Street Planter project update
HV Gardener Amy Furness reports on the mysterious holes opening up around HV:
“Residents have likely noticed the construction activity at five intersections around Harbord Village (Sussex & Brunswick, Sussex & Robert, Robert & Harbord, Ulster & Brunswick, and Ulster & Lippincott). The cut-out sections of road are the sites of new in-ground planters that are designed to mitigate stormwater run-off and add green space to our community. They are the second phase of a project that started in 2018, with earlier origins in HVRA-organized greening initiatives. Read more about it on the
HV Gardeners’ web page.
The planter project has invited the collaboration of volunteer gardeners from the start, and each planter site has an associated volunteer who lives nearby. If you are interested, they may well appreciate support with garden maintenance tasks including watering, mulching, weeding and supplementing the plantings supplied by the City. Contact Amy Furness (
amy.furness@gmail.com) to get involved.”
Additionally, an interesting discovery was made by the city crews. Project Manager Robert Mays reported:
"As we cut away the asphalt, and concrete road base for creation of new planters, crews have discovered what would likely have been the original Sussex St residential roadway paved with red clay pavers at Robert St. They simply built the new roadway on top."
After some thought as to what to do with these historic remnants, Robert's crew decided to integrate them into the new planters:
"Planters maintain drainage through them but also provide some infiltration. Along the curb line we were proposing a band of riverstone for this purpose. We can replace that riverstone band with these historic brick pavers for all four planters on Sussex. You will then be able to look into the planters and see this band of original roadway pavers like the original roadway being partially exposed. As with the original planting undergrowth also being exposed. Peeling back the layers of history..."
The Ontario government recently introduced the
More Homes Built Faster Act (Bill-23), ostensibly to address the current housing crisis. The bill, which is being fast-tracked through the Ontario legislature, will take away municipalities’ authority and undermine affordability, environmental and heritage protections, while benefiting mostly developers.
HVRA, along with the Annex RA, has released a public statement responding to the bill and will be sending a letter to the premier and relevant MPPs demanding changes to the bill before it is passed. You can
read the statement here.
Concerned people can take action as well by writing to our MPP Jessica Bell using the
David Suzuki letter here or the
Atmospheric Fund letter here. You may also
read the response from FoNTRA (Federation of North Toronto Residents' Associations, of which HVRA is a member) here. FoSTRA (Federation of South Toronto Residents' Associations, another RA group HVRA is a member of) will be making a deposition before the Standing Committee for the bill this week.
Pumpkinfest 2022 in words and pictures
Pumpkinfest 2022 saw a successful return to Harbord St on November 1. Coordinator Lena Mortensen reports:
“What a wonderful night. Can't tell you how happy I am that we were able to return to this event again after years away - it is such a great opportunity to work together with the HSBIA, UofT Student Athletes, and community residents of all ages for the enjoyment of all.
Just wanted to give a shout out of thanks to the many volunteers who helped make possible the return of this treasured community event. From HVRA, Anne Fleming as our indefatigable Chair took on a huge amount of co-organizing, and Gus Sinclair and James Murdoch did fantastic work again leading teams of volunteers to distribute cards and pick up pumpkins (and please pass on more thanks to all those who are not already listed here!).
Neil Wright as our partner representing the HSBIA of course, as always, managed a huge amount - city permits, table rental and set up/take down, city collection of pumpkins, flyers/posters, and student athlete volunteers to help with all of the rest (and probably more I'm not remembering)! And of course Josh Mott and the team at Her Father's generously donated the most delicious cider (people raved!) and kept it coming.
And all of you helped with the absolutely essential tasks of lighting, serving cider, and clean up - thank you for your wonderful efforts and contribution to our community. I have to say, the spectacular weather made this the smoothest pumpkinfest in my memory - especially for all these tasks!”
You can find amazing photos of the event from Richard Longley and Peter Ibrahim on the
HVRA Flickr site here.
Welcome to our new Ward 11 Councillor
After a nail-biting election, the new Ward 11 councillor is environmental lawyer Dianne Saxe. Dianne and the other new councillors take their offices next week - her email
councillor_saxe@toronto.ca will go live on November 15. Please note that previous contact info for Mike Layton’s office is no longer working. Mike sent out a reminder to constituents that due to privacy concerns he is unable to pass along his contact list to Dianne - if you would like to get updates from Dianne and/or otherwise stay in touch with her office, you will need to reach out to her once her email is up and running.
College Construction
Many of you noted the traffic chaos the other week when Harbord suddenly shut down due to a road emergency. Drivers were routed through the Major / Ulster / Brunswick maze, which was then exacerbated by the closures at College St. Many of you may also have encountered traffic, bicycle, and pedestrian issues with the constantly changing closures and lack of complete signage. The construction team has been made aware and is working to resolve the issue. If you have any concerns, please direct them to
collegeupgrades@toronto.ca and/or our Safe Streets committee at
safestreets@harbordvillage.com.
The next monthly
“Open Trailer” virtual session - where you can speak live to the construction rep - will be
Thursday, November 17 from 10 to 11 am on Webex.
Register / Join the meeting here.
(Note that HVRA did inform the team before construction started that it would be imperative to have really clear signage regarding safe crossings, bike access / need to dismount, and alternate routes for cars. Now that the project is underway and we can see how it's playing out, residents are encouraged to let the team know about the impacts on the neighbourhood and how better signage / communication can help.)
