Ward 25 (Don Valley West) Issue Profile

There’s at least one issue in Ward 25 (Don Valley West) garners a consensus among all the candidates in the upcoming municipal election, along with just about everyone else in the riding.

And that’s replacing the Don Mills Civitan arena which is due to close in 2020.

In some cases, it’s just about the only issue you’ll find candidates and residents agreeing on.
“I’ve been a Don Mills resident for 40 years,” said Glen McQueenie a broker with Keller Williams Referred Realty on Duncan Mill Road.

“I actually used to live right next to the arena and actually remember the times when there was a curling rink behind there and a lot more activities in the area. So I really am a huge advocate, and I think it’s time now that everyone kind of honours their commitments and steps up and really gets a new complex ready.”

The arena must close in 2020 as the land on which it sits is part of a complex development agreement between the city and developer Cadillac Fairview.

The first phase of that development came on stream last year with the opening of The Shops at Don Mills. The second phase – which will pave the way primarily for the residential component – received final approvals from council and the Ontario Municipal Board this past summer, which means the clock is ticking on the arena.

“I think with the whole refocus and renewal of Don Mills through the Shops at Don Mills, that if we can get an arena there I just think it would make all the difference in the world. There’s a lot of young families moving back in now so I’m a huge advocate,” said McQueenie.

Two community activists who have disagreed so much in the past on the massive Cadillac Fairview development as a whole — even agree on this issue.

Simone Gabbay, founder of Don Mills Friends, a group which has long fought the development, said she’s not personally interested in hockey but said the arena offers a very important program. “There’s a strong demand for it. It’s a very busy and active arena, and now we’re losing that. We want to make sure we get a substitution. There hasn’t been any space identified in the neighbourhood where this can happen.”

She has one suggestion — a nearby post office located at 169 The Donway West that is up for sale. “The community is losing the post office. At least if we can put the arena there than at least we would keep that service,” said Gabbay.

Terry West, president of Don Mills Residents Inc (DMRI), a group which is much more open to Cadillac Fairview’s redevelopment of the area, said the arena is “a strong issue.”

“The community is looking forward to working with the new councillor to get an early decision on the relocation of the arena.”

Ward 25 incumbent councillor Cliff Jenkins and his three challengers — Jaye Robinson, Joanne Dickins and Tanya Hostler — are all in agreement.

Jenkins rued an initial lost vote at city council (17-16) on the development that had an arena on the table. The next time it came back to council, it passed – but without the arena.

“The arena disappeared from the deal and that in my mind was a most unfortunate loss in the deal,” said Jenkins.

But West, who spoke well of Jenkins work with the group, had a slightly different take. He said the inclusion of the arena in the redevelopment was always dicey because of lack of space.

Even with a stacked two-plex, as opposed to a ground-level twin-pad, he said, “we looked at it very, very hard, but you just would push too much in there.”

Instead, what was negotiated was a $4.5 million contribution from developer Cadillac Fairview towards a new arena on land the city would presumably supply.

Meanwhile, getting a little exasperated are Don Mills Civitan club members. That’s because they built the arena for the city in 1959 (on land that E.P. Taylor donated) and since then have continued to run youth hockey leagues out of the arena.

And the clock is ticking on their programs which they would like to continue in the Don Mills area — or as close to it as possible. As they did in 1959, they’re even willing to help fundraise for a new arena to service Don Mills.

“We will undertake an aggressive fundraising program. We’ve already got corporate people lined up,” said David Croutch, president of the Civitan’s hockey program (and a past president of the club).
In fact, they came up with one intriguing alternative just outside the ward, for a multi-pad at the corner of Hwy. 401 and Don Mills, which fell through basically because of land-use issues, with opposition from the city’s forestry department, ratepayers’ groups, environmental organizations and city planning staff.

Meanwhile, city council did, at its last and final meeting of the term, approve an $88-million four-pad proposal down on the waterfront “This stupid proposal at city council — building a stacked four pad arena at $88 million — is just nuts,” said West.

“For 88 million (dollars) you could get eight hockey rinks (i.e, four twin pads) spread around in four parts of the city instead of four rinks in one part of the city that if you look at the local population they need one rink.”

Jenkins agreed: “I quite frankly think the new council has got to have a re-look at this waterfront deal — the $88-million deal down there. I personally think it makes no sense at all and I’m hoping there will be enough councillors elected that will agree with that and maybe we could take some of that money and put it into a facility where the people are that would use it — Don Mills and this part of the city. They think that it (the $88-million stacked fourplex) is going to be an inconic thing that’s going to attract tourists. If I know hockey moms and hockey dads, what they want are inexpensive hotels and lots of parking and that won’t happen down there.”

While there’s widespread support for an arena to service Don Mills, where opinions start to vastly differ is the entire development which Cadillac Fairview describes as “one of the largest redevelopment projects in Canada.”

Phase one which opened last year is billed as Ontario’s first Urban Village, including a central Town Square and “best-in-class shops, restaurants, offices and residences.”

Phase two includes the construction of six building complexes, plus one conversion project, for a total of over 1,300 residential units.

Here, the Don Mills Friends and Don Mills Residents groups have been — and still are — diametrically opposed.

Nowhere is this more evident than on one of development’s key components — a $17-million dollar community centre to be paid for and operated for half a century by Cadillac Fairview.

“That was one of the biggest deals the city has ever been offered … And we’re getting a real nice swimming pool. There’s very little swimming if you want to swim in Don Mills,” said West, with Don Mills Residents.

But Gabbay, with Don Mills Friends, said “we paid a very high, high price for this community centre … essentially we’ve lost everything for this one community centre 10 years down the road. The community has essentially been destroyed.”

The ward’s candidates views on the isssue range the spectrum:

* Jenkins: “The residents are basically pleased with the development in terms of the retail development. They like what they see there. It’s high class. It’s a first class development. I think they’re waiting to see what happens with the residential, and a bit of anticipation I think is what’s out there.”
* Robinson: “Cadillac Fairview have been doing a lot of free programing in this public square … so that’s been great. However, there’s a real urgent need for an indoor space, and in talking to a lot of the residents in Don Mills there’s definitely something missing in the community and has been since they lost the former facility … We really need to address an indoor space, particularly for seniors and that’s what I’m hearing at the door, over and over again.”

* Hostler: “The Shops at Don Mills, it’s got some benefits to it. It turned out better than I expected. That said, I really don’t understand why they don’t have any way to walk around in the winter, why it’s all just open sidewalk. I think that’s hard for people. The design of that could have been a bit different to make it a bit easier in the wintertime.”

* Dickens: “We fought against the Don Mills to be taken over. It needed improvement definitely. It had become like a ghost town … A glorified parking lot with stores, that’s what it’s become.”

The last time around, Ward 25, which is very roughly bounded by Don Mills/Yonge Street and Eglinton/Hwy. 401, was easily retained by the incumbent Jenkins.

He received 7,954 votes, beating his nearest competitor, Tony Dickins, by more than 5,160 votes, taking 58 per cent of the total.

This contrasted with the previous election which he won by 80 votes, but only after the city had originally posted the winner as Robinson — who is back running again this time (she didn’t run in 2006).

“It was a character building experience, it really was,” she said. “And I think the people who voted for me and supported me were really disappointed because they went to bed thinking I’d won and woke up very confused.”

“I know the area, I’m kind of a community activist, I do have a dog, when we go out, we talk to people.”
For a complete survey of Ward 25 and other city ridings —including info on the riding and candidates (including their websites) — visit our special election website at www.insidetorontovotes.ca

- Norm Nelson

Posted in Downtown