Turning up the political heat has paid off for Leaside residents determined to spare their neighbourhood from development.
Over the last several weeks, they have mounted a visible public campaign to stop the sale of the Donwood Centre, a drug and alcohol rehab centre on Brentcliffe Road north of Eglinton Avenue.
They feared a developer would buy the 9.5-acre site from Donwood's owner, the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), and turn the property into high-density housing in an area already coping with over-burdened schools and roads.
The North Leaside Residents' Association focused its campaign on Education Minister Kathleen Wynne and Progressive Conservative John Tory, who are battling to win the riding of Don Valley West in the Oct. 10 provincial election.
Now the residents' campaign has paid off.
CAMH has announced it will not be putting a for sale sign on the property any time soon.
The site will not be sold for about five years although CAMH is looking to lease part of the property, according to president Paul Garfinkel.
Donwood must eventually be sold as part of CAMH's plan to create a new hub of addiction and mental health services on Queen Street, he added.
Residents' association president Chris Markham said neighbours are pleased by the decision, but are determined to maintain the lands for healthcare purposes in the long term.
"It remains the association's position that any future use of this land, including healthcare, must take into account the impact the proposed use will have on the community, especially with respect to increase traffic and local infrastructure," he added.
"We hope to be able to work with CAMH and the provincial government to ensure that the interest of the community are taken into account when discussing options for the Donwood site."
The association thanked Wynne for her involvement and Markham was to meet with Tory yesterday to discuss his influence on the decision.
Joanne Campbell, the CAMH's vice-president of communications and community relations, dismissed suggestions political pressure played a role in the board of directors' decision last week not to put Donwood up for sale.
"We haven't actually changed course," she said, adding the decision has been contemplated for several months.
"Essentially, the intention had always been to sell it. The question we started asking ourselves six to eight months ago was 'Should we temporarily delay selling it to accommodate staffing that has to be relocated'?"
Last month, Campbell said CAMH sympathized with residents' concerns about the future of the property, but said the organization was determined to sell the site to help finance the Queen Street project.
At the same time, she didn't know when the for sale sign would go up.
"We will put the site on the market and determine who we sell it to based on the proposals that come in," she said at the time.
Wynne praised the CAMH decision not to sell the property for about five years.
"What great news for North Leaside ratepayers. I've worked hard to bring North Leaside residents' concerns to CAMH," she said in a statement. "Keeping the Donwood site open five more years allows us the time to find a long-term resolution to this issue, at no additional cost to the taxpayer."
Wynne said she will strive to keep Donwood as public lands.
Tory could not be reached for comment by The Mirror's press time, but has said he supports the residents.
"I am fully in agreement with the community's position that the Donwoods property is a valuable community and healthcare asset, which should not be turned into a high-density residential development, which would in and of itself add further strain on already stretched community resources," he said last month, adding the Liberals have "dithered" on the issue.