|
|
|
|
|
|
December 2, 2014 Last week, a public open house was held to review plans for Humber Bay Shores Park trail improvements. There were some good ideas presented, but so far, the suggested improvements would only deal with the level of use the trails sees today, not the increased use it will see five of ten years from now. Full details, including the display boards from last week’s open house, are on the City’s Project Website. CCFEW has not submitted formal comments yet. There are the two options presented last week: |
||
October 8, 2014 Humber College Welcome Centre Humber College has been planning a Welcome Centre for several years. We knew that they were negotiating with the City to use a piece of city owned property at the Corner of Kipling Ave. and Lake Shore Blvd. W. We thought there would be some public consultation on this, but the fence and the signs went up last week, so it appears to be a done deal. There are still rumours of a public meeting, but one must assume at this point that will be informational rather than consultation. You can click on the artist’s rendering below to view a higher resolution version. The long white building illustrated beside the Welcome Centre is the planned TCDSB elementary school. Update: Humber College has provided this information package (5 page pdf) about the project. Nice, but did it have to go on City owned greenspace? |
|||||
Municipal Election Information Toronto’s mayoral race gets plenty of media attention, but you local voice on council gets practically none. That’s why Position Primer is a very helpful website. They list every council candidate in every ward, their contact information, and their responses to questions on a wide range of issues. Position Primer was created by WiTOpoli. |
|||||
August 31, 2014 Colonel Samuel Smith Park a Candidate ESA The City of Toronto is studying the addition of 68 new Environmentally Significant Areas under the City’s Official Plan, and Colonel Samuel Smith Park is one of them. You can read the Staff Report here. There will be study and consultation before a recommendation goes to council next year. What does the designation mean? “These natural treasures are particularly significant and sensitive and are given the highest level of protection in the Official Plan. Development is not permitted in ESAs and activities are limited to those that are compatible with the preservation of their natural features and ecological functions.” This is the only new proposed designation on the Etobicoke waterfront, although there is a new area proposed on the Etobicoke Creek, north of the Queensway and a couple of proposed expansions to an existing ESA on the Humber River south of Bloor Street. |
|||||
August 30, 2014 Greenbelt Update: At their July 8-11 meeting, City Council approved the non-watered down version of the motion to begin the process of designating these river and creek valleys as Urban River Valleys under Ontario’s Greenbelt designation. Read more here. (City of Toronto site.) |
May 30, 2014 Growing The Greenbelt CCFEW is supporting an initiative that would see the City of Toronto designate the Don River, Humber River and Etobicoke Creek as Urban River Valleys as part of Ontario’s Greenbelt. (Mimico Creek doesn’t qualify because it doesn’t reach the existing Greenbelt.) While rivers and creeks are protected by current municipal legislation, we know that isn’t always enough. An extra layer of protection would be welcome. This designation would bring real additional protection to those valleys and give Torontonians a tangible connection to the Greenbelt. It will also give Toronto a seat at the table when the Greenbelt legislation comes up for periodic review. City Council Endorsed the idea in February, and it came to the Planning and Growth Management Committee on May 29th. We sent this letter of support for the plan: |
|||
Then after reading the Staff Report, we realized that what was being proposed was not Urban River Valley Designation, but the much less significant River Valley Connections in the Official Plan. We sent this follow-up letter on May 28th: |
The matter has now been deferred to the June 19th meeting of the Planning and Growth Management Committee. |
May 26, 2014 Marie Curtis Park Bike Skills Park There is now a concept plan of the Marie Curtis Park Bile Park online. This feature is planned for the west side of Marie Curtis Park, between the dogs off leash area and the park road. The intent of the park is to give riders a place to practice and build their off-road skills without damaging sensitive woodland habitat. Nearby woodlots are suffering from unofficial trails and structures currently in use for these activities. We are hopeful that this will be a successful strategy. There is a 3 phase build-out plan, but there is currently no funding in place for the project. You can find our more on the City of Toronto page here. |
|||
March 22, 2014 Nature Programs at Sam Smith Park Headed For a Big Year As of this past Thursday, there were already 1000 students registered for the Nature Education programs at Colonel Samuel Smith Park, fully exhausting our $4000 of third party funding. CCFEW will be supplementing that with another $750 of our own funds plus some unused funds pledged from 2013. After a slow start in their first two years, these programs, offered by the Humber Arboretum, are hitting their stride in year three. This means that over 1200 students and teachers will get to experience hands-on environment and nature studies curriculum without leaving the city, or in some cases, even their own neighbourhood. |
January 30, 2014 |
|||
January 19, 2014 Proposed Community Garden There have been discussions for several months about creating a community garden in the north part of Colonel Samuel Smith Park. Aside from the initial site selection discussions, CCFEW hasn’t been involved in this project. Last week, we sent this letter to clarify our position: Dear Councillor Grimes, Below is a map of the proposed site. |
|||
January 12, 2014 Another $3000 for Nature Programming at Col. Samuel Smith Park We have been trying to get nature education programming for schools established at Colonel Samuel Smith Park for many years (see below). While we were still celebrating the grant from the Gosling Foundation, we received another cheque last week, this time for $3000, from the McLean Foundation. 2014 looks like the year that this program will really get rolling! |
December 3, 2013 South Etobicoke has the #3 & 6 Bird Hotspots in Toronto eBird, an on-line bird records database recently developed a “Hotspot” tool that, among other things, summarizes data from locations known to be good places to find birds: hotspots. According to this database, 237 different species of bird have been recorded in the park. That is a testament to diversity and quality of the habitats found at this city park. From the eBird database, here’s a list of the top ten Toronto hotspots (in terms of number of species) as of December 2, 2013. |
|
The proximity of the #6 hotspot, Humber Bay Park East, to an ever growing wall of condominiums certainly gives us pause. None of the other top 10 hotspots have tall buildings nearly as close. Also, more than most of those top 10 locations, the majority of the birds found at Humber Bay are migrants. It may soon be the #1 hotspot for FLAP. |