Condo consultation meetings

The City of Toronto is conducting a consultation with condominium occupants. The city wants to find out about issues and problems with the way people are living in condominiums.

The purpose of this consultation is to engage with:
• condo residents
• condo boards
• businesses located in condo buildings
• property managers
• city staff
and others to identify possible changes to city policies related to condo living in Toronto.

The city is already aware of some issues that have been raised, such as:
• Access to parks and dog parks;
• Recreational and community amenities;
• Parking, bike parking and visitor parking
• Childcare options in the neighborhood.

The consultation will focus on:
1. Identifying the issues that condo residents are currently experiencing;
2. Developing a set of ideas to help the City of Toronto address these issues.

Central	Tues Feb 12, 2013
Scarborough	Wed Feb 20, 2013
Etobicoke	Thurs Feb 21, 2013
North York	Wed Feb 27, 2013

To read the entire poster and see where and when your local meeting will be held, open this link:
Condo-Consultation-Meeting-Invite

Online survey
We will also be posting an online survey in March 2013 as part of this first round of consultation.

Second round
The second round of consultation is being planned for April/May 2013.

More information about the second set of meetings and additional background information will be posted as it becomes available. The project will be complete by July 2013.

Committee Direction
In April 2012, the City of Toronto’s Planning and Growth Management Committee requested the Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning, to conduct focus groups and public consultation with condominium residents, condominium boards and condominium associations in order to assess and recommend to City Council possible changes to City policies as they relate to condominium development in Toronto.

Background
In 2011 the City of Toronto conducted a survey for residents living downtown and in the centres. The results were published in March 2012 and included rich demographic information regarding condo dwellers as well as some insight into the types of issues they face.

This consultation will focus on identifying and confirming these types of issues, identifying who is responsible for managing them, and working toward identifying solutions. The final outcome of the consultations will be the development of a set of recommendations for consideration by City staff and Council.

More information
Public consultation is an important part of this project. For more information, please contact:

Peter Moore
City Planning, City of Toronto
Tel: 416.392.8806
Email: pmoore@toronto.ca

Bianca Wylie
Independent Facilitator’s Office
Tel: 416.572.4365
Email: bwylie@swerhun.com

 
Public Meeting Round One—Etobicoke
Thursday 21 February 2013

Just under 50 owners met in the basement of All Saints Anglican Church on Bloor Street for the 3rd public meeting.

The owners, in the main, lived in the Humber Bay area and in the Etobicoke Centre and live in both older buildings and in newer developments.

The city was interested in hearing what condo residents had to say so they quickly got to the point. The owners discussed their views with the others sitting at their tables and then a spokesperson from each table reported the table's concerns and suggestions to the whole assembly.

Neighbourhoods
The main points raised were:

1.	Excessive noise coming from train tracks and the highways, especially the Gardiner Expressway.
2.	Poor shopping, especially for grocery stores.
3.	The need for a nearby community centre.
4.	Section 37 trade-offs create too much density and a lack of opens spaces and parks.
5.	The ground floor retail units do not have enough parking.
6.	Need improved TTC subway and streetcar service.

Within the condo buildings

1.	New developments must be built to standards to allow city garbage trucks to pick up the garbage.
2.	Too many short-term renters make it hard to create a community spirit within the condos.
3.	Poor quality building construction is a big problems for the owners.
4.	Tarion is not working well.
5.	Insufficent Visitor Parking spots and the balconies are to small.
6.	Overcrowded units.
7.	Noise and smoke penetration problems.
8.	Missing fire stops (seperation) on the water risers. Big retro-fit cost for the owners. Falsified annual fire inspection reports.
9.	Concerns with new additions to Section 37 which will allow increased densities.

Governance

1.	Property managers and board members intimidate the owners.
2.	The first boards protect the developer and limit claims to Tarion.
3.	New owners must read the Disclosure and Declaration as developers may not pay the Development Fees and may lease—instead of buy—expensive items such as the HAVC units.
4.	Boards do not enforce the condo's declaration, bylaws and rules.

Last session
The last Round One session was held:
Wednesday 27 February 2013
Congregation Darchei Noam
864 Sheppard Ave W


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