Cabbagetown daycare proposal refused at city hall over traffic concerns
Dozens of residents voiced concerns and support over bid to turn heritage building to space for up to 82 children

TheStar.com
April 11, 2018
Jennifer Pagliaro

The list of things residents of Cabbagetown found to be both “outrageous” and “distressing” with a recent proposal in their neighbourhood was long: Intolerable noise during daytime hours, traffic jams, jungle gyms and pastel colours.

The concerns centred on an application to allow a daycare in a mixed-use building on the corner of Sackville St. and Amelia St. for up to 82 children and 16 to 18 staff. The building, a Victorian-era home originally built with ground-floor stores, has long been designated a heritage building. The space, in a residential neighbourhood in the downtown core, has been vacant for years.

A request to vary the city’s zoning rules to allow the daycare use proved to be most controversial, garnering an unprecedented response, the chair of the Toronto and East York panel of the committee of adjustment said Wednesday. After panel members cited concerns about a lack of parking that would “exacerbate” traffic problems in the area, the application was refused.

“This is Cabbagetown. This is a historic, heritage neighbourhood. It’s not like any other neighbourhood in the city,” said Sackville St. resident Ken Mathieson before the panel voted. “If we allow non-detached, non-semi-detached . . . houses to become de facto commercial operations, it’s a slippery slope for this iconic neighbourhood.”

Simply, he said, leaving the lectern: “It’s an outrage.”

He was not alone. The second-floor committee room at city hall was packed with concerned residents Wednesday.

Dozens wrote to the panel to oppose the application. Dozens more penned letters in support, noting the lack of affordable childcare options locally and across the city.

“My wife and I are both self-employed, and work at home,” wrote one, Evan J. Wright, who said he was worried about dozens of children playing in the backyard. “The idea of tolerating this type of noise is frankly ludicrous, and completely incongruent with this, or any other, residential corner in this city.”

The heritage status of area properties would be “eroded” by the daycare use, he said, and the idea of plastic toys, jungle gyms and signage in pastel colours “truly distressing.”

Lea Wiljer, the architect representing the applicants, explained that nothing significant about the building’s footprint or structure would change other than a external staircase added to meet code requirements.

The biggest concerns heard by the committee Wednesday were about available parking and plans for drop-off of children.

The daycare would need to apply to use three spaces on a boulevard next to the property.

Blaine Pearson, a local resident and mother of two, said she supported the need for more daycare across the city but said she was speaking on behalf of her neighbours to say they could not support this daycare — “not of this scale and not at this location.”

A presentation showed traffic congestion on the narrow, one-way streets that are easily blocked, causing some to pull onto the sidewalk.

“Parents and children are at risk, pedestrians are at risk,” she said.

A city staff report about the application said the existing street conditions “has the potential to create an undesirable traffic flow pattern” and requested further information about parking and drop-off plans if the application was approved.

Wiljer told the committee the suggestion that most parents would drive to drop-off their children was not realistic in the walkable, bicycle-friendly neighbourhood accessible to transit.

Panel members said traffic concerns remained unresolved and that the daycare use would “exacerbate a bad situation.”

Councillor Lucy Troisi, who was appointed by council to the Ward 28 (Toronto Centre-Rosedale) seat when longtime councillor Pam McConnell died last summer, opposed the application, raising safety concerns and writing a letter to the panel to say that, “The protection of this delicate neighbourhood is imperative.”

Troisi refused to say if she was considering running in the upcoming election when asked by the Star after the decision. She told council she had no intention to run when she was appointed.

Local residents who supported the daycare proposal said they were disappointed by the decision Wednesday.

“I think that there’s a culture amongst the opponents. . . that I would describe as a sense of entitlement,” said Maggie O’Connor, who has lived in the neighbourhood for 20 years with her partner and two kids.

She said traffic concerns were “scapegoat issues” and called daycare an essential service needed in the neighbourhood.

“I feel really disappointed that the idea of parking and traffic was considered weighty enough to seriously, possibly halt or shut down this project.”

The applicants have the right to appeal the decision of the committee of adjustment to the city’s Local Appeal Body.