Toronto Lower Don Lands Redevelopment | ?m | ?s | Waterfront Toronto

[jje1000]

Controversial Etobicoke concrete plant may be moving to the east end
ML Ready Mix on Judson Street has been the subject of many complaints from neighbourhood residents

A long-standing concrete facility that has created years of frustration for Mimico residents, could be packing up and moving shop.

On Thursday, Coun. Mark Grimes announced that a potential site for ML Ready Mix had been found in the Eastern Port Lands.

"The proximity to the downtown core, highways and development sites make this a more appropriate site for industrial operators such as ML," according to a press release sent by the councillor.

Grimes attributed the potential move to the efforts of a working group created in 2014 to address community concerns about the factory.

Residents of Judson Street in the Mimico neighbourhood of Toronto have been complaining for years about the noise and dust generated by an industrial concrete mixing facility that sits adjacent to many homes. (CBC)

Community concerns
In 2014, CBC Toronto reported that residents in the community said they had been complaining to the city and province about the excessive noise since 2007.

Neighbours who live in the Judson Street area, near Royal York Road, said that as many as 384 trucks were heading to and from the factory every day, alleging that many of them operated outside of permitted hours.

In an email to CBC Toronto this week, Grimes said a zoning amendment would be required to move the facility. He said that he's working with the deputy city manager and city staff to speed up the "necessary approvals to get the correct zoning in place."

"Timing will depend on what type of approvals are required, but I am working to expedite this, and relocate ML out of our community as soon as possible," he said.

A report on the matter will be considered by city council next week.

'The city had nothing to do with it'
Local resident Dan Irwin, who has been leading the charge in the community to have ML Ready Mix shut down, is happy about the news but said he doesn't think Grimes should take any credit.

"Everyone knows that he did absolutely nothing about [the problem] to help us," said Irwin, who lives up the street from the concrete plant. "The city had nothing to do with it, the province had nothing to do with it."

Irwin has contacted the city demanding answers about the timeframe of the move, among other things.

In October 2016, CBC reported that city planning documents showed Dunpar Homes Ltd. had a conditional offer to buy the plant with hopes to build a condo tower — the offer being conditional on city council rezoning those lands.

Nearby lands rezoned
Last June, city council voted to rezone nearby lands on Judson Street to allow for residential development, despite opposition from city planners and Metrolinx. Dunpar has applied to build townhomes on the site.

Metrolinx — which is currently appealing the rezoning — warned councillors the facility might have to close if new residents complained about noise or vibrations coming from the maintenance yard. Yet city council, at the request of Etobicoke councillors Mark Grimes and Justin Di Ciano, voted to rezone the lands — a move that would benefit the developer.


CBC News has previously reported on councillor Di Ciano's ties to Dunpar.

The city's integrity commissioner is now investigating allegations Di Ciano may have benefited "financially and politically" from the developer. They are claims Di Ciano has denied.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toron...plant-may-be-moving-to-the-east-end-1.4183554

 

[DSC]

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toron...plant-may-be-moving-to-the-east-end-1.4183554

The full Report is at http://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2017/cc/bgrd/backgroundfile-105523.pdf

 

[Irishmonk]

Break out the champagne, folks, the Portlands are getting another cement plant!

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

Not particularly concerning given the land use where it will be located will stay industrial for awhile. WT indicated it is fine with the move as well (letter in the Staff Report appendix)

AoD

 

[raptor]

Nothing says vibrant community like cement plants

 

[DSC]

Nothing says vibrant community like cement plants

Where do you think the concrete for the new towers that we love comes from? Would you want it to trucked in from some far distant place? Having concrete plants shows that we ARE vibrant and, one day, tyey can be relocated again.

 

[raptor]

Where do you think the concrete for the new towers that we love comes from? Would you want it to trucked in from some far distant place? Having concrete plants shows that we ARE vibrant and, one day, tyey can be relocated again.

Perhaps you are right, but I wouldn't want to live next to one. Maybe it's just me.

 

[steveintoronto]

Perhaps you are right, but I wouldn't want to live next to one. Maybe it's just me.

And you wouldn't want to live next to a sewage works either, right? So that's why they're located there.

This is exactly what cheeses me about this whole sales job. No-one wants to know where and how things are made, where they come from, where they go to. Because Waterfront Toronto has this idyllic dream for everyone to waft through while the soma courses through your synapses.

Some people buy Ferraris for the body. Some pay respect to what's under the hood...But the salesman still makes his cut on the sale. And that's what keeps getting missed. Is this for flood control, or some new plastic community extruded from a hot mould?

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

And you wouldn't want to live next to a sewage works either, right? So that's why they're located there.

This is exactly what cheeses me about this whole sales job. Know one wants to know where and how things are made, where they come from, where they go to. Because Waterfront Toronto has this idyllic dream for everyone to waft through while the soma courses through your synapses.

Some people buy Ferraris for the body. Some pay respect to what's under the hood...But the salesman still makes his cut on the sale. And that's what keeps getting missed. Is this for flood control, or some new plastic community extruded from a hot mould?

What idyllic dream? Anyone who has paid attention to the umpteen report, many posted here has noted that it's going to be a mixed residential/creative industrial/straight up industrial plan for the Portlands at large. This is mainly focused on the northwest quadrant of the area in relations to the river. The proposed location of the plant we're talking about isn't even in the map (or even within 1km at the eastern edge delineated by Don Roadway) posted at the top of this page. RTM people- the red dot is where it will be located - smack in the area that will remain as Port/Industrial:

It's literally at the opposite end, co-located with waste transfer stations, LaFarge, the new streetcar barn, sewage treatment plant.

AoD

 

[steveintoronto]

What idyllic dream? Anyone who has paid attention to the umpteen report, many posted here has noted that it's going to be a mixed residential/creative industrial/straight up industrial plan for the Portlands at large.

I'm sorry to break it to you, but that's NOT what the greater public has been sold on, or you wouldn't be having this discussion right now.

Sure, it's "in the fine print". Show me an artist's rendition of the industrial section. Of course, developers just conveniently don't include that in their depictions...

Edit to Add: Here you go: Second paragraph in:

The funding will flood-proof the southeastern downtown area, making possible the long-sought after dream of transforming the polluted, industrial area into a mixed-use community surrounded by parks and green space.

https://www.thestar.com/news/city_h...n-to-clean-up-and-protect-the-port-lands.html

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

I'm sorry to break it to you, but that's NOT what the greater public has been sold on, or you wouldn't be having this discussion right now.
Sure, it's "in the fine print". Show me an artist's rendition of the industrial section. Of course, developers just conveniently don't include that in their depictions...

I don't think the general public cared much one way or another, much less have a sense of just how large the area known as Port Lands actually is - besides most of the pretty renderings has to do with the Villiers Island/Don Mouth portion of the project anyways.

Let's not pretend otherwise.

AoD

 

[steveintoronto]

I don't think the general public cared much one way or another - besides most of the pretty renderings has to do with the Villiers Island/Don Mouth portion of the project anyways. Let's not pretend otherwise.

AoD

In all fairness, you posted before I added the blurb above. You've got rose-coloured specs on...

The funding will flood-proof the southeastern downtown area, making possible the long-sought after dream of transforming the polluted, industrial area into a mixed-use community surrounded by parks and green space.

https://www.thestar.com/news/city_h...n-to-clean-up-and-protect-the-port-lands.html

Does the Star epitomize middle Toronto values and awareness or not? I'll dig out and post more media nirvanic utterings later.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

In all fairness, you posted before I added the blurb above. You've got rose-coloured specs on...

https://www.thestar.com/news/city_h...n-to-clean-up-and-protect-the-port-lands.html

Does the Star epitomize middle Toronto values and awareness or not? I'll dig out and post more media nirvanic utterings later.

The Star epitomize Grade 8 level of comprehension. The media can utter superlatives all they want, but at the end of the day, this is a significant development. Let's not undersell that fact either - and why would anyone create renderings of the industrial portion with little developmental implication at the other end of the area in question? It's like someone saying that a condo developer in Bathurst and Queen need to tell people what's happening at Jarvis. It's someone being argumentative just for the sake of it.

AoD

 

[steveintoronto]

The Star epitomize Grade 8 level of comprehension. The media can utter superlatives all they want, but at the end of the day, this is a significant development. Let's not undersell that fact either - and why would anyone create renderings of the industrial portion with little developmental implication at the other end of the area in question? It's like someone saying that a condo developer in Bathurst and Queen need to tell people what's happening at Jarvis. It's someone being argumentative just for the sake of it.

AoD

But that's not a $B of taxpayer's money either, is it? You were convinced the $65M tranche was going to suffice for Villiers Island. At least a $B is more reasonable.

Here's what *Waterfront Toronto* is depicting:

Picture yourself in a boat on a river
With tangerine trees and marmalade skies
Somebody calls you, you answer quite slowly
A girl with kaleidoscope eyes
Cellophane flowers of yellow and green
Towering over your head
Look for the girl with the sun in her eyes
And she's gone

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

But that's not a $B of taxpayer's money either, is it? You were convinced the $65M tranche was going to suffice for Villiers Island. At least a $B is more reasonable.

Here's what *Waterfront Toronto* is depicting:
View attachment 113696

Picture yourself in a boat on a river
With tangerine trees and marmalade skies
Somebody calls you, you answer quite slowly
A girl with kaleidoscope eyes
Cellophane flowers of yellow and green
Towering over your head
Look for the girl with the sun in her eyes
And she's gone

Did you even read the documents? The 1.2B is for the river system AND Villiers Island - the 65M is for the Essroc Quay lakefill at the very tip. All the renderings you have posted is for the river/Villiers portion of the project - it has nothing to do with the Turning Basin/industrial area. Sheesh. Like really, if you can't locate this in the due diligence report:

http://www.waterfrontoronto.ca/nbe/...ence_report_october_20_2016_1.pdf?MOD=AJPERES

AoD