8 Concerns around the StudioCentres' proposed development at 629 Eastern Avenue.

Community Meeting #2 is TONIGHT!
Wednesday, June 24, 2015
7:00 PM to 9:00 PM - 629 Eastern Avenue

Some Concerns:

1) 'Back Lot' is isolated from the community - will be difficult to police - not a public space - but rather a security guard protected private space; I think the space needs to be connected to the neighbourhood to the north, create an inviting public space (1 idea I heard at the winter meeting - move the 'Back Lot' to the north perimeter of the site?);

2) Small amount of Park space is being added to the community at Caroline (on the corner of the central transportation nexus of the proposed site) - this is badly placed and represents not nearly enough public benefit;

3) Multi-use Path on new Lower Larchmount is unconnected to the street grid north - including Bruce Junior Public School which will be disconnected from a safe north-south signaled intersection (signals at the bottom of Larchmount to be moved to Caroline, 1 block west);

4) Parking Numbers indicate the development will Induce traffic to the area from far away - this is the wrong sort of development for dense urban core neighbourhood;

5a) While we generally support a fine grained approach to the street grid (short walkable blocks) the Induced Traffic nature of the proposed development means the eastbound Eastern Avenue Bike Lane will be interrupted by 2 new streets south off Eastern - What sort of treatments are proposed to keep Bike Lane users safe at these intersections, create walkable connections north-south? - What kind of traffic numbers are expected at those intersections?;

5b) The LDRT on the Lineal Park on the north side of the Lake Shore Boulevard will have to cross 3 new intersections and one existing that will now be open 24/7 - What kind of treatments are suggested to make those intersections safe for Trail users? - What kind of traffic numbers are expected at those intersections?;

6) Large Retail square area, and extensive parking spot numbers indicate that this is not a 'Good Jobs' employment development (except for the film jobs at Revival 629 Studios - which is existing, refurbished).

7) Because of security concerns, the Film Studio section of the development will be separate from the rest of the development; thus the eastern portion of the proposal is entirely a Low Wage service sector jobs oriented development - Are good ideas like a Film Tech School still on the table? Moving forward? Does the so called, 'Flex Space' in the proposal support possible Film Tech schools?

City of Toronto | Development Applications | 629 Eastern | http://app.toronto.ca/DevelopmentApplications/associatedApplicationsList.do?action=init&folderRsn=3384525&isCofASearch=false
(click on Supporting Documentation to see badly labelled list of Applicant documents - which upon download aren't labelled in English, but rather by file number - so that you have to label them one by one as you download them :/ )

StudioCentre | http://www.studiocentre.com/
StudioCentre - Downloads | http://www.studiocentre.com/downloads.html



mh