Inner-city area hit by growing pains
Candidates suggest public needs more say in response to pressures of densification
Inner-city growing pains over development and densification are fuelling what is expected to be a close race in Ward 7 between a longtime incumbent and some familiar challengers.
Druh Farrell is fighting to hold off challengers Margot Aftergood, Brent Alexander, Dean Brawn and Marek Hejduk in a ward where many residents are concerned about the pace and shape of development in some of the city’s most established neighbourhoods.
Under the recent ward boundary changes, Ward 7 has lost some northern communities to Ward 4, while absorbing mature neighbourhoods to the west and east, including Montgomery, Tuxedo and Winston Heights.
“The No .1 thing with this community is densification. Wed on’ t want it, but the city is forcing it. They’re not working with the community,” says Murray Anderson, president of Mount Pleasant Community Association.
A low-rise apartment building proposed for a regular 50-foot-wide lot on 4th Street in Mount Pleasant has angered and frustrated neighbours worried about the impact on traffic, parking and property values.
Not everyone in the ward opposes higher density development — some welcome more affordable housing stock to lure younger families — but as residents of Mount Pleasant, Tuxedo and Crescent Heights prepare to revisit their local redevelopment plan, community members say they want city hall to listen to their concerns.
“We as a community feel that we’re their boss. If they don’t listen to us, what happens?” Anderson says.
Farrell, who has represented the ward since 2001, says redevelopment is key to preventing significant ebbs in the population of established communities that can result in a loss of amenities like schools, pools, libraries and grocery stores.
“We need to build communities that are more stable and more diverse,” says Farrell. “Part of that is to build a diversity of housing — housing that is more affordable for young families to move into a neighbourhood. (Though) how we bring in that diversity needs to be done very sensitively.”
Aftergood, a former alderman who resigned her seat in 2004 following a ballot stuffing scandal for which she was later cleared, says she would create an advisory committee in Ward 7 to consult community members before allowing controversial developments to go ahead.
“A lot of people will buy a house and do their due diligence. They find out the (neighbourhood) is an R1 (single family) or R2 (two family) and decide OK, this is where I want to raise my kids,” says Aftergood. “And then all of a sudden, it’s been changed.
“It’s always about talking to the community first and then acting.”
Brent Alexander, who attracted sizable support in his run for the seat in 2013, says he would like to see existing guidelines for the neighbourhood respected.
“If we don’t listen to the wisdom of the community, we will lose sight of what’s valuable,” Alexander says. “And if we break what’s valuable, it’s really hard to replace and rebuild.”
Dean Brawn, a self-described conservative running for the first time, says some developments in Sunnyside have irritated residents there, with building heights that weren’t prescribed in the redevelopment plan and too few parking spaces for the number of units.
“It’s just a total disrespect for what the community is, a) zoned for, and, b) what the community actually wants,” Brawn says. “They’re ramming their thoughts and ideas into a community without actually listening to a community.”
Candidate and business owner Marek Hejduk says he’s seen consultation sessions between the city and residents on development projects and wasn’t impressed. “I want to change is how the city interacts with the residents.”