COUNCILLOR GRIMES' STAFFER APPEARS TO NIX LOCAL RESIDENTS' REQUEST FOR MINOR PARK AMENITIES AT THE FOURTH STREET LAKE WINDOW

Emailed response from Councillor Grimes' office in response to residents' recent request for repairs to the guard rail, a garbage receptacle plus regular pickup and a park bench at the Fourth Street Lake Window.

From: Councillor Grimes <Councillor_Grimes@toronto.ca>

Date: October 14, 2015 4:09:52 PM EDT

Subject: RE: Garbage/Recyling Bin, Guardrail, and Park bench follow up issue #2149, 2045

Good Afternoon:

Sorry for my delay in getting back to you. I was awaiting a response from City staff to determine the ownership of the greenspace at the bottom of Fourth Street.

I have had a response back from a Title and Status Surveyor with Land & Property Surveys with the Engineering and Construction Services, in regards to the properties at 51 Lake Shore Drive and 53 Lake Shore Drive. I have been advised the following information:

51 Lake Shore Drive is on the east side of Fourth St and there have been other questions about the southerly limit of this land.

To reiterate, there is no City owned land along the south side of 51 Lake Shore Drive or along the waterfront on either side of the extension of Fourth St.  It is all Provincial and private property.

The extension of Fourth Street to the water is the current area in question.

This is all part of Fourth Street and is under Transportation Services' jurisdiction.

According to City mapping it appears that 53 Lake Shore Drive has been maintaining the portion of Fourth Street south of the guard rail since amalgamation and maybe before that. 

According to Google Street view (attached) it looks like the natural extension of the yard is at 53 Lake Shore Drive.

I have been told that the property owner of 53 Lake Shore Drive is to reasonable assume the greenspace adjacent to her property should be considered to be a part of her boulevard and is her responsibility to maintain the greenspace of the untraveled portion of Fourth Street south of the guardrail, (under Municipal Code, Use of Streets and Sidewalks 743-36, and 743-37) although I am waiting to get proper clarification of this conclusion. I have attached to this email the information on these Municipal Codes for you to read if you wish.

If this greenspace is indeed considered to be a part of 53 Lake Shore Drives boulevard, then it cannot be considered to be a public parkette so a garbage/recycling bin, and bench cannot be placed at this location. I'm sorry I could not help you further with this matter.

I hope this information has been helpful to you.

Best Regards,

Michelle Telfeyan

Constituency  Assistant

To Councillor Mark Grimes

Ward 6, Etobicoke Lakeshore

Phone: (416) 397-9272

Email: mtelfey2@toronto.ca

Toronto City Hall

100 Queen Street West, Suite C48

Toronto, ON  M5H2N2

Tel: (416) 397-9273   Fax:  (416) 397-9279

www.markgrimes.ca

LATEST CITY MAP SHOWING PRINCE OF WALES PARK EXTENDING WELL OVER TO INCLUDE FUTURE FOURTH STREET LAKE WINDOW

FOURTH STREET "WINDOW" NOW MORE OPEN AND BEING WELL-USED

Earlier this year, Fourth Street residents pruned and removed more obstructing shrubbery from the lake window on their street.  This work will continue.

The mass of tall, invasive Japanese Knotweed was also cut down on the province's lakeside portion of the 51 Lake Shore Drive property.

All of this work has really opened up the view and is encouraging even more passers-by to linger at what will, hopefully, become Fourth Street Park in the future.

A park bench has now appeared in the "park" (donated by a resident?) and is being well-used as the photograph clearly shows.

CANADA DAY DOWN AT THE FOURTH STREET "LAKE WINDOW"

Some residents of Fourth Street enjoying the cool lake breezes on a hot Canada Day down at the newly liberated "lake window" at the bottom of their street.  

Local residents have been clearing some of the dense shrubbery that encroached on this public land and that, for decades, had prevented people from approaching the water and enjoying this wonderful spot. (For comparison, look at the picture on this blog's header.) There is more clearing and opening up planned for the future as the community at large engages more in the stewardship of this precious piece of our waterfront.

There is a petition in circulation that requests the City of Toronto to formally create a waterfront parkette at this location.  If you wish to sign the petition, please contact us at fourthstreetlakewindow@gmail.com

We have a long way to go yet to get the same amenity that other road ends in South Etobicoke already have.

Petition .......

• We, the undersigned, petition the City of Toronto to create a waterfront parkette at the southern end of Fourth Street on the publicly owned, unassumed road allowance as envisioned in the former Borough of Etobicoke’s “Windows on the Lake” initiative.
• We demand the same waterfront feature that the residents of Lake Crescent and Miles Road in Mimico enjoy at their road end “lake windows”.
• As reflected in the City of Toronto’s “Official Plan”, public visual and physical access to the lake at every opportunity is our “lakeshore” community’s heritage as well as the right of Waterfront Trail users and other City of Toronto residents.

• 

  1994 Etobicoke "Windows on the Lake" parkette plan for Fourth Street

 

CITY COUNCIL ADOPTS HERITAGE REVISIONS - 12 LAKE VIEWS NOW HAVE HERITAGE DESIGNATIONS!

On April 3^rd. City Council adopted the Heritage Policy revisions to the Official Plan.  They included the heritage designation of some local views of Lake Ontario. (There were some minor amendments but they are not related)

This now becomes official City policy and the views on the list below will be placed on the Heritage Register in the Official Plan.

Views of Lake Ontario (and where those views originate) are as follows …….

·         Norris Cres from Lake Shore Blvd W,

·         Miles Rd from Lake Shore Blvd W,

·         Lake Cres from Islandview Blvd,

·         Royal York Rd from Sussex Dr,

·         Sand Beach Rd from Lake Shore Blvd W,

·         Second St from just north of Morrison St,

·         Third St from just south of Morrison St,

·         Fourth St from just north of Lake Shore Dr,

·         Fifth St from Emerald Cres,

·         Sixth St from Emerald Cres,
   Eleventh St from Emerald Cres,

·         Twelfth St from Lake Shore Dr

Click below for link to City Council Agenda Item and background info

http://app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewAgendaItemHistory.do?item=2013.PG22.3