Guildwood Village Community Association 2

Executive Committee Minutes ‒ June 14, 2016

Guildwood Village Community Association

Minutes of Executive Committee Meeting

Chartwell Guildwood, June 14, 2016

Present: Dave Arnold, Judy Baribeau, Andy Douglas, Audrea Douglas, James Gilchrist, Andrew Macklin, Tina Villeneuve, Sherry Mikelic, John Mason, Donna Milovanovic, Bruce Villeneuve, Jim Whitney, Kathleen Wolfe, Reg Wolfe , Leslie Hetherington, Bob Taylor-Vaisey

Regrets: Shelley Angus, Andy Douglas, Audrea Douglas, Timo Puhakka, Julia Lakats

1.  President Dave Arnold called the meeting to order at 7:30 p.m.

2.  M/S/ to adopt the amended Agenda. Carried.

3.  Introductions – Guests

3.1.  Heather Urbansky and Rob Burridge of Scarborough Village presented the concerns of their group regarding the development slated for 3655 Kingston Road. Signs placed in the community suggest that a condominium is to be built on the site. Conversations that they have had with the developer suggest that the building could be up to 11 storeys tall, accommodating 110 units. Issues noted included the rezoning required to build higher than 4 storeys, the density of the development on a small lot (0.7 acres), potential traffic issues and the obstruction of the view of neighbouring condo dwellers. Since the development would impact the Guildwood area, Heather and Rob requested that the GVCA support their efforts to keep the building to a maximum of 4 storeys, which would not violate the principles of the neighbourhood.

The Executive Committee discussed the issue briefly and concluded that the issue had already been raised with councillors Gary Crawford and Paul Ainslie, who were both looking into the situation. With no site plan in place, our members agreed to place a note on the GVCA website advising Guildwood residents of the concerns of our neighbours and providing a link to their online petition.

3.2.  Antonette DiNovo provided an update on issues being handled in Paul Ainslie’s office. Of note

-  the need for repairs to pathways from Toynbee and Livingston to Guildwood Village Park, which will not go ahead until the costs have been assessed.

-  the logic of repaving being completed in the area, firstly north of the CNR tracks, on Galloway Rd, with the impending work by Metrolinx. Antonette reported that the road was in need of repair and the Metrolinx project did not have a specific timeframe in place, so it was decided that they would repave now. Repaving of Guildwood Parkway, while construction at the Guild Inn is still ongoing, is now under review and the resurfacing project may be delayed.

-  with respect to the Guild Inn site, the RFP for the cultural precinct has been updated, but must still go through approvals. With the construction ongoing, 3 access points have been identified for use by park visitors. These are located west of the Guild Inn gates on Guildwood Parkway, on the southern end of Livingston Rd and east of the Galloway access road. Signage for parking and the ongoing illegal parking at the Inn were raised by members, with visitors not knowing where to park due to poor parking signage at the Guild Inn gates and also down at the eastern parking lot. Antonette stated that she would follow up on this.

-  Chris Martin is reviewing the state of the playground equipment at Rowatson Park, after concerns were raised about safety issues.

-  Gord Bacon is looking into the possibility of the new toilets, installed at the Elizabeth Simcoe splash pad, being related to the dog poisoning that has occurred in the area.

-  a request for a 4 way stop sign at Grey Abbey and Fintona was determined to be unnecessary based on the completion of a recent study. A request for more signage identifying the lane merge as Guildwood Parkway heads north to the Gates will require a study to be completed to determine whether it is necessary.

4.  M/S to adopt the Minutes of the May 10 Executive Meeting as amended. Carried.

5.  Treasurer’s Report: Jim Whitney reported that he had received just over $15k so far from this year’s Membership drive, with the remaining funds coming in slowly. The statements also reflect some of the revenue received from Guildwood Day, but do not reflect the approximately $10k in costs still to go out. Jim also noted that the Presbyterian Church had decided on the trees that they would like to plant with the funds offered by the GVCA, but they have missed the spring planting deadline, so will now wait until the fall. In addition, the cost of trees planted through the GVCA initiative with Sheridan, has yet to be reflected.

6.  Items in Progress

6.1.  TRCA Waterfront Project – Dave Arnold informed the group of the upcoming TRCA Waterfront public meeting to occur at Cardinal Newman high school on June 28 7p.m. At the meeting, the proposed alternative courses of action on the 3 identified shoreline areas will be presented, with public input sought on each. Dave suggested that a notice of the meeting be added to the GVCA website to ensure that residents were aware of the date.

6.2.  Strategic Planning – Sherry Mikelic reported that the members had identified 4 main areas that they felt were important to the community. These were identified as Arts Culture and Heritage, Nature and the Environment, People and Community Building, and Community Advocacy. The Strategic planning group members proposed that the Executive review a Strategic Planning document and provide feedback to enable the creation of a survey to be sent out to the community. Much discussion ensued about the need for a Strategic Plan, which the GVCA has been operating without for many years. A consensus could not be reached, with a number of members expressing concerns over how the current volunteers could take on the additional requirements. As an alternative, it was proposed that a survey be prepared, which might ask the community for input on varying area’s that they might consider important, with a clear message that the current GVCA members would not be able to do everything and would need champions from the community.

M/S to move forward with the preparation of a community survey, to be distributed to Guildwood residents, to help identify the future direction of the GVCA. Carried.

7.  New Business

7.1.  Guildwood Day 2016 – all members agreed that the day was a success. Comments received relating to the amount of food provided were reviewed and the group determined that they felt that the current amount offered was appropriate. A discussion, on the need for water to be available next year, did result in members agreeing to try to find a way to enable this to occur, despite laws prohibiting water bottles in City parks. Other comments received praised the use of local talent and the possibility of streets entering floats, to help build the community spirit, was also suggested. Two areas’s to be reviewed during next year’s planning were the proposal by Darcy Bullock for Valu Mart to run the BBQ and also the possibility of having two shifts of Laurier students to ensure that there was assistance for the cleanup of games etc... at the end of the day.

7.2.  Executive Committee Summer BBQ – Dave suggested July 14th for a wind up BBQ at his home, with invites to follow.

8.  Committee Reports: Attachment C in our meeting Package

8.1.  Community Affairs: Bob reported that he had written an overview of the updates related to the Metrolinx project for the next issue of News & Views. He also stated that he would be meeting with 6 other local Associations to discuss transit and other issues impacting the area in general and will also be putting information on the GVCA’s website about the transit issues. He closed by reporting that the pool funding at Laurier had been secured for next year and that Angela was following up to determine if the cost could be absorbed into the school budget going forward.

8.2.  Guildwood Day: James to send a thank you to Sir Wilfrid Laurier for the excellent assistance provided by the Caretaker. The Medvents were provided with a nominal fee for their assistance.

8.3.  Friends of Guild Park: No discussion of report contents.

8.4.  Guild Park Stakeholder group – Dave reported that the forest area near Jack Miner had been cleaned up. No further discussion.

8.5.  Membership – Donna reported that 4 routes were not canvassed this year and only one apartment building was canvassed, although signs were posted in the remaining buildings. To date a total of 1473 Memberships have been sold, down 57 from last year. With 3 routes still outstanding, the numbers can still rise.

8.6.  CPLC: No discussion of report contents.

9.  Communication and Correspondence – Dave mentioned that Dynamic had sent an email requesting assistance in naming the 4 ballrooms at the new facility and also looking for menu suggestions for the soon to be built Bickford Bistro. John is following up on appropriate names that might be put forward for the ballrooms. Dave also mentioned an email received pertaining to the inclusion of articles in the News & Views from local politicians. After review of the editorial guidelines, the EC determined that the inclusion of these articles during non election periods was acceptable, as the GVCA was not endorsing the published information. It was decided, however, to add a comment to the bottom of the articles to reflect that the content did not reflect the views of the EC.

10.  Next meeting: September 13, 2016

11.  Meeting adjourned.

Respectfully submitted,

Tina Villeneuve

Secretary