CounCillor Mike layton 1

Councillor Mike Layton

Ward 19 TriniTySpadina mikelayton.to

Dear Neighbours,

Over the past year our community has worked together and made some amazing progress that we can be proud of.

Together we have worked to build stronger land use plans for Ossington Avenue, Dupont Street, the Niagara neighbourhood, and Bathurst Street to ensure devel-opment in our community is done responsibly. Together we prevented a mega ca-sino from moving into our community. Together we fought and beat a proposed Walmart on Bathurst Street.

This year we will be making improvements to Northumberland Playground, Fred Hamilton Park, Stanley Park and next year we will work together to complete plans for improvements to Christie Pits Park, Bickford Park, and Liberty Village parks.

We have made improvements to our streets, adding bike lanes on Shaw Street with new lanes to come on Argyle Street and Richmond Street, and upgrades to Har-bord Street.

At City Hall, I have been fighting for better public transit services and stronger noise restrictions for nightclubs. I have also been working to make sure Toronto does everything it can to fight climate change. This year, the City launched a $20 million pilot program aimed at reducing household energy demands and green-house gases. I was proud to introduce that program and work with stakeholders to get unanimous support at Council.

My office is here to serve you. If you have local issues you would like addressed, any ideas for how we can build a better city, or just want to chat about the neigh-bourhood, please feel free to contact me or my team.

In community,

Mike Layton

Stay in touch

Visit www.mikelayton.to for city-wide and local updates on everything from construction notices to political issues at City Hall. Visit my website to sign up for my e-newsletter.

Follow me on twitter at twitter.com/m_layton or find me on facebook at facebook.com/layton.mike

Nos Falamos Portugus! Por favor ligue para o nosso escritrio se precisar assistencia.(416) 392-4010

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(416) 392-4009.

FPO Union Bug

100 Queen Street West Suite C47 Toronto, ON M5H 2N2

(416) 392-4009 councillor_layton@toronto.ca

Executive AssistantJamie Kirkpatrickjkirkpa2@toronto.ca

Special Assistant Scheduling & ParksMarco Bianchi mbianch@toronto.ca

Constituency AssistantNorth of College Streetangela Surdi asurdi2@toronto.ca

Constituency AssistantSouth of College Street to Rail Corridorashley da Silva adasilv2@toronto.ca

Constituency AssistantSouth of the Rail CorridorHeather Leger hleger@toronto.ca

2 CounCillor Mike layton

After years of community advocacy, the City approved a settlement for development of a new commercial retail building at the old Kromer Radio site (on Bathurst north of Dundas Street) removing the possibility of a Walmart invading our community. The settlement cut the size of the single-use retail space in half, eliminating the space needed for a Walmart. As part of the settlement the property owner agreed that the project will proceed without Walmart as a tenant in the building.

This settlement is a great win for our com-munity! Thousands of people have signed

We stopped a Walmart in our neighbourhoodpetitions, attended public meetings, or sent letters on this subject. Residents across To-ronto expressed concerns about the impact this type of big box superstore would have on neighbouring retail areas West Queen West, Dundas West, Little Italy, and Kensington Market.

My office responded to these concerns and worked closely with interested stakeholders over the past three years. Councils decision formalizes a settlement that will ensure no Walmart moves into the building, and in-stead our community gets a true mixed-use building.

New StreetcarsThe King streetcar line is the busiest in the city with over 57,000 daily passengers. The Queen streetcar has over 45,000 daily pas-sengers. The lines are over capacity and my office regularly receives complaints that rid-ers wait for several cars during rush hour be-fore making their way on to one with room to board. This is unacceptable. Public transit is meant to get us where we need to go quickly and affordably.

Besides eliminating the superstore retail space, the new proposal replaces the 3rd floor with office space making room for more local jobs in this project. I also moved a motion to create a Construction Management Liaison Committee that will give neighbours a voice during the construction of this building. In addition, a 24-hour construction hot line will be posted on the hoarding surrounding the site which will now also feature public art and mural artwork.

unveiling a commemorative plaque recognizing Scadding Cabin, torontos oldest built structure. Built in 1794 for John Scadding, the cabin now rests in our ward on the exhibition Grounds.

only are they modern, spacious, and com-fortable, but they will also increase our rush hour capacity by 32%.

You may have noticed the new streetcars al-ready as the TTC tests them on our streets. The 510 Spadina, the 511 Bathurst, and the 509 Dundas / Harbourfront are scheduled to be deployed beginning in 2014. The 501 Queen and the 508 Lakeshore will roll out starting in 2015, with the 504 King route having the new vehicles beginning in 2016.

The TTC has ordered new streetcars to re-lieve some of the pressure on the routes mov-ing through Ward 19. They are scheduled for roll out between 2014 and 2018. The TTC will also be constructing (and modifying) streetcar platforms to allow people with mo-bility challenges and strollers to easily board the new low floor streetcars.

The new streetcars are accessible, have more seats, boarding from all 4 doors, air condi-tioning, and can accommodate bicycles. Not

CounCillor Mike layton 3

No Casino for TorontoAfter a year of work, we were able to win against MGM and other international casino corporations interested in building a mega ca-sino at Exhibition Place.

Following multiple delays by Mayor Ford and endless studies and debate, on May 21, 2013 I called a special meeting of Toronto City Council to put an end to the proposed mega casino. At this meeting I moved a simple motion that City Council oppose the estab-lishment of any new gaming sites in the City of Toronto. My motion passed 40-4 and the mega casino was stopped.

A downtown mega casino in Toronto would have cost us more than we could have gained. A mega casino would hurt our local businesses

Northumberland Playground Improvements!

Ontario Place a Public Space

and our arts and entertainment communities. It would strangle an already congested trans-portation network with thousands more cars. It would also bring with it significant social costs related to both addiction and crime that would hurt our families.

Liberty Village and Fort York are two of our fastest growing neighbourhoods. Building a casino in them would have profound effects on traffic, transit, property values, local busi-nesses, addiction rates, and the quality of life.

When we think about the neighbourhood we would like to build, it does not include a mega casino. We can do better and we are doing bet-ter than a casino.

Plans to redesign Northumberland Play-ground continue to progress with a distinct focus on natural looking play features. Over the last few years local neighbours and my office have put our hearts and minds to im-proving this park and I am excited to see these visions become a reality.

The design promotes a natural play theme, using water, stone, and wood as the main character features, integrated with ropes, poles, and wood play equipment to encour-age motor skill development and social inter-action through play. Play opportunities are provided for all age groups from tots to pre-

teens, and the design incorporates accessibil-ity guidelines for people of all abilities. The existing wading pool will not be impacted by the proposed park and playground improve-ments.

Ontario Place and the Exhibition Grounds are both in our ward. Ontario Place has been an important 96-acre public and family friendly space in Toronto and a destination since 1971. It is land that was originally dedicated to The People of Ontario Past, Present and Future.

In February 2012, the Ontario Government announced the closure of Ontario Place. The Province is now going through a planning process to transform Ontario Place into a year-round, multi-use waterfront community and urban park. At the same time, the City and Exhibition Place Board of Governors are moving through a planning process for the fu-ture of Exhibition Place.

Throughout this process I have maintained that Ontario Place must remain a public space. More recently, I have requested that the Province work more closely with Exhibi-tion Place to develop a joint strategy for revi-talization and to include you, the local com-munity, more closely in the process.

We need to ensure the planning for the area addresses key issues such as infrastructure, transportation, public realm, and heritage. Any planning process around Ontario Place and the Exhibition grounds must include your input and consider both the impacts on your neighbourhood and the potential contri-butions.

4 CounCillor Mike layton

New program HELPs the EnvironmentThrough Torontos new Home Energy Loan Program (HELP), homeowners now have a new tool for reducing their energy bills and improving their home comfort, while creating good local jobs.

Passed unanimously by City Council last year, this program is unique because it offers loans for home energy retrofits that are repaid on the property tax bill at agreed upon intervals. When a homeowner sells their home, the re-mainder of the unpaid loan is transferred to the next owner.

This pilot program will invest $10 million into homes in several communities across Toronto, with a goal of improving the energy and water efficiency of 1,000 homes over 3 years.

For now, the pilot program will only be avail-able in some neighbourhoods that are cur-rently eligible for an Enbridge Gas rebate, but depending on its success, it could easily spread across the city. Now we need the federal and provincial governments to do their part.

official opening of the new accessibility ramp in Fred Hamilton Park

the day after earth Day i had the opportunity to meet with an amazing 5-year old girl named lea. She came

to my office to hand deliver a letter she wrote because she is concerned about the amount of litter in our

neighbourhood. ive posted leas letter on my website (mikelayton.to/little-leas-litter-letter) in the hope that

you will all follow her thoughtful advice.

Protecting our Waterfront City Council has been debating the expan-sion of the island airport to allow large jets. I am concerned about the environmental and neighbourhood impacts of this proposed ex-pansion. The increased noise and pollution from jets, the increased flight patterns across the waterfront, and paving over more of the lake to extend the runway would spoil our wonderful recreational space of Toronto Is-lands and the waterfront.

In 1983, the Tripartite Agreement that the City of Toronto entered into with the Federal Government and the Toronto Port Authority placed very specific restrictions on the airport to protect neighbourhoods on the waterfront.

The agreements restricted airport expansion so that new neighbourhoods could be built in the area. The addition of jets and changes to the Tripartite Agreement threaten the liveabil-ity of these neighbourhoods.

Our city has spent considerable time and money to revitalize our waterfront so it can be a place of pride for our citys residents. Any changes to our waterfront must help and not harm these efforts.

the City of toronto has been working with local toronto artists to paint the Citys traffic signal boxes. outside the Box is being implemented by Streetartoronto. this is an example of one of the many boxes painted in our ward. this box can be found at Dundas Street West and Montrose avenue and was done by artist Jeff Blackburn.

CounCillor Mike layton 5

Dupont Street StudyOver the past several years, the north side of Dupont Street has faced increasing pressures from developers, with many submitting devel-opment applications and others still request-ing to change the land use designations along the Dupont corridor from employment to mixed- use. This reality has served as an im-portant opportunity for the City to conduct a study and address a number of city-wide and local issues, including the preservation of em-ployment lands and the need to improve the public realm along Dupont Street, as well as its close proximity to the Canadian Pacific Railway corridor.

Earlier this year, City Planning staff launched the Dupont Street Study, primarily focusing on the lands on the north side of Dupont Street between Kendal and Ossington Avenues.

Upon completion of the study, City Planning staff will prepare and present a final report to Council with a recommended vision and framework for the study area. This will include amendments to the Site and Area Specific Poli-cies (SASP) in the Official Plan as well as zon-ing by-law amendments, including permissions for height, maximum limits, bike and vehicle parking requirements, land use, angular planes and building setbacks and stepbacks.

This area study will also identify transporta-tion and transit options and policies for the Dupont corridor; explore the use of a Devel-opment Permit system within the lands along the northern frontage of Dupont Street; iden-tify park and open space opportunities as well as green corridors; and identify strategies to enhance the public realm.

Built Form: Sample Building Envelope Recommendations(Study Area: North side of Dupont Street between Ossington Avenue & Kendal Avenue)

Maximum height of 25m R.O.W. width + max. height allowed for mechanical No exposed mechanical penthouse Building to t within 45-degree angular plane as

per the Mid-Rise Guidelines (see Sample Building Section)

DUPONT STREET

3-storey streetwall In keeping with the low-rise context on

the south side of Dupont Street Deep front step-back above 3rd storey

Ground oor setback Setback at grade to allow for minimum 4.8m wide sidewalk The setback will vary by property, but on average is 1.5 - 3.0m

Side step-backs Above the 3-storey streetwall, side step-

backs of 5.5m Long buildings should provide side

step-backs allow for sky views and windows

Maximum building length In keeping with the orientation of the

north-south blocks & street pattern on the south side of Dupont Street (approx. 80 - 90m)

privateproperty

private property

20 mR.O.W.

max. 25m / 8-storeys

Dupont Street

80% R.O.W.

5m

45 o angular plane

Looking southwest from Bathurst Street & Bridgman Avenue

Looking northeast from Palmerston Avenue & Vermont Avenue

Looking northwest from Bathurst Street & Dupont Street

2

3

1

1 2 3 Looking northeast from Clinton Street & Dupont Street

4

4

Key Map - viewsSample Building Envelope (500 Dupont Street - Beer Store)

Sample Building Section

City Planning

Rail Mitigation & Safety Consultants Study RecommendationsThe City of Toronto hired a consultant to provide the City with some background information on the rail line that runs north of Dupont Street and to provide recommendations on the type of mitigation measures that should be implemented through any site redevelopment within the Study Area. The consultants recommendations were presented at a community meeting on May 14, 2014. Please see our study website for the report and the presentation that the consultants made.www.toronto.ca/planning/dupontstudy

City staff are reviewing the Final Report from the consultants and we will be making our nal recommendations on this issue in our Final Report which will be presented to the Planning and Growth Management Committee on August 7, 2014.

Looking north on Bathurst Street Parking at George Brown College

Looking east from Bartlett Avenue Double Stacked Intermodal Containers

Standard Earthen Berm

30.0m setback

15.0m

2.5m Earthen Berm

1.83m high chain-link fence

Property Line 3.0m Noise Wall

City Planning

one of the new ping pong tables in Stanley Park in in use.

Rail Corridor Risk Assessment and StudyAs part of the Dupont Street Study, the City retained a rail consultant to conduct a Risk Assessment and Management Study along the Canadian Pacific Railways North Toronto Subdivision and to review various safety and mitigation measures that should be imple-mented as part of any redevelopment along the rail corridor. Railways are federally or pro-vincially regulated and the City has no juris-diction over railway corridors and operations. The City is, however, responsible to ensure land use compatibility along these corridors, apply best practice mitigation measures, and manage future risks.

The rail consultants report outlined rail transportation and safety trends across Can-ada, Ontario and Toronto respectively, while providing detailed mitigation measures and safety guidelines that should accompany re-development near the railway corridors in the Dupont Street Study Area.

Stanley Park Update

PHoto By: anDreW louiS

The City held many public meetings through-out 2014 and on August 7, this study will go before the Planning and Growth Management Committee. Contact my office to get involved or find out more.

Work toward further improving Stanley Park continues with a distinct focus on ensuring the safety and accessibility of the space for all parks users. We have already seen the in-stallation of our brand new ping pong tables, and will soon see path and seating upgrades, accessibility ramps, and a new fence around the playground coming to the area of the park north of King Street.

On the south side of the park, we expect to see the berms and fence removed along the north end to make way for more seating for casual park users and open sight lines into and out of the park. In addition to these changes, the en-tire park will see an increase in the amount of light standards in an effort to ensure that ev-eryone feels safe in their neighbourhood park.

A contractor has been hired to start this work beginning mid-August with the installation of the new light standards. Workers will be mindful to limit the impact the construction will have on park and permit field usage and create safe working zones for those inside the park. Access to the wading pool will not be impacted by the construction.

Where a building contains high-density or high-occupancy uses (e.g., residential uses, institutional uses, retail or office space, etc.), the consultant recommends a 30 metre build-ing setback plus a standard 2.5 metre high earthen berm, associated fence and noise wall as an effective way to mitigate future risks to people and property along the rail corridor.

6 CounCillor Mike layton

CyclingI am a huge proponent of cycling in our city. Making cycling safer and more inviting can help to relieve car traffic and take some pres-sure off of our stretched transit system.

The West Toronto Railpath:

The West Toronto Railpath is a trail connec-tion along the Kitchener/Georgetown GO Transit rail corridor. In 2008, the path from north of Dupont Street to the Dundas Street West overpass was completed. The detailed extension of the railpath past Strachan Ave-nue is now being studied. Our goal is to be-gin construction of the Railpath extension in 2015 once Metrolinx has completed their construction on the rail corridor.

Shaw Street Bikeway:

The Shaw Street Bikeway was recently com-pleted. Its 4km of cycling infrastructure that stretches from Douro Street all the way north to Davenport Road. North of Dundas Street West contra-flow cycling lanes were installed to allow cyclists to travel northbound on this southbound one-way street. This spring, the bikeway was further improved with new, more durable, road markings added to the street.

Richmond-Adelaide Protected Bike Lane Pilot:

Council approved a pilot project to begin this summer installing protected bike lanes on Richmond Street, from Bathurst to York, and Adelaide Street, from Bathurst to Simcoe.

Protected bike lanes on Richmond-Adelaide will provide a much needed east-west connec-tion for cyclists to access downtown Toronto and the waterfront.

Bike Sharing is coming to you!BIXI Toronto is now Bike Share Toronto. The Citys popular bike sharing program has been saved and is now controlled by the Toronto Parking Authority (TPA). The TPA has chosen Alta Bicycle Share, which runs systems in New York, Chicago, and other cities, to manage and operate the program.

I have been working to expanding bike sharing in our ward since I took office. We now have a few stations along Queen Street West with ap-proved new stations for the King West neigh-bourhood and along Bloor Street West.

Now that our bike sharing program is on se-cure footing, we will be looking into adding more stations throughout Ward 19.

You can find out more at bikesharetoronto.com.

Harbord-Hoskin Improvements:

After extensive review and consultation, the Harbord-Hoskin bike corridor is being im-proved. Council approved filling the existing gap in the bike lane between Spadina and Bathurst, using parked cars on Hoskin (where the street width allows) to protect the bike lane, and changing the whole corridor to wid-er, buffered lanes. Thinking of the future of this busy bike route, I moved a motion direct-ing that the installation of fully separated bi-cycle lanes be included during the next sched-uled reconstruction of Harbord Street.

Winter Cycling:

Cycling is not only an option in the warmer months. There are thousands of winter cy-clists in Toronto and I am among them. How-ever, when it comes to snow clearing bike

new bike sharing station at Queen and niagara.

lanes have not seemed to be a priority for the City. Thats why I passed a motion at Coun-cil requiring Transportation Services create a network of snow routes for Torontos bikeway that receive priority clearing, similar to the consideration that exists for the automobile.

More Bike Parking:

In 2013, I added 30% more bike parking along Queen Street West through a bicycle parking study. The bike parking included bike stands, multi-bike racks, on-street corrals, and bike shelters. The study is testing different de-signs through public feedback and determin-ing how to make optimal use of very limited public space available for bike parking. The lessons learned on Queen West will inform bike parking expansions throughout the City.

Proposed extensions for the West toronto railpath Bike Parking on Queen Street (Photo by Jesse Demb)

CounCillor Mike layton 7

this year toronto is host to the first WorldPride celebration ever held in north america, and the 4th such festival in the world. WorldPride brings people together from around the world to honour our past, celebrate the present, and inspire a better future for lGBtQ communities everywhere.

one of the many public meetings to develop a vision for Bathurst Street from Dupont Street to Queen Street West.

Bathurst Street StudyI have initiated a study to develop a built form and land use vision for Bathurst Street between Queen and Dupont. Bathurst Street plays a unique role as a boundary between the area our Official Plan identifies as Down-town and Central Waterfront and the rest of the city. The purpose of this study is to develop a planning and urban design frame-work that addresses land use, built form, heritage, and the public realm. This means planning for more green space and trees on Bathurst, bike parking, and benches. It also will help the City protect heritage buildings, as well as promote and expand the existing small scale retail along Bathurst Street.

i was very pleased to participate in a bike giveaway contest with five Canadian olympians. young people from our community wrote stories and drew pictures telling me how much they love cycling and why they feel it is important to our city.

In the meantime, in order to preserve the ex-isting scale and character of the street until the Bathurst Study is complete, we have put in place an Interim Control By-law that will prohibit new retail and service uses as well as additions to existing retail and service uses for the lands on and flanking Bathurst Street, between Dupont Street and Queen Street West. The City held many public meetings throughout last year and in 2014. This Study is on schedule to be finalized at the August City Council meeting. Contact my office to find out more about this important planning study.

8 CounCillor Mike layton

In an effort to resolve this issue I submitted a letter co-signed by 32 of my Council col-leagues, to the Attorney General recommend-ing:

1) As an immediate step, continue to enforce existing conditions on AGCO licences.

2) To avoid delays in new licence applications, continue to accept the addition of conditions agreed upon by applicants, municipalities, and communities.

3) In partnership with the City of Toronto, direct the AGCO to work with Torontos Li-censing and Standards department on how to address issues relating to liquor licensing in-cluding, if necessary, proposals for changes to the Liquor Licensing Act to address the needs of municipalities.

Protecting Neighbours from Nuisance Bars

Get InvolvedMy office is always available to help. i regularly post updates on my website mikelayton.to, but i encourage you to get involved in a local residents group as well. i work very closely with many of the community and business associations listed here.

the annual trinity Bellwoods Community yard sale.

Community Associations:

Christie Pits Residents Association & Friends of Christie Pits Park www.christiepits.ca

Palmerston Area Residents Association www.palmerstonara.org

Trinity Bellwoods Community Association www.trinitybellwoods.org

Liberty Village Residents Association www.facebook.com/groups/134014576700915/

Ossington Community Association www.ossingtoncommunity.wordpress.com

Fort York Neighbourhood Association www.fortyork.ca

Friends of Roxton Road Parks www.roxtonroadparks.com

Friends of Trinity Bellwoods Park www.trinitybellwoods.ca

Business Improvement Associations:

Bloorcourt Village Bia www.bloorcourt.com

College Promenade Bia www.collegepromenade.com/college-promenade-bia

Dovercourt Village Bia www.dovercourtbia.com

korea town Bia www.koreatown.com

liberty Village Bia www.lvbia.com

it has been my privilege to support CaVe (Communities advancing Valued environments) in their Streetartoronto project.

this project has beautified and personalized the public faades of the laneway facing trinity Bellwoods Park. its a wonderful addition that encourages community pride and cohesion.

Please contact my office with any questions, comments or issues.

100 Queen Street West Suite C47 toronto, on M5H 2n2 (416) 392-4009

councillor_layton@toronto.ca www.mikelayton.to

little italy Bia www.littleitalyintoronto.ca

little Portugal Bia www.littleportugal.ca

mirvish Village Bia www.mirvishvillagebia.com

trinity Bellwoods Bia www.dowest.ca

West Queen West Bia www.westqueenwest.ca

Council recently approved a new Bia for ossington avenue. Watch my web-site for details on this exciting devel-opment!

Earlier this year, without warning the Alco-hol and Gaming Commmission of Ontario (AGCO) informed the City that it would no longer enforce some of the conditions placed on liquor licences. In response to this, City Council passed motions challenging the AGCO on this position, and directed City staff take steps to build a stronger licensing and enforcement process to protect neigh-bourhoods from restaurants, bars, and night-clubs that do not respect City by-laws and the conditions on their AGCO licences.

While Toronto is home to a vibrant culinary and entertainment industry, some establish-ments routinely break conditions on their li-quor licences and municipal by-laws. This can have a negative impact quality of life of local residents and is unfair for other businesses who respect the rules.