Trefann Court

June 26 was the 2nd meeting of the “Regent Park Community Construction Liaison Committee”.  No Regent Park residents attended; neither did the contractor. See meeting minutes and TCHC’s presentation; following is our account of this meeting.

The problem of construction dirt on Shuter St – on the road, and accumulating on the south side of the street – remains unresolved.  In 2011, as well as operating a sweeper truck, the contractor periodically “washed” the street via tanker truck.  This year, only sweeping (no street washing) in spite of this promise 6 months ago, from TCHC.

No continuity from Councillor Pam McConnell’s office – for this 2nd meeting, Sean McIntyre attended (previous meeting, Pam’s rep was Glenn Gustafson).  Sean advised that the city will study the feasibility of parking on alternate sides of the street (to allow periodic cleaning of the south side of the street). Glenn made the same suggestion four months ago, and TCHC’s Tom Burr said the same thing eight months ago, so no progress. Pam McConnell was already our city councillor when bike lanes (and street parking) were added to Shuter in 2002 – 10 years later, and the city and Pam still have no plan for adequate street cleaning.  Since April, TTC buses (replacing the 501 streetcar) have detoured along Shuter; these large vehicles stir up all of the dust at the side of the road – see June 12 video of delivery van (buses have same “suction” effect). Can you tolerate the TTC buses on Shuter until the end of October?

(Two city workers used brooms and shovels on June 29, and worked between parked cars, to scoop up some of the dirt on the south side of Shuter, but lots of dirt still remains.)

TCHC admitted that one promised dirt control technique – wheel wash station – wasn’t implemented (in spite of their written commitment:  see Feb 29 presentation, page 12; and Feb 29 minutes)  Now they are hinting “it’s too expensive”, so one questions whether our concerns are taken seriously. TCHC’s contractor uses a 4 foot pile of dirt to hold up a fence (see photo, above) – obviously not serious about minimizing dirt which blows around the site. TCHC claimed that “mudmats” were implemented on access roads, but how much “mud prevention” is provided by this bit of gravel on Sackville ? (see photo).

The school board (TDSB) did attend this meeting, and presented a timeline for completion of school renovations in time for Sept 3 opening.  An official “public open house” is tentatively planned for Sept 13.  The school will be heated via the central Regent Park energy plant, which should be an improvement (residents directly across the street should no longer experience the loud rumbling noise that previously emanated from the school’s furnace).  TDSB’s extensive renovation of the school is planned to meet silver LEED standard (for energy efficiency).  New windows were installed on the 2nd and 3rd floor, but the old windows remain on the 1st floor (see June 28 photo) – hard to imagine that these old windows give good noise or temperature insulation. (TDSB is likely running out of time or money, but wouldn’t admit it when asked).  In terms of construction dirt, TDSB claims that they will clean the street “on request” – doubtful that works (who requests? how quickly does cleaning occur?).  TDSB will remind their contractor to respect the noise bylaw, concerning early morning construction activity on weekdays and on Saturday.

We were told by TCHC that the Aquatic Centre should open early Aug 2012, and the Arts Centre in Sept; the Community Centre (still not started) now has a promised completion date of Sept 2013.

Updated:
- added photos (July 1)
- added official minutes, presentation (July 12)

It’s been almost a year since TCHC met with residents living adjacent to Regent Park, to give us an update. For several months, Shuter St has been clogged with mud, from TCHC and TDSB construction activity (see photos).  In response to TCHC’s meeting invite, a week before the meeting, we replied:

Please invite someone from TDSB (school board) who is knowledgeable about the renovation of Nelson Mandela Park Public School. Their construction is also affecting the neighbourhood. The neighbourhood needs a single point of contact to address concerns – hopefully this “Community Construction Liaison Committee” will be that single point of contact.

TDSB was a “no show”, without offering any explanation.

Here is a copy of TCHC’s presentation, given Feb 29, and minutes prepared by CPLC.  Trefann Court’s highlights from this meeting:

To reduce the large amounts on mud tracked onto Shuter Street by construction trucks accessing the site, the contractor is finally implementing a truck washing station (on Sackville north of Shuter), mud mats, and repeated an earlier promise to spread calcite on roadways, to control the dust. The Daniels Corporation representative claimed that an employee inspects the entire area surrounding the Regent Park construction site throughout each day, and takes immediate action to remedy any negative impacts, including the removal of dirt from nearby streets.

Glenn Gustafson (Councillor McConnell’s rep) attended this meeting, and was told that the dirt can accumulate 2 inches deep in the eastbound curb lane of Shuter. Three hour parking is currently permitted; in practice vehicles park here throughout the day and night, so and the curb lane doesn’t get cleaned for several months at a time. More parking enforcement won’t solve this problem; we’re expecting prompt action from the councillor to implement temporary parking restrictions (eg. no parking on 15th and 30th of each month) so that the increased accumulation of dirt/debris from construction traffic is periodically cleaned off the street.

According to TCHC, the school is scheduled to re-open in Sept 2012, even though it will still be in the middle of a construction zone.  One resident suggested:  to avoid exposing school children to high levels of dust, construction traffic and other potential safety hazards resulting from ongoing Regent Park phase 2 reconstruction, the school re-opening should be delayed for a year. A seemingly reasonable suggestion, but no one from the school board was in attendance at this meeting to listen/respond.

TCHC re-iterated that the community centre (not yet under construction) will be completed this year, also the big park. Sackville and Sumach road re-construction will be completed this year and these roads re-opened to the public, allowing travel from Shuter to Dundas.

As detailed on pages 6-7 of the presentation, Phase 2 will have a mix of “market-priced condo” (m) and “subsidized rental” (r).  See map showing location of each block #.
- projects underway:  block 20(r), 24 north(m), 25(m)
- in 2012/2013:  block 21(m), 22(r), 24 south(r), 23 (m? r?)

Still no decision yet, on whether “block 23″ (NW corner of Sackville and Shuter) will be rental or market condos. TCHC promised to advise this committee as soon as their decision is made public.

(Corktown Association also attended this meeting; here is their summary.)

Updated:
- added photos, link to corktown.ca (March 4)
- added minutes prepared by TCHC (March 12)
- added additional info from TDSB (March 20)