I represent the West Lansing…

I represent the West Lansing Homeowners Association, a group which represents the interests of some 1200 homes in the North York neighbourhood bordered by Yonge, Sheppard and the West Don River.

Our neighbourhood has been feeling steady pressure on all of its public infrastructure. Development in the North York Centre which we live next to, and planned development along Sheppard Avenue West and even right within the limits of our neighbourhood, has been some of the most intense in the entire province.

We are greatly concerned that the regulations under Bill 108 and the new funding formula will adversely affect our community's ability to get new public amenities constructed. It both reduces the amount of funding which can potentially be collected from a development such as those being done in the North York Centre, and also ties the hands of the City of Toronto in respect to how those funds (formerly under Section 37 and Section 42) can be spet. Our community continues to grow and to densify, despite the fact that we reached the province's minimum population target for the year 2041 several years ago. Further development is a certainty, and the overloading of local public amenities such as day care centres, community centres, parks, libraries and the like is a certainty unless adequate funding is available.

Furthermore, we continue to be concerned that the issue identified under the Liberals- the inability of the Toronto District School Board to collect development charges of any kind to deploy in areas of intense development such as the North York Centre. Unfortunately the current government appears to have made no progress in addressing this critical flaw- a surplus of school capacity in Scarborough puts our own local students in portables.

We trust that you will adjust the proposed regulations under Bill 108 to at least provide the same monetary value that the previous legislation would have generated for the City to use. We continue to believe that growth should fund growth, rather than finding the need to pay for new facilities required because of growth, using the property taxes of existing residents.

Sincerely,

Paul Martin,
Vice President
West Lansing Homeowners Association