We need your help —

SAVE THE CENTRAL TECH PLAYING FIELD, STOP THE DOME

The odyssey that has become the Central Tech field continues.

HVRA and four other residents’ associations are doing their best to stop the TDSB's plans for an eight-storey  commercial dome development on the Central Tech playing field. We are fighting to see the grass field restored for the benefit of the students and our communities.

The TDSB has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars and wasted a year — so far — in its efforts to put a commercial sports dome complex on the only greenspace in the area. The TDSB remains undeterred by losses at two levels of court and at the Committee of Adjustment. In the recent municipal election, pro-dome trustee and councillor candidates were soundly defeated by candidates committed to stopping the dome deal and restoring the grass field.

But the electors' wishes may be thwarted as the outgoing TDSB board is moving towards a vote — in its very last week — which will effectively tie the hands of the newly-elected trustees who don’t start work until December 1st.

Even though no planning approvals are in place, a committee of the outgoing group of TDSB school trustees will vote this week on whether to recommend signing a contract with Razor Management. If the Committee votes in favour, their decision will go to a full board meeting for final approval on November 26th. That date is just one day after an OMB pre-hearing (see below) which will likely mandate a round of mediation to find a solution. We believe a signed contract could constrain the process at the OMB, and that it represents bad faith going into the mediation sessions.

In our view, the only "settlement" sought by the TDSB is zoning permission for a commercial dome. And they wish to impose this on us despite severe costs to the community:

• 5,000 cars a week onto Borden Street;
• the commercialization of public school lands for 21+ years;
• limitation of guaranteed free community access to the field to only 5% of the hours a week;
• lack of public oversight on the commercial operation;
• restriction of heritage views from within the building and from Bathurst Street;
• elimination of the only publicly-accessible green space in our tightly-packed downtown neighbourhood; and
• environmental and possible health impacts of artificial turf.

The proposed dome would operate from 7 a.m. to midnight, seven days a week, for 5-1/2 months of the year. The developer Razor Management would control access to the field and running track for the entire year.

HVRA has weighed the potential advantages of a commercial dome against its impacts. On balance, we have concluded that while the students certainly deserve an excellent playing field, a dome is not the answer.

Consider attending these meetings

 
Our Freedom of Information requests stalled by the TDSB

The TDSB's aggressive push for the dome option is being played out against a background of secrecy.

On September 4, 2014, HVRA filed three Freedom of Information requests, seeking information on (1) field contamination, (2) tenders and contracts arising from the "championship fields" initiative, and (3) the TDSB's relationship with developer Razor Management. Delivery of the requested documents has twice been delayed. Indeed, the TDSB's own extended deadline for two of the three requests passed on Friday, without delivery of any of the requested information. (We've now appealed this to the Privacy Commissioner of Ontario.)  The deadline for the third request, for documents dealing with Razor Management, the commercial operator of the dome, has been delayed until the week after the Accountability Committee meets.

It is difficult to see how a full and open discussion about the Razor Management contract can take place  — let alone a mediation process — when the public and trustees alike are unable to see some of the background documents.

Support for our anti-dome work continues to grow

 HVRA is not alone in its opposition to the dome.  We are joined by the Annex Residents' Association, the Huron-Sussex Residents Organization, the Palmerston Area Residents Association, and the Seaton Village Residents' Association.  Many heritage, planning, legal, and environmental experts also support the work we have done to defend our neighbourhood against the negative impacts of the dome project.

As well, in March 2014 an independent online petition garnered 1254 signatures against the dome. A second March, 2014 petition, circulated in the Palmerston neighbourhood, collected another 200+ signatures. Of 102 letters sent to the Committee of Adjustment in March, 2014 on the Central Tech issue,  all but six opposed the dome.  Finally, a second online anti-dome petition launched about six weeks ago now has 640+ signatures.

The tragedy of the Central Tech field

The tragedy is that Central Tech students have now been denied a field to play on for a full year. It could be at least another year even if the TDSB gets the approvals it seeks. This is neither right nor acceptable, but little responsibility for the delay can be laid at the feet of HVRA or other residents' groups. The students have been held hostage to months of delay because the TDSB itself decided to use the Central Tech dome project as a legal test case, and to keep the field fenced off in the meantime. They mounted and lost two court challenges over the question of whether the City of Toronto has jurisdiction over the commercialization of school lands.

While outside TDSB lawyers prepared for their court appearances, HVRA and local City Councillors made a $500,000 offer to finance remediation of the field. The TDSB has never responded to that offer. After the TDSB lost their court challenges, the City’s Manager tried to initiate talks, but to no avail. If the TDSB had simply worked with the City over the past year to restore the contaminated field, Central Tech students would have played football on it this fall.

We thank you in advance for any support you can provide in the coming weeks.

For more information and background documents please visit our website:
http://harbordvillage.com/centraltechdome

For more information, please contact:
Sue Dexter 416.964.9527 - asusandexter@gmail.com
Tim Grant (Chair) 416.960.1244 - chair@harbordvillage.com
Rory Gus Sinclair 416.543.2785 - rory.sinclair@rogers.com
Wendy Smith 416.471.9373 - wendy@wendysmithtoronto.com