Concerned parents and students staged a protest Thursday morning to oppose a developer’s plan to build a 35-storey condo next to John Fisher Public School in Toronto.
The project, located near Yonge Street and Eglinton Avenue, was approved by the Ontario Municipal Board despite disapproval from the city.
Parents are worried about the health and safety of their children as the construction will take place next to the school’s playground.
“At first, when it was talked about, I thought, ‘You know what, we live in midtown Toronto,’ it’s inevitable,” parent Jennifer Faraone said.
“But once I started to hear more about how there seems to be a lack of involvement of the community, schools, parents to understand the implications, that’s when I got interested in the matter and realizing that it’s time people get together and speak up.”
The Toronto District School Board is considering relocating around 500 students to Vaughan Road Academy, which is six kilometres away, for the beginning of the fall term.
The board said it is conducting a risk assessment of the construction plan to determine how best to move forward. A final report is expected to be released next month.
“The OMB is really no longer working in the interest of the province,” parent Taylor Roberts said. “They’ve approved a building that over the next 30 years will basically make it impossible for the school to use its playground.”
Toronto Mayor John Tory issued a statement over the weekend reassuring parents that the well-being of the neighbourhood will be maintained.
“I have talked to both local Councillor Jaye Robinson and Premier Kathleen Wynne, the local MPP, about this issue,” Tory said. “We are all working hard to address the community’s concerns.”
“I promise residents that this development will be held to the very highest standard when it comes to the health and safety of the children and the well-being of the neighbourhood and local families.”
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