March General Members Meeting Highlights

Queen's Park North

The first municipal park opened in 1860 on land owned by the University of Toronto.  A $4.8M renovation was completed in 2019.  A secondary exit for the Museum TTC station opened in 2024 at a cost of $25.9M.  The Weston Foundation has donated $50M for 'enhancements', maintenance and programming of Queen's Park North in mid-2024; additional $23M for 20 years operation.

The timeline of the donation, discussions with the City, educational institutions, residents associations and City staff was explained.  The proposed design includes elements such as an elevated tree walk, café, kiosk, washrooms, maintenance storage, workshop buildings, understory planting to protect roots, Hilary Weston commemorative gardens, relocation of the King Edward statue, council fire, water elements and movable furniture.

The Friends of Queen's Park North is an very active adhoc committee that has met with the Mayor’s office, City staff (Heritage) University of Toronto (Administration and Forestry), independent Forestry consultants.  They have advocated with resident associations, media and inserted themselves into the donation/design process and operations oversight.

The city staff report and donation were passed at the March 10, 2026 Executive Meeting and will go to City Council on March 25th to 27th.  The original motion was amended to exclude approval of the design, ensure trees are protected, minimize environmental disruption for café, mandate review at the Infrastructure and Environment Committee, and to update the city staff report.

The Design Review Panel voted in favour of the first design review, with the conditions that a forestry management plan to be prepared and that programming elements would be reduced.

Next steps include another resident association consultation, Phase 3 City consultation, and a meeting with the University of Toronto President.  The City has launched another survey Community Engagement Phase 3: Setting the Direction Draft Design Survey that closes Thursday April 2nd.
https://ca.mar.medallia.com/?e=90007556&d=l&h=A9499C6CBC11425&l=en.

Michael L. raised concerns about pedestrian and Museum TTC secondary access during construction.  Al R. said that the construction will be phased.

There was confusion whether it is allowed to ride bikes on the interior pathways in the park.

Al R. mentioned that the park would be smaller because of a planned layby on the exterior, by Queen's Park Crescent East.

Neighbourhood

There are various grants offered by the City and foundations that are available.

Installation of the Primrose statue plaque has been scheduled for this Spring.

The final community safety survey results have been collected.  5 people expressed interested in learning more and/or joining Safety Committee.  A list of responsibilities will be created prior to contacting interested parties.  The target is to introduce and rollout safety initiates based on survey results in this fall.

The Bistro Lane sign was re-installed after temporary removal during the 8 Wellesley construction.

The emergency zone portion of the bike lanes in front of 24 Wellesley have been validated by Traffic Services.

Representatives from  909 and 889 Bay Street, BCCA and Councillor Moise’s office met to address and resolve issues related to Breadalbane off lease dog Park violations and the need for more signage and enforcement.

There was a request to rename St. Luke Lane to Susan Eng Lane that was denied by Councillor Moise's office.

The existing signage for the St. Joseph passenger drop off zone has been deemed sufficient.

Municipal elections are scheduled for Monday October 26th for Mayor and Councillor positions.  It is unclear if School Trustees positions will be up for election.

A byelection for the University Rosedale MP position will be held Monday April 13th. Official candidates are Dr. Danielle Martin, Liberal and Andrew Massey, Green.  Declared candidates are Don Hodgson, Conservative and Serena Purdy, NDP.  Residents are encouraged to ask candidates where they stand on expansion of the Island Airport to allow jets and funding of temporary shelter costs for refugees.

The Downtown East Action Plan received $542,000 in funding for Phase 2 in the 2026 budget, with a total investment of $1.4m.  The plan addresses poverty, homelessness, community safety, mental health and drug toxicity crisis in the area bounded by Bloor Street, Front Street, Bay Street, and the Don Valley Parkway with community engagement, bylaw enforcement, increased street/park cleaning.

The University of St. Mike's College is offering Winter and Spring continuing education courses on a variety of interesting topics. www.uoft.me/usmcce

The intersection of College Street and Bay Street will be closed to cars and bikes in mid to late April due to TTC track and sewer replacement.  As a result there will be TTC route diversions for the 506 College streetcar and 19 Bay bus.  The 2nd phase of construction will happen from July to September on College Street from Yonge Street to Bay Street for sewer replacement and Carlton Street from Church Street to Yonge Street for TTC track replacement.  The final phase will be TTC track replacement on College Street from Yonge Street to Bay Street from September to December.

Development Update

Trees have been cut in the southeast courtyard and on the west lane as part of the 95 St. Joseph demolition process.  The builder is planning on removing trees on St. Basil's Lane.  The next step is demolition and relocation of the seminary building.  Al R. reported that trees were removed on both the north and south side of St. Joseph in addition to the other trees, including 2 mature trees that should have been kept.

5 city trees located on the sidewalks of Grenville Street and Grosvenor Street will be removed as part of the development process for 2G 26 Grenville Street and 27 Grosvenor Street.

Community Meetings

FoSTRA Activism and Advocacy Meeting Councillor Saxe held a town hall on January 29th to discuss Queen's Park North design and how the advisory board would be selected and operate.

MP Bell held a Residents Association Roundtable on February 2nd.  Various issues from neighbourhood safety, housing affordability, traffic enforcement, the need for better TTC accessibility and supportive housing were discussed.

The 52 Division Community Police Liaison Committee was held on February 4th.  Preparation for FIFA that will be held from June 12th to July 30th includes over 7,000 uniformed officers from about 70 partner agencies.  Crime management will focus on Union Station, Eaton Centre and Sankofa Square. Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design Reviews have been scheduled and/or conducted at 7 Inkerman, 2 Sultan and 75 St. Nicholas.  Police are patrolling Tim Horton’s and McDonald’s at Yonge Street and Wellesley Street for illegal drug use and sales.

The monthly FoSTRA Activism and Advocacy Meeting happened on February 12th.  There is an issue with the noise management plan for the  RESA Environmental Assessment Report at the Billy Bishop Airport.  A joint meeting with FoNTRA was held with the Planning Department.  Fair Growth Across Toronto advocates for equitable building heights.  A issue was discovered with untreated sewage near Ontario Place.

On February 17th, a core team of Breadalbane Park stakeholders met to discuss issues and how to resolve them.  Educational flyers were distributed.  A meeting has been scheduled with MLS and Parks to to discuss additional signage and enforcement of park rules.

FoSTRA held their Annual General Meeting on February 26th to elect board members and review the numerous endorsements, letters, initiatives, speakers and projects from the past year.  Some substantial accomplishments already this year, with more planned for the upcoming year.

There was a yongeTOmorrow meeting on the preliminary design and operation for Yonge Street from College Street to Queen Street.  30% of the design has been completed, with public engagement ongoing.  The next meeting will be Q4 this year, with final design Q4 next year.  A symmetrical design is recommended with streetscape activations to maximize the public realm.

​On March 12th, the FoSTRA Activism and Advocacy meeting featured Norm DiPasquale from NoJetsTO, who encouraged everyone to sign the petition at www.NoJetsTO.com and write a letter of concern.  The advocacy of Friends of Queens Park North was highlighted.  Refugee shelter funding has been eliminated in the federal budget as of March 2027.  A letter was sent objecting to excess school lands being redesignated and sold for development.  Protected/Major Transit Station Areas have zero parking requirements, ignoring need for visitor, trades and accessible parking.

Community Concerns

Residents unanimously are against jets at Billy Bishop Airport.  There are traffic concerns since there is no public transit direct to the airport and Bathurst is the only main road in the area.  Traffic management, especially with the new spa, Ontario Place and proposed 2M sf convention centre in the area, is a major issue.  Valuable housing units will be lost since buildings near the waterfront will reduce in substantially lower residential towers.  Public safety, health, water loss and tree damage are all reasons for unease.  Kathryn H. thinks that only the wealthy will benefit from the convenience of a second major airport in the city.  Al R. mentioned that in 2003 the Mayor of Chicago closed the waterfront airport due to safety and environmental problems.  It was decided to send a letter of concern as requested by NoJetsTO.

A complaint was received about the condition of mural and dumpsters on St. Luke Lane (south of Grenville Street) at rear of Yonge Street businesses.  The mural was installed in 2010 as part of TPS Graffiti Transformation Project in recognition of soldiers’ final journey to Coroner’s Office.  The dumpster issue should be referred to the Downtown Yonge Business Improvement Area Clean Streets Team.

Students from the University of Toronto Biomedical department have volunteered to help maintain the new Dr. Emily Stowe Way pollinator garden.

A homeless individual was living in the entrance of 570 Yonge Street.  211 was contacted and the Gerstein Crisis Centre outreach team was dispatched for a wellness check.  The person is no longer on the premises.

Kathryn H. asked for strong volunteers to help relocate large rocks from St. Basil Lane to the Dr. Emily Stowe pollinator garden, date to be determined.

Jack C. reported that the city litter bin by 1001 Bay is consistently not emptied, and that building staff have been removing excess waste.  He was advised to put in a 311 service request, taking note of the incident number and escalating to Councillor Moise's office if necessary.

Nenke J. noted that it will be her last meeting, as her term as President of the St. Nicholas Coop.  The building had issues with recycling not being picked up as scheduled.  Last Tuesday afternoon, an individual vandalized the building by breaking the glass of all 3 entrances.  The matter has been reported to the police.  Cathy C. will mention the issue at the next CPLC meeting.

Al R. mentioned some upcoming events, Environment Day for both Toronto Centre and University Rosedale on May 10th, He is looking for someone to replace him for a Clock Tower Walk for Jane's Walk on the first weekend in May. 

Al R. noted that a tree was damaged beyond repair in Clover Hill Park, in addition to several trees in Queen's Park North.  He was concerned about damaged and removed trees, given that the neighbourhood tree canopy needs to be maintained.

Al R. is investigating what renovation work has required the installation of hoarding in the parking lot of the Legislative Building at Queen's Park.