Media Release
February 17, 2012

Long Branch resident calls on Etobicoke Councillors and residents to stop the severances

Local residemts are asking Councillors and the community to stop the latest developer attempt to chop up property in Long Branch and elsewhere, and to protect Toronto’s neighbourhoods.

Etobicoke, Ontario

A local Long Branch resident is calling upon the Etobicoke Committee of Adjustment and Etobicoke Councillors to reject the application to sever 4 James Street into two (2) smaller lots of land for the building of two two-storey dwellings.

“We are asking the Etobicoke Committee of Adjustment to reject this application and calling on our Councillors to stop this and other on-going severances, to have developers respect the by-laws that are in place and to protect our neighbourhoods from this continued predatory practice,” said Wallace Pidgeon, a Long Branch resident.

“We are calling on Long Branch residents to contact the Committee of Adjustment’s Etobicoke York Panel and ask them to stop this severance.”

On Thursday, February 23, 2012 at 1:00 pm a Public Hearing will take place in the Etobicoke Civic Centre Boardroom, 399 The West Mall to announce the decision on the application.

“Another developer has bought a home in our community and has applied to chop up the property,” said Pidgeon. “This application and issue is not about intensification, it is not about bettering an existing home, it is about a developer changing the shape and face of our neighbourhood.”

“This is not about a family looking to expand their home or even invest in the community,” he added, “it is about an on-going assault on neighbourhoods in Etobicoke and across Toronto that do not add to the value of the community.”

Pidgeon is asking all Long Branch residents to contact the Office of the Committee of Adjustment, Etobicoke Civic Centre and stop the severance of 4 James Street.

“Please attend the Public Hearing. If you cannot take time from work please send a letter, fax or email asking the Committee to stop this and other severances.”

“We have an activist group of Councillors in Etobicoke, such as Etobicoke-Lakeshore’s Mark Grimes, to support our neighbourhoods,” he added.

“Hopefully, this sends a signal that predatory developers are not welcome, families come first and that we want to maintain the integrity of our communities. And we can do this by stopping the severance of 4 James Street.”

For further information please contact:

Wallace Pidgeon
416-255-0176
mwpidgeon@rogers.com

– 30 –

Contact Information

STOP the 4 James Street property severance:

A letter, fax and email can go a long way to protecting our neighbourhood.

(1) If you can please attend the Public Hearing.
Thursday, February 23, 2012 at 1:00 pm
Boardroom, Etobicoke Civic Centre
399 The West Mall
Toronto, Ontario
M9C 5A3

(2) Please send a Letter asking the Office of the Committee of Adjustment to stop the 4 James Street severance application

c/o Susanne Pringle, Manager & Deputy Secretary Treasurer
Office of the Committee of Adjustment
Etobicoke Civic Centre
Toronto, Ontario
M9C 5A3

Etobicoke-York Panel
416-394-8063
FAX: 416-394-6042

(3) Email your opposition to this application to: ctyers@toronto.ca

–AND —

(4) Contact Etobicoke-Lakeshore Councillor Mark Grimes, Ward 6, Etobicoke-Lakeshore

Phone: 416-397-9273
councillor_grimes@toronto.ca

(5) Please share this message with your friends and neighbours – with anyone in your network of contacts who may wish to help the local community with this project.

Please send an email or letter, even if you do not live in Long Branch.

Emails sent even on the morning and at noon on the day of the hearing will be recorded by the committee. 

Letters and emails can have a significant impact with regard to the outcome of such a hearing.

Please send your message today. Your help is much appreciated.

Here’s a PDF version of this news release.