The Kew Beach Neighbourhood Association (KBNA) wants to know what the community's priorities and position is on a proposed condominium development at 67-76 Kippendavie Ave.
To do so, the recently formed group is hosting a meeting Monday, Sept. 27, 7 to 9 p.m. at Beach United Church, 140 Wineva Ave. All are welcome to attend.Ward 32 Councillor Sandra Bussin, who spoke out against the development as it was originally presented - a four-storey, 73-unit condominium with 67 underground parking spots as well as private and common rooftop amenity space on the 1.66-acre site - is expected to be on hand to listen to residents' thoughts on the recently modified development.Several weeks ago, the project's developer Darlon Investment (Worsley Beach Ltd.) sat down with a small group of KBNA members in an effort to reach common ground on the project.Monday night's meeting is designed to share information about that discussion with community members as well as garner their feedback.For several months now, a group of area residents - who went on to form the KBNA - have expressed concerns about the proposal's size, density and height, lack of green space and inconvenient garbage pickup, and rear public lane for entry to the building. The association has gone out of its way to let neighbours know their concerns with what they feel is an oversized and out-of-character condominium development proposal. Last spring, Darlon Investment (Worsley Beach Ltd.) re-submitted its plans to the city. They include more open green space, a driveway entrance to the underground parking off Kippendavie Avenue, an improved and expanded garbage loading area, a minimum 7.5-metre setback for side yards, lowering the project's overall density, larger units, parking spaces that exceed the zoning requirement, reduced rooftop recreation space, as well as a review from the city's forestry department of the project's tree protection plan.Nonetheless, the KBNA as well as their Beaches-East York representative still have several reservations about the project, notably its excessive size and density, height, construction/liability/property damage to surrounding properties, and the loss of mature trees along lot lines, among other things.The city's planning department, however, finds no major problems with the proposal.On Tuesday, Aug. 17, Toronto community council at its final session before October's municipal election decided to postpone a meeting on the rezoning needed for the development until December. In the meantime, Bussin succeeded in passing a motion to have the applicant submit its stormwater management plan for a peer review.Visit www.kbna.org for more information. -Joanna Lavoie