TORONTO – As you pass a series of townhouses on the west side of Bayview Avenue, north of Cummer Avenue, you’ll notice more than a dozen white lawn signs with “STOP” written in red capital letters. The blue lettering around it urges the reader to “Save Bayview Townhomes,” claiming they’re under threat of “Expropriation-based blockbusting” by the Toronto Catholic District School Board (TCDSB).
Global News first reported on this situation in July, 2013, when the TCDSB was consulting with the local community about a five-acre property at 500 Cummer Avenue it had purchased from the public school board. The 400-student facility that stood there has since been demolished and plans call for a new 800-student campus for St. Joseph’s Morrow Park all-girls high school.
The board was initially weighing two options for its new school; the first, Concept A, would temporarily save the houses. The second, Concept B, would include the expropriation of all 30 townhomes on Bayview Avenue at market value, which Board Chair Mike Del Grande estimates at a little less than $1 million per home.
The TCDSB instead moved ahead with the first but hoped the community and city’s Committee of Adjustment would allow them to making zoning changes and add another storey on the school. Residents expressed concerns about intensified traffic suggesting another storey would more than double the enrolment levels of the school, and the committee ruled against the board’s rezoning application.
The board is appealing to the Ontario Municipal Board but says in the meantime they have enacted plan B, sending Bayview townhouse residents notices of application for approval to expropriate land.
“There’s got to be a bit of give and take on both sides,” Del Grande said.
The chair insists the new school facility is what’s best for the public. He blames so-called NIMBYism and a lack of cooperation on the part of local residents for the drastic measures.
“The only way we’re going to get a school on that site is to basically use education development charges to buy the properties, which is in the regulations that allow school boards to do just this when they confront a lot of opposition,” he said.
Mary Chakkalackal lives right where the school’s soccer field would be built. She claims the board is acting in bad faith, and has always wanted to expropriate their homes.
“They get the land, five acres, and they see a strip of one acre, ‘oh, okay, that would really serve us,'” she said. “To me that is not proper, and I think that if the law allows them to do it, I’m sorry but the law has to change.”
The TCDSB claims its actions fall in line with the regulations of Ontario’s Expropriations Act. Those given notice have 30 days to file an objection, but Chakkalackal doesn’t have much confidence in that option; the objection must be filed to the board.
While some residents are standing their ground, some just don’t want to get involved. The board says that so far, four homeowners have agreed to sell their property at market value and can stay in those houses until the time comes. Two more are in negotiations to do the same according to Del Grande.
In the meantime, residents are reaching out for support to anyone who will listen. They’ve managed to get over 300 signatures of support from people throughout the area and have also received support from the local MPP David Zimmer. He sent a letter on their behalf to Education Minister Liz Sandals, telling her “serious consideration was not given to the expansion of the school on the residents and surrounding area. The site simply cannot accommodate the expansion of the school without potentially forcing residents out of their homes.”
Zimmer proposes looking into another location. Opponents have previously suggested the site of St. Leonard’s near Leslie Street and Finch Avenue, but Del Grande says the school is too far for students and would also require expansion, creating the same situation with property owners there.
Del Grande says this situation is the “poster child” for how City agencies acquire and use public spaces. Not only does he advocate for spaces like schools to be given more uses for the public, but that it needs to be easier to transfer them from agency to agency; worried developers will snap them up and turn them into housing or condos.
“When the demographics change in the city you might see in the future school boards having to expropriate whole blocks in order to put schools back.”
For now, everyone involved in the Bayview Avenue and Cummer Avenue situation wait. The TCDSB, for approval to expropriate and residents, who don’t want to go, for a miracle save.
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