We are the Rustic Maple Leaf…

We are the Rustic Maple Leaf Homeowners Group - a volunteer group of homeowners who provide a voice for the community on issues that affect residents and developments in particular. We are submitting our feedback on the Lawrence- Black Creek Spotlight development that is being proposed and that has bypassed the City of Toronto and gone directly to the Province to avoid the application fees, scrutiny and delays.

We are pleased to see that regardless of this the province has seen fit to allow for consultation although the timeline is fairly short noting that most residents may not even be aware of this proposal.
Although the Councillor was aware of the potential development that had been discussed awhile back, she was not made aware of this new proposal until January 29/25. The Councillor knows the issues in that area and she should have been consulted earlier, to have a proper review of the proposal.

We understand that housing is a priority at this time, but not at such a massive scale that will affect an already congested intersection and will only worsen traffic flow for both buses and cars. Has a traffic study been done? The developer is proposing 1,814 suites even if conservatively 500 of those suites own a car, the gridlock in our neighbourhoods and surrounding areas will be significant. As a matter of fact, these kind of traffic issues are already being discussed through a municipal traffic study group (unfortunately we did not know about this proposal until the day of the meeting at the end of January). Moreover, the development is close to the flood plain- has this been taken into consideration??? Flooding is already a problem in that neighbourhood let's not exacerbate the situation.

According to the information provided by the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing:

“These zoning orders are similar to local zoning by-laws. They can:

permit the use of land (for example, manufacturing, housing, health care, long term care uses)
regulate location, use, height, size and spacing of buildings and structures

Submission expectations

For the minister’s consideration of a request, the following information should be provided:

a description of consultation with the public and engagement with Indigenous communities

for municipally-supported zoning order requests:

evidence of municipal support for the proposed project

rationale on why the project requires ministerial zoning relief rather than following municipal planning processes

information related to how and when servicing (water/wastewater) will be addressed”

None of these expectations have been met and no consultation has taken place. We therefore, are asking that the development proposal be denied and that the developer provide a new proposal that will go through the proper channels starting with the municipality.