesday's public information meeting, which was billed as an opportunity for TTC staff to present the proposed design for the second exits and to "obtain public input prior to proceeding with the detailed design and construction of the new facilities."

Representing the Strathmore Donlands Action Group, Dymond suggested the process used “casts doubt on development city-wide.

“We are not opposed to the second exit program. We understand the safety concerns," she said. "But the process is rushed, secretive and non-consultative. This [meeting] is not a consultation.”

As alternatives, Dymond's group suggested the TTC build on sites occupied by a derelict garage and a small parking lot instead of the targeted homes.

Another group, Residents Organized on Second Exit, proposed a vacant house on Linnsmore Ave. and a Danforth Ave. storefront as alternative locations for Greenwood station's new exit.

Despite what they described as a very tight timeline in which to finish construction, Giambrone and his teammates agreed to:

· consider resident suggestions of alternative sites for each station’s second exit;
· provide more information about sites the TTC considered and rejected, the sites chosen and the process followed;
· meet again for further discussion on July 12;
· place the matter back on the TTC agenda in July along with a second exit for Woodbine station.

“We need to look at changing the process for these smaller projects,” Giambrone said in an interview after the meeting.

He maintained that residents could have been notified of the plan earlier since the TTC had worked on it with the office of the area councillor, Case Ootes (Ward 29, Toronto-Danforth). Ootes is not running for re-election.