East Woodbridge Community assembles to discuss Liberty Development

The East Woodbridge Community Association (EWCA) hosted a public meeting this evening at the Chancellor Community Centre to discuss questions and concerns regarding the development proposal of 7777 Weston Road; northeast corner of Highway #7 and Weston Rd. (I wrote about the Liberty Development proposal in a prior post.)

The EWCA invited all members of the Vaughan Council along with representatives from the Liberty Development Group to attend.

I was glad to see Mayor Linda Jackson, Regional Councillor Gino Rosati and Regional Councillor Mario Ferri were on hand to field questions from concerned residents.

Notably absent were Regional Councillor Joyce Frustaglio, Councillor Bernie Di Vona and representatives from the Liberty Group.

I will be the first to submit that the decision to hold a public meeting at 5:00 pm on a Saturday evening was perhaps not the best way to encourage overall attendance.  Nothwitstanding this, I think this particular proposal will represent a landmark development case in the local Woodbridge community and Vaughan in general and accordingly, I would have expected Regional Councillor Frustaglio and Councillor Di Vona to make an appearance.

I actually was impressed with some of the comments and questions raised by the local community.

Unfortunately due to the lack of time and the number of deputations, I did not have an opportunity to convey some of my intial concerns with the development which are as follows:

1. The Places to Grow Act guidelines suggest a target level of 200 combined jobs and people per hectare by the year 2031 in designated "Growth Centres".  In Vaughan, the defined Growth Centre includes the Vaughan Corporate Centre (recently renamed "The Vaughan Metropolitan Centre").  This proposed development lies outside the boundaries of this Growth Centre so why is this higher density target being used as the basis of consideration for the application?   Even at this target, the roughly 2 hectares that the site represents would translate into 400 combined jobs and people.  This proposal calls for 792 residential units and 10 storeys of office space.  This is a major variance by any reasonable standard. 
   
2. The application relies on the prospective improvements in transportation (which includes the Viva rapid transit systems and the eventual Spadina subway extension) in respect of addressing the traffic conjestion concerns for the nearby intersections.  There are two issues here.  One, what are the assurances that the Subway and rapid transit sytems will be in place by the time this development is completed? Two, what are the plans for addressing pedestrian safety for residents who are expected to
    utilize the rapid transit routes.  Presumably the rapid transit stops would be situated kitty-corner to this development.  Expecting pedestrians to cross both Highway 7 and Weston Road during daily rush hours would be nothing short of suicide missions.

This meeting represented one of the first few steps in a very long process.  While it is important to invite and involve the entire community, I think it is also important to create a smaller circle of representatives to synthesize and assert the views of the community in an organized and meaningful format

I believe this is the best way in which to have the City of Vaughan Council and applicants such as the Liberty Group can carefully hear, understand and be accountable to the Community.