April 2015
High Park residents are concerned about high-rise condos. Opposition to such development is more organized and active than in other areas of the city.
The concern is about how High Park will look in the future if one of the largest urban parks in Canada becomes a site for condo development. The fear is that allowing even one high-rise condo building will attract many more to the area.
City planning staff and many residents of the community describe a proposed development as an “over-development” of the site. The Grenadier Square application proposes demolition of 16 townhouse units and construction of two 26-storey residential towers containing 558 units.
The High Park Coalition is a group of High Park residents and associations mounting a challenge to what they describe as unprecedented and inappropriate development. They want to preserve their neighbourhood through development that respects the character of High Park North.
This group has “embarked on street campaigns to educate others about the proposal, undertaken letter-writing campaigns to let local councillors know of their opposition, raised enough funds to hire their own professionals to study the proposal, and collected more than 2,200 signatures from local residents on a petition opposing the application.” In addition, there were 177 printed-out emails presented as opposition to the development.
The vote to oppose the Grenadier Square application by local councillors was unanimous.
The Ontario Municipal Board recently held a hearing on this matter. All parties are waiting for a decision.
Information on opposition to this development is available at www.highparkcoalition.ca.
