Scarborough residents frustrated with pair of Habitat for Humanity development proposals

Another, Ron Moeser, mentioned his own worries about a Habitat proposal in West Hill after a ratepayer group in his ward told him and the charity they want Habitat to "look elsewhere" in future.

Although residents and their representatives have welcomed other Habitat projects into Scarborough neighbourhoods, there was anger in a section of Cliffside when residents heard vacant land at the corner of Highview Avenue had been sold to Habitat years before.

Hundreds signed petitions against the proposal for eight semi-detached and one detached house on the land, which neighbours had used as a green space for 50 years.

They weren’t convinced after Habitat held community consultations last April and November.

At Scarborough Community Council in May, councillors voted to have city staff look at "all possible options" for a property - whose sale city council approved in 2009 - including a land exchange.

Habitat for Humanity Greater Toronto Area CEO Ene Underwood said she was "deeply disappointed and troubled" by the decision Scarborough councillors made. Six years after the city asked Habitat to buy the land, she said, "we find ourselves owning a property was can neither build on nor sell."

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Habitat GTA has worked with councillors and the community in good faith, making changes to satisfy residents’ concerns on parking, landscaping and replacement of bylaw-protected trees, said Underwood, who assumed her post after the sale went through.

The charity appealed to the OMB because the land exchange suggestion came with no guarantees or time limit, Underwood said, and families interested in working for home ownership are waiting for their chance in unsafe or crowded conditions.

The Birchmount homes will bring hardworking, tax-paying families to the community, and raise the value of nearby houses, she added.

City staff identified and reviewed five Scarborough properties for a possible exchange, but found none were appropriate.

Sue Mason, a resident who helped lead opposition to the proposal, said the points made by residents against it "continue to be relevant."

The development won’t fit into the community, she said, calling the reaction to the proposal "a valuable learning lesson" for the city on how its should deal with surplus land.

Crawford said he tried for a land swap "to see if we could fix this," and wishes the community wasn’t in this position. "We’re not against Habitat," he said, but made a motion that the city hire an outside planner to represent it at the OMB, opposing the proposal.

Only Moeser and Michelle Berardinetti supported him.

Scarborough Centre Councillor Glenn De Baeremaeker said hiring a planner would be giving residents false hopes. A "horrible mistake" was made in not making the lot into a park, De Baeremaeker said, but by going to the OMB and arguing against its own planners’ recommendations the city would lose its case, and "look like fools."

"We lost it, and it’s too late."

Moeser’s comments were related to a preliminary report on another Habitat plan, this one for a five-story, 50-unit, future condominium on Morningside Avenue, one that would be built across Danzig Street from the Toronto Community Housing townhouses which were the scene of a 2012 mass shooting.

The Scarborough East councillor released a letter from the Coronation Community Association, signed by its president, Ron Wootten, which argued that Habitat had already completed four projects within a square mile.

"Residents have had their fill of this type of project and will not condone another project of this type," the letter said, adding the group considers the townhouses on Danzig "a risk area" and the apartment property on Morningside from which land would be severed for the project "a sore spot in the community," with numerous police and fire calls in recent years.

"It is our contention that the proposed site for this project would only aggravate existing problems."

Moeser said after meeting both Wooten and Habitat representatives he shares the ratepayers’ concern, adding the community "likes what Habitat does but wants it to look at other wards."

Habitat, he added, "is committed" to having a dialogue with residents about the proposal. Residents living from Lawrence Avenue to the railway tracks due south, and from Homestead Road to both sides of Morningside will be notified about a community consultation meeting following the municipal election.

A final report on the proposal for the building isn’t expected until next year.