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City Approves Forest Park

5/9/2016

On Monday, March 21, 2016, the City Planning Committee heard all the arguments against the Forest Park Development Plan, and then voted 7-2 to approve. Councillor Chris Fonseca and Councillor Karen Ras voted against the application. The Mayor left the Council Meeting before the vote was taken.

The bottom line was that, since the City Planners had already approved the plan, the developer indicated that they would take the City to the Ontario Municipal Board. In essence, the Council would be reversing the decision of its own staff. The legal council for the City, when questioned by Councillor Carolyn Parish, advised that fighting the decision at OMB would cost the City upwards of $200,000.

On these grounds, and faced with the fact that their track record was not good when fighting OMB, Council approved the development, with some conditions. The conditions included a list of upgrades to the existing buildings and removing paid parking prior to moving forward with the final plans.

This article was originally published in the Summer 2016 issue of the Rockwood Homeowners' Association quarterly newsletter, The Rockwood Times.

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Development May Become a Reality

3/17/2016

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On Wednesday, January 13, the City put residents on notice that the Forest Park Development, will in some form, become a reality. While we may lobby City Hall and the Planning Department with every legitimate argument, the reality is that the Province and the City are hungry for development. Even if the City accepts our plea to nix this development, it will go to OMB (Ontario Municipal Board) and, in all probability, it will get the green light.

The province is pushing municipalities to look for the opportunity to increase density in areas that could accommodate some intensification, and that already have transportation and other infrastructure. Mississauga is looking for new revenue streams, and new development equals more revenue. City representatives came to the meeting and told us that from their perspective Ward 3 has all the right services in place to move forward with encouraging new development.

Mississauga is looking at development in every potential space they can identify for intensification. This includes the land around Rockwood Mall, The Kingsbury Plaza and every apartment building with some currently unused land.

Intensification of plaza property may be anything from adding residential units in the parking lot to tearing down the existing plaza and replacing it with retail, condos above the stores, and possibly satellite buildings or town homes. This is currently underway at Humbertown Plaza in Etobicoke at Royal York and Dundas. Adding new development around existing apartment buildings is exactly what is planned for Forest Park and what has already been approved for 1315 Bough Beeches.

If by some chance we win the “battle” over Forest Park, it looks like OMB may win the “war” again.

As always, we welcome your comments, questions and any concerns you may wish to share in over 3,000 newsletters distributed quarterly in your Rockwood neighborhood, please forward your information to r[email protected].

This article was originally published in the Spring 2016 issue of the Rockwood Homeowners' Association quarterly newsletter, The Rockwood Times.

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Forest Park Study Concerns Ignored

3/17/2016

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On January 13, Ward 3 Councillor Chris Fonseca invited residents to a meeting using the subject line "Re: Forest Park Circle - Capacity Study Community Meeting". Residents packed the auditorium at Tomken Arena in expectation of the City’s comment on the status of the proposed Forest Park development.

The audience was walked through a presentation by various Planning Department members that basically concluded that Ward 3 has sufficient capacity to add additional new development and that, as a result, the City is actively looking at opportunities to intensify properties within Ward 3. To this end, the expectation was that attendees would act as a focus group for visioning of future development and stakeholders were being encouraged to participate in a steering committee.

This article was originally published in the Spring 2016 issue of the Rockwood Homeowners' Association quarterly newsletter, The Rockwood Times.

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Ponytrail Development On Hold

4/26/2014

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The Forest Park proposal is currently under reconsideration by the developer. The City has requested a lengthy list of issues to be reviewed, prior to submission of a revised plan. A new proposal is not expected to be submitted until 2015.

The RHA and Ponytrail Development Opposition Committee are opposed to the current plan that exceeds the density limits outlined in the current zoning.

*Please note this article was originally published in the Summer 2014 edition of The Rockwood Times.

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President's report: Spring 2014

3/4/2014

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Author: Simi Kapur
President, Rockwood Homeowners' Association

In what has been termed one of the coldest winters of the last few years, I wish you good health and positive spirits as we move on from a year of tumultuous weather with the expectant vision of spring flowers to come!

In November, RHA attended the meeting at the GTAA offices for CENAC (Community Environment and Noise Advisory Committee). NAV Canada made a presentation on their Airspace and Services Review focusing on safety in the airspace as well as improved tracking procedures for flights. In December 2013, GTAA launched WebTrak, an online tool that provides near-real time and historical flight data so residents can investigate aircraft operations from any computer with internet access. It’s accessible 24/7 and is now more convenient to register a noise complaint. Try it at www.torontopearson.com/webtrak All CENAC meetings are open to the public. Details of upcoming meetings are listed in the Calendar of Events, found on the back page.

In response to a Rockwood resident’s request earlier this year, for a 4-way stop at the intersection of Corkstone Glade/Rowntree Court and Fieldgate Drive, City of Mississauga’s Transportation and Works Department conducted a feasibility study on traffic volume in that area. In conclusion of the review, Transportation and Works Department did not recommend the installation of an all way stop at this intersection. Driver compliance in stopping, zero collision history in a three year period as well as the immediate signal lights located within 250m from the suggested intersection were some of the factors which resulted in the decision that a 4-way stop at that intersection was not warranted. The Traffic Safety Committee has been requested to provide information to parents of Sts. Martha and Mary School about using caution when crossing the street while walking children to school.

In the past 10 years, Mississauga has seen much of its available land developed. With building sites becoming scarce, developers are looking for infill and smaller tracts of land for development or expansion. Currently Rockwood is the target for several developments. Two years ago, a plan was approved for a new Condominium project at Rathburn and Boughbeeches. This year Forest Park has approached the City to develop a large project on its land at Ponytrail and Rathburn. Yet another development is potentially about to be reviewed at Audubon and Fieldgate. All of these proposed projects are for either apartment buildings or multiple family dwellings.

It is important to note that in order to move these projects forward, the developers need The City to approve changes to the zoning to either change current usage or the density or both. If the City is too slow to react, or the developer does not like the decision rendered by the City, they can appeal the decision to the OMB (Ontario Municipal Board).

Throughout the planning process, residents are given a voice to speak via the Ward Councillor, Community Public meetings, Planning and Development meetings, written submissions and continuous dialogue. In the absence of strong communication from the community and the City, developers will take their plan to OMB, and in the end will probably be successful in getting the OMB to approve the project, forcing the City to allow the project.

The RHA is committed to listening to the concerns of our community, and communicating their expectations to the relevant parties. To this end, at a scheduled Board Meeting last November, Lormel homes requested and was permitted to address the RHA Board with regards to their proposal at Forest Park. It was an opportunity to speak frankly with the developer without the passion or emotion sparked from open forum meetings. We believe that further face to face dialogue with all stakeholders should continue and welcome any opportunity to connect and converse in various issues in order to maintain the integrity or Rockwood Village as a premium community.

Remember to save the date for our next AGM! Last year’s venue was enjoyed by all in attendance so we’ve booked it again at the Knights of Columbus Hall, adjacent to Sts. Martha and Mary Church. As always, we welcome your comments, questions and concerns. Reach us at [email protected] or through our Facebook and Twitter pages.

~ Simi Kapur, Rockwood Homeowners' Association President

*Please note this article was originally published in the Spring 2014 edition of The Rockwood Times.

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Forest Park Circle rezoning application: 0z 12/009 w3

10/8/2012

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Recently this summer, Forest Park Circle Ltd., the developer of the two apartment buildings located at 4100 Ponytrail Dr. and 1850 Rathburn Rd. E., submitted a rezoning application requesting a 16 story building (condominium), 3 low rise apartment building (4 storeys each) and 105 town house units while maintaining the two existing 18 story apartment buildings.

That’s when the flurry of emails and phone calls came into RHA. The concerns for this type of development are many:

Traffic – The increased amount of traffic that this will add to an already congested area seems unappealing. There are already problems with vehicles being parked at the Kingsbury Plaza because the vehicle owners do not want to pay for parking in their own buildings.

Pollution – With traffic comes the increase in pollution and local air quality for our neighbours.

Greenbelt - This area has always been prided for the park areas that we can walk and our children can play. Also important is that there are approximately 250 trees on this site of which a significant number of large trees would need to be removed to accommodate the proposed development. That’s a lot of mature trees which have increased the value of our area and are a pride of Rockwood Village’s greenspace.

Here’s the final point: According to this part of the City of Mississauga’s amended Official Plan, this parcel of land is not located within an area approved for increased density. The developer is almost at the maximum density permitted at its location under the City’s current zoning.

This proposal as it is will cause many problems in our neighbourhood and as stated per the concerns above, it will definitely bring down the value of our homes.

In advance of any Planning and Development meeting at the City, Councillor Fonseca will be holding public meetings for all residents to voice concerns and ask questions.

RHA will be posting updates through email alerts and our website www.rockwoodvillage.ca John Hardcastle is the Planner for this application and all questions and concerns should be made to his attention. His contact information is: [email protected], 905-615-3200 x 5525. Please copy any written correspondence to Councillor Fonseca at [email protected].

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City Approves Forest Park

Development May Become a Reality

Forest Park Study Concerns Ignored

Ponytrail Development On Hold

President's report: Spring 2014

Forest Park Circle rezoning application: 0z 12/009 w3

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