With incumbent Michael Walker opting not to run for re-election, the race for his council seat in Ward 22 (St. Paul’s) has attracted four candidates, two of whom have considerable experience in politics.

Roughly bounded by Spadina Road to the west, Bayview Avenue to the east, Eglinton Avenue to the north and Dupont Street and Moore Avenue to the south, St. Paul’s has been represented at city hall by Walker since 1982.The midtown Toronto ward is one of the smallest in the City of Toronto, but it is also a densely populated pocket, with a large number of highrise residential buildings, particularly in the Yonge Street and Eglinton Avenue area. According to the most recent census data, nearly two-thirds of residences in the ward were rented.

Walker’s departure from municipal politics opens the door to council for either his former assistant Chris Sellors, Toronto District School Board Trustee Josh Matlow, Ryerson University student William Molls or latecomer to the race Elizabeth Cook.

Development and transit are two of the key issues many local residents feel should be front and centre among their new councillor’s platform. Many residents in the area feel intensification has been too extreme – the Minto development near Yonge and Eglinton drew the ire of many – with too few checks and balances for developers and not enough outlets through which residents can make their voices heard.

George Milbrandt, co-chair of the Federation of North Toronto Residents Associations (FONTRA) said his organization is particularly concerned with developers running roughshod over the city’s official plan and zoning bylaws.

“There’s one type of candidate who supports the official plan and another type that always looks to amend the official plan when a developer comes along,” he said. “The (best) candidate would have to address development issues in a way that leads residents to believe the official documents would be enforced.”

Milbrandt added he would like a councillor who supports the residents, even if that means fighting an application at the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB). He said many councillors dance around issues, saying one thing to placate residents and then siding with developers when a matter goes to council.

“We want a councillor who is very principled and in effect supports the residents when it comes to the committee of adjustments, or the OMB or the official plan,” he said.

Ben Daube of the Sherwood Park Residents Association noted the Yonge-Eglinton Centre was the most intensely developed of the city’s five urban growth centres, adding the neighbourhood has been pummeled by new development in recent years.

“Developers are applying for huge buildings right across the road from stable, residential low-rise areas and they’re getting it,” he said. “Because the planning department has been reduced to being a mere approvals department, there’s virtually no objection to development.”

He said he wants his councillor – and the new mayor of Toronto – to have a more over-arching vision for the city.

“There’s no plan for Toronto,” he said. “I’ve just been to Chicago and they’ve got a 2020 plan. They’ve got a 2040 plan.”

Sellors said he stands by his record in Walker’s office when it comes to development issues, noting he has chaired public meetings regarding the formation of the official plan and helped lead the charge in shaping the document to protect residents.

“Councillor Walker’s office did more work on (the official plan) and got more changes included than any other ward,” he said. “I’ve done a lot of work myself on the official plan, most recently with urban growth boundaries in the area of Yonge and Eglinton.”

Sellors added he would work to have Toronto removed from under the umbrella of the OMB, noting the city spends too much money on planning to have those plans disregarded by a third party.

“I don’t think we need to be second-guessed by a provincial body,” he said.

Matlow said he envisions a St. Paul’s that follows a Parisian model, with mid-rise buildings standing six to eight storeys along major roads. That, he said, would strike a balance between the neighbourhood’s overall character and a need to build up ridership for local transit.

He added he would work as a consensus builder, bringing residents and developers together to hash out compromises that allow developments to work for all.

“The way the planning and development process works today, residents feel (an application is) going through before they’ve even had a chance to discuss it, and quite often they’re right,” he said. “Developers should be told right off the bat, if you want support, you’re going to have to work with the people who will be most affected before things even get going.”

He said he will focus on compromise from both sides, noting simply shooting down a development application can be as harmful as allowing it.

“It’s certainly populist to just say no, but usually you end up losing the fight if you say no from Step 1,” he said.

Matlow added he wants to work on design elements of buildings to make them fit neighbourhoods better.

Molls said he feels residents are often shut out of the planning process, due in part to legalese and the inaccessibility of many development plans to the public until the process in well underway.

He said he would streamline the process on both the City of Toronto’s website and his own to make it easier for residents to make their voices heard.

“People need to be able to speak rather than just showing up on a Tuesday night at seven o’clock for a consultation meeting and being told, ‘This is what we’re going to do,’” he said.

He said his idea of making the city’s website easier to navigate so residents could see what is going on in their ward and get their opinion across easily should gain traction among the rest of council.

While development is the biggest issue, some, such as local resident Peter Grant, want to see transit for the area on the front burner.

“I don’t think there’s any question we need better transit around here,” he said. “It’s jammed during rush hour and even during off hours, and we need something that will get people where they’re going faster.”

Sellors said he favours a subway along Eglinton rather than the light rail plan that has some portions travelling underground. He said he does not want another situation similar to the St. Clair right-of-way in his ward.

“We’re taking on the brunt of development here and we need to support that with the right infrastructure,” he said. “Subways last 50 years, as opposed to a streetcar or LRT, which lasts 25 years.”

Matlow said he wants to focus on helping Metrolinx realize its Transit City goal, noting the Eglinton RT line would be underground throughout St. Paul’s.

“There’s some fear that it might be like the St. Clair right-of-way, but it’s not,” he said.

He added moving forward with the long-anticipated Metrolinx plan would offer some overdue movement on the transit front in midtown Toronto.

“The residents in my ward are consistently saying they do not want more bickering over transit as we’ve seen for the past 30 or 40 years; they want it done,” he said.

Molls said a subway line would cost the TTC too much money, particularly given that the transit system is already strapped for cash. He supports the Transit City project calling for light rapid transit from Scarborough to Pearson International Airport.

“There isn’t the ridership for a subway and there’s isn’t going to be the ridership in this area for many years,” he said. “Metrolinx said ‘We’re giving you this money for the Transit City plan,’ but some candidates seem to think they’re just giving the city a blank cheque.”

Cook’s contact details were not available as of press time Tuesday.

- Justin Skinner

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