YORKMILLSGARDENS COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION
Minutes
OnMay22, 2013, 7:30 pm, at Trinity Presbyterian Church, North Hall, the York Mills Gardens Community Association (YMGCA) Annual Meeting was held.
Previous Minutes
The minutes of the previous Annual Meeting were approved, as moved by Andy Lomagaand seconded by Albert Saati.
Report from the President
The York Mills Gardens Community Association’s purpose is to advance and protect our neighbourhood, and accordingly we arealert to new building projects in our community, as well as smaller localized concerns, to make sure the City’s by-law requirements are met. We also keep an eye on the main traffic thoroughfares for traffic flow and congestion issues. Two developments we are watching carefully are the proposed development at 6 Baytree Crescent to build 5 townhouses as well as the SE corner of Bayview and Old Colony where 3 lots are now owned by one person and the total property is about 240’ on Bayview Avenue and 280’ on Old Colony Road, big enough potentially to build a new town home development on such a large parcel of land. We are watching closely as precedents occur along Bayviewthat might lead to zoning changes permitting suchdevelopments.
To help improve our communications and your access to information, we launched in April a computer website that is readily accessible any time by members and the public at
Treasurer’s Report
Ron Morgenthal, the Treasurer, presented the financial report. In 2006 when the Association was reactivated, it had approximately $11000 in assets.At the most recent fiscal year-end December 31, 2012, we had $14,628in assets consisting of a large term deposit and a bank account. During 2012, we received $1195 in membership fees, $5 in donationsand interest income of $104, and had $564 of expenses for the year. In 2013 we will have an additional expenditure for the maintenance of our new website
The Treasurer’s report was approved.
Membership Report
Steve Horvath, the Membership Director, reported that to date in 2013 we have 113paid-up members.We have approximately 1150 homes in our defined York Mills Gardens area.
The Membership report was accepted.
Election of the Executive Committee
Joe Reis chaired the election of officers. The proposed slate of officers was introduced, the nomination process followed and a new member present, Nick Jokic, was also nominated by Albert Saati. A motion to elect these officers was then moved by David Fleming and Norman Hubley, and this was approved unanimouslyby the members present.
The Executive Committee members for the 2013-14 year are as follows:
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President John Nicholls
Vice President Albert Saati
Secretary Marci Newton
Treasurer Ron Morgenthal
Membership Director Steve Horvath
Director, Area & Issues Moira Ashby
Director, Area & Issues Donna Buss
Director, Area & Issues Rick Comisarow
Director, Area & Issues Sandra Comisarow
Director, Area & Issues Ahmed Jibril
Director, Area & Issues Nick Jokic
Director, Area & Issues Tom Katirai
Director, Area & Issues Andrew Lomaga
Other Business
Ken Collicott, Manager of Municipal Engineering for R.V. Anderson Associates Ltd., presented the Bayview Avenue watermain and sanitary sewer replacement project to us. The work will commence this week and finish in August, 2013. The hours of work will be 7pm to 6am, 7 nights per week if necessary, restricting some lanes nightly but keeping Bayview clear for traffic in daytime. This work is necessary to upgrade and enlarge the old watermain and sanitary sewer that are underneath Bayview Avenue from Wimpole Drive to Sheppard Avenue.
CouncillorJaye Robinson, City of Toronto Ward 25– remarks:
Councillor Jaye Robinson gave us some insight into the issues at City Hall regarding the allegations against Mayor Ford and the disruptions this is causing. She said she advised the Chief of Staff to not allow Councillor Doug Ford to speak to the public on behalf of his brother, but only the Mayor himself. She also commented that the Toronto Star is a viciously critical newspaper.
The votes on casino projects both for Downtown Toronto and Woodbine did not pass at City Council.
The City is working on a planning process reform, as we have a sophisticated planning department in Toronto and are asking Premier Wynne to remove Toronto from the jurisdiction of the Ontario Municipal Board. It is suggested that Toronto does not need the OMB oversight as an appeal body and could create its own Toronto board to hear and rule on development appeals.
In addition to City Council’s Executive Committee, Jaye is also busy working on other City committees including with the Waterfront Revitalization Corporation.
We thankedCouncillor Jaye Robinsonfor attending our meetingand for updating and discussing important issues with us.
Trinity Presbyterian Church provided the large North Hall room for this meeting free of charge, which was advocated by John McCord, a member of the parish and of the YMGCA. We appreciate their generosity and will formally communicate our thanks.
Adjournment
A motion to adjourn was approved at 9:15 pm.