Junction Triangle

Lisa posted this meeting notice on the Sterling Studio Lofts discussion forum:

Hi!
I live in the town homes on Merchant Lane and just received something in my mailbox last night. It was a flyer that read as follows:

"Proposal to demolish the sterling lofts and build two, twenty story structures on the site!
If you wish to oppose these plans please attend the meeting at:
The Ukrainian Cultural Centre
1604 Bloor Street West
Date: February 17th, 2010
Time: 7:00pm"

Seems like awfully short notice for this meeting. Anyone else get this flyer? Going to the meeting?

You can discuss this meeting and development proposal on the Sterling Studio Lofts discussion forum.

UPDATE (12:30pm):

I asked Councillor Giambrone's office about this meeting, and was sent the original meeting notice that was distributed to the residents of 221-227 Sterling Rd. Staff also explained some of the background behind this meeting. Read on below.

Chris Gallop, constituency assistant to Adam Giambrone writes:

The meeting notice is attached, it explains things a little more clearly.

This is the continuation of the sad situation at this property for the last two years. While no development application has yet been submitted, the owners applied for a demolition permit some time ago (they are allowed to apply to demolish separately from a development application), this permit was denied by the City, and they have appealed to Divisional Court. Concurrently, we have received reports of harassment of the existing tenants, illegal lock-outs, attempts to evict, and so on. The tenants have been working with Parkdale Legal to have their concerns heard at the Landlord Tenant Board.

The City's position is that these are residential tenancies that are entitled to protection, such as a replacement rental unit agreement or provisions for moving costs and so on were the owner to proceed with a new building at the site. At this point our understanding is however, that the owners have succeeding in pressuring some tenants to sign commercial leases, thereby negating their residential protections. The purpose of the meeting is to allow City Planning to get a better understanding of the current situation at the building, e.g. how many tenants are left with residential leases, so as to help them prepare for the Court case as well as any other upcoming Planning processes.