At the LRA’s January 2021 Annual Meeting, which will be held virtually on Wednesday, January 27, 2021, at 6:30pm, via Zoom (click here for connection details), a motion will be made to adopt the minutes from the previous annual meeting.
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Monday, November 4, 2019, 7:00pm @ Tennis Lounge, Trace Manes Community Centre
1.0 CALL TO ORDER – The Leaside Property Owners’ Association (LPOA) meeting was called to order at 7:05pm on November 4, 2019. It was presided over by Geoff Kettel and Carol Burtin Fripp, with Lori Vaudry appointed as meeting secretary/recorder of minutes.
2.0 ATTENDEES – Directors Present: Carol Burtin Fripp, Geoff Kettel, Lori Vaudry, Robin Rix, Doug Obright, Andrea Villiers , Agnes Vermes, Helen Koyama, John Lea, Paul Green , Jonathan Colombo, Frank Schimpl and Alex Pino.
3.0 AGENDA – Carol presented the agenda for the meeting. Carol also expressed her appreciation to the meeting’s four sponsors – Patrick Rocca (Bosley Real Estate), Bonnie Byford Realty, Gyro Mazda/Gyro Hyundai and The Leaside Pub.
4.0 APPROVAL OF MINUTES – Minutes were not read but instead members and guests were reminded that they are posted on the LPOA website. A motion to approve the minutes of the previous year’s Annual General Meeting was made by Holly Reid and seconded by Doug
Willick.
5.0 DEVELOPMENT UPDATE – Geoff Kettel provided a short report on development. Since now that Sunnybrook Plaza development has been approved attention has now shifted to activities in and around Laird. There will be an approximate 40% increase in number of households as a result of development being done in Leaside residential and commercial areas. LPOA’s focus is to work with the city on Laird in Focus (land use and mobility plan for the larger area) as well as with RioCan re their development at corner of Laird and Eglinton.
6.0 JAYE ROBINSON’S OFFICE UPDATE – Jaye Robinson was unable to attend due to illness. Rachel Van Fraassen and Rachael Hillier attended on behalf of Jaye. Rachel Van Fraassen provided some highlights about the work Jaye’s office is working on, specifically: (1)
“Lake Leaside” – this is related to the unfinished/abandoned development site where there was supposed to be a Walmart developed – Jaye and her team have worked with Toronto Water to get it drained. This draining required special permits and as a result took a long time. They are now working on a longer term strategy to better deal with undeveloped sites left without proper maintenance. (2) Traffic – the construction on Eglinton has made traffic issues even more difficult in Leaside. The Councillor’s office has been working with residents to get the speed limits reduced across Leaside to 30km. This change brings Leaside into conformity with other neighbourhoods south of Eglinton. (3) Traffic Management Plan for Leaside – there is a new division in Transportation Services which is geared towards neighbourhood plans. The work the LPOA has been doing on a traffic plan will be united with the work the city will be doing across Toronto (4) Continued partnering with LPOA on appeals for development that do not fit the character of our community.
7.0 TRAFFIC INITIATIVES UPDATE – Carol Burtin Fripp gave an update on the traffic initiatives being led by LPOA. In December 2018 the Association held a public presentation of our traffic calming proposals. Following there was a period of responses and suggestions. From this exercise we set key priorities for the community – (1) safety (2) traffic speed and (3) volume. In January, our traffic consultant met with Carol and key city stakeholders. Since that time we have not seen much progress but we are hopeful that the new neighbourhood traffic strategy being sponsored by the city will see this move. There should also be more collaboration with residents and their associations about traffic measures going forward. Looking ahead, we have some optimism about calming efforts but we also have some challenges. The challenges are related to changes to local public transit being considered by the TTC. Carol participated in a meeting where a proposed TTC Five Year Service Plan was presented – while not set in stone yet, if approved, the bus route changes being considered could be disruptive, and in some areas bus service would no longer be available. LPOA will continue to follow this file and will represent residents.
8.0 TREASURER’S REPORT – Frank Schimpl reported on the financials of the Association for the period starting October 1, 2018 and ending September 30, 2019. We began the year at $27,630.61. Revenue during that period was $11,101.62, primarily made up of memberships, sponsorships and a minimal amount of bank interest. Total expenses for the period were $10,373.04. These were made up of room rentals, consultation fees, Board of Directors insurance, all candidates meetings, AGM room booking, various membership and marketing. Our closing balance for period ending September 30, 2019 was $28,369.21 and as of today’s date we are at $27,751.21. A motion from the floor to adopt the report as presented was made by Ms. Lonsdale, and James Johnston seconded the motion. Motion carried.
9.0 NOMINATIONS FOR THE BOARD – John Lea confirmed on behalf of the Nominating Chair that all current directors have agreed to renew their positions for another term. Specifically: Carol Burtin Fripp, Geoff Kettel, Lori Vaudry, Robin Rix, Doug Obright, Andrea Villiers Agnes Vermes, Helen Koyama, John Lea, Paul Green, Jonathan Colombo, Frank Schimpl and Alex Pino. A motion from Lorna Krawchuk, seconded by Jim Heller to accept the slate was proposed. Motion carried.
10.0 LPOA MEMBERSHIP TASK FORCE REPORT – Robin Rix presented a resolution to change the criteria for membership as well to make constitutional changes for LPOA. The full resolution was posted on the LPOA website (and reprinted in the attached Minutes). LPOA was founded in 1940s and is governed by a constitution. The original constitution distinguishes between property owners and non-property owners. Non-property owners are currently not eligible to join the association and vote at meetings. After review, the Board believes that this distinction is no longer relevant. There are very enthusiastic non-owner residents (renters, senior home residents) of our community whom we would not want to exclude. Most neighbouring associations allow non-property owners as members. Robin also shared that going forward we will need to consider changing our name, for example to Leaside Residents Association. Robin moved that the resolution below be considered. The motion was seconded by John Lea.
Questions were raised regarding condo owners who rent their units. Robin confirmed that the resident living in the condo would be eligible to be a member. Question was asked whether the Board had considered the high number of renters who may join our community – and what impact their votes would have on our traditionally single family home focus. Question was asked whether or not we should consider a number of years of residency as a renter prior to being eligible to join the association. Robin confirmed that this could be considered through by-law changes, but that it would be time consuming to administer this distinction so not recommended. It was further noted that the character of the neighbourhood, demographics and politics is going to change as a result of development going on. As a result the Board was asked whether that was considered. Geoff Kettel confirmed that this was considered and experience in other areas (such as Yonge/Eglinton) has shown that these residents’ interests have been in line with traditional property owners (e.g. densification concerns etc). He further confirmed that the Board strongly supports the notation of inclusivity. There was some concern raised about changing the name – from a historical standpoint. Carol Burtin Fripp confirmed we could have a sub-title to our new name to hold the history “Formerly Leaside Property Owners’ Association” for some time. Another attendee commented that a name change would be a great opportunity to relaunch our Association and gain new members.
The Board was asked to consider expanding our boundaries to include some of the larger condo developments on our outskirts. Carol Burtin Fripp confirmed that we would consider this and come back to membership with any recommendations. Vanessa Rose made a motion to create an amendment to the resolution to instruct the Board to consider changing the boundaries of the Association membership to include other parts of the Town of Leaside. Motion was seconded by Brook Briscoe. Motion carried.
A vote was called to approve the Resolution as amended. Resolution/motion carried unanimously.
11.0 ADJOURNMENT – Carol Burtin Fripp requested an adjournment of the business portion of the meeting. The motion was made by Lori Vaudry and seconded by Robin Rix. Motion carried.
POST AGM BUSINESS
12.0 ROB OLIPHANT MP REMARKS – Rob Oliphant remarked that through his door knocking and re-election activities over the past months, he can confirm that there is overwhelming consensus on the issues of concern from all types of residents of Leaside. He noted that there is a striking commonality on issues such as quality of life, public services, development and engagement. Rob is looking forward to taking on the challenges. Michael Fontein is Rob’s point person for the Leaside community and the LPOA. Rob thanked the residents for attending the AGM and for caring so much for the community. He also noted that he believes our decision to expand our membership criteria to all residents will bode well for us in future.
13.0 DEVELOPMENT UPDATE- Geoff Kettel reported on the two areas of Eglinton East that are under development. The Laird in Focus initiative included a cultural heritage assessment. They will be listing three buildings in the heritage register (1) Olde Yorke Fish and Chips (2) The Local and (3) The former Research Enterprises Ltd. building. The big development is the current Canadian Tire site. The LPOA has been involved for the last three years in this initiative. The LPOA lobbied very hard to ensure the developer creates a true public space for Leaside – with access into the development (versus just wall to wall high rises). There has been a lot of discussion and RioCan has agreed to the approach put forward, resulting in much better plans. The issue outstanding is the height and design of the condo/rental buildings. Developer, city and the LPOA will be in mediation hopefully to come to agreement on these issues. Sunnybrook Plaza (RioCan project) with two towers that went to OMB. A mediation eventually occurred and heights went down to 16 and 11 storeys. There are concerns from surrounding residents about trees that are at risk. Part of the settlement was that arborists would be hired to look after RioCan’s interests and another arborist to represent the interest of residents. These specialists are currently in discussion. The costs were higher than anticipated and RioCan with Concert Properties has picked up this increase on behalf of LPOA. LPOA also continues to investigate and assess variance applications, and communicates with neighbours who are adjacent to the property in question to ensure they are aware of the potential changes that could impact neighbourhood character or personal enjoyment of their residence. Leaside is the best example in Toronto of a fully planned garden community. It could qualify as a heritage neighbourhood as a result. Where do we stand? Leaside was identified as a potential heritage district in 2014. In 2018 Leaside was put forward for a cultural resources heritage study – this has not commenced yet. We have had in place Leaside Residential Character Preservation Guidelines – but they are not backed up by law. The city piloted enforcing such guidelines for two communities – Long Branch and WIllowdale. It has been successful in Long Branch. The status of Willowdale is unknown. These guidelines and standards are a key issue for Leaside. We use them as needed, but with mixed results. The
guidelines need to be updated and we need to find a mechanism to have them enforceable. This is an ongoing concern for LPOA and we are pursuing this.
14.0 QUESTION & ANSWER – Questions from the floor were raised and then responded to by various Board Members.
Attachment
RESOLUTION (as posted on LPOA web site)
WHEREAS the Constitution of the Leaside Property Owners’ Association (“Association”) grants certain rights to Leaside residents who own property, such as voting at Association meetings and running for the Board of Directors (“Board”), and withholds these from Leaside
residents who do not own property;
WHEREAS the Board established a committee to consider whether to maintain this distinction;
WHEREAS the committee considered this issue and advised abolishing this distinction on the
following grounds:
- Although property ownership may have once been the ultimate marker of membership in a community and the goal to which all people should aspire, this view was becoming increasingly inaccurate in an era of escalating property values and growing societal acceptance of alternative arrangements, such as tenancy and multi-generational living, as mature housing choices;
- The Committee received input that there are Leaside residents who wish to participate fully in the Association but cannot do so, such as people residing in a house in a spouse’s name for liability reasons (e.g. business-owners) or tax reasons (e.g. US citizens), people living with elderly parents whose names are on title, recently separated people, and long-term tenants;
- There is broad alignment in the interests of people who own and who do not own property in relation to the substantive objects of the Association;
AND WHEREAS the Board accepted the above advice and voted to endorse proposed amendments to the Constitution and to submit them to the Association for action at its 2019 Annual General Meeting;
RESOLVED, that the Association amend its Constitution as follows:
- In Article I (Name and Area Served), change “Leaside Property Owners’ Association” to “Leaside Residents Association”, and delete “owning residential property and”;
- In Article II (Objects), change “property owners” to “residents” (all occurrences).
- Replace Article III (Membership, Fees, Assessment) as follows: “Article III: Membership. Section 1: Members. Membership in the Association is open to: (a) any Leaside resident; and (b) any other person who meets eligibility criteria established by the Board from time to time. Section 2: Voting Associates. A Member who is a Leaside resident may become a Voting Associate upon payment of a fee as determined by the Board from time to time. Section 3: Honorary Members. The Board may grant the status of Honorary Member in
recognition of a person’s contribution to the Association and/or the community served by the Association. An Honorary Member need not be a Member of the Association.” - In Article VIII (Meetings), section 3, insert the following at the start of the section: “Members, Voting Associates, and Honorary Members may attend the Annual Meeting and any Special Meeting of the Association. Voting Associates may vote at the Annual Meeting and any Special Meeting of the Association.”
- Change “Active Member” to “Voting Associate” (all occurrences);
AND RESOLVED, that the Association authorize the Board to take all necessary measures to give effect to the above provisions and to substitute a different name for “Leaside Residents Association” if it cannot be used for legal or other reasons.
