Residents fight to keep Dundas grocery store
Dundas’ University Plaza has unclear future as owner sells other secondary properties
A group of Dundas residents is bracing for a fight to keep their neighbourhood grocery store.
The University Plaza Residents Association has formed to oppose the conversion of Metro into Canadian Tire.
Its members are raising money for a possible appeal of Canadian Tire’s bid for a minor variance at the city’s committee of adjustment in December.
The application includes a 676-square-foot addition to the existing parking lot between Metro and Shoppers Drug Mart for an automobile service centre.
Association member Mike Piekny said several seniors live in his condo building across the street from the Osler Drive plaza and rely on the nearby grocery store.
“They feel neglected as it is,” Piekny said. “This is a huge blow.”
Adele Wojtowicz, one of the association’s four directors, says she has compiled data that show there’s a large senior population in the area that needs a grocery store they can walk to.
The association is also concerned about noise and environmental impacts of adding a 10bay auto service centre.
Wojtowicz said losing the grocery store and adding an auto service centre, “certainly doesn’t serve the daily and weekly shopping needs of the immediate and surrounding neighbourhoods.”
Owner RioCan did not respond to repeated requests for information on plans for University Plaza. The company has previously said it has no plans to redevelop the Dundas property.
RioCan reached an agreement more than a year ago to sell seven commercial properties to Canadian Tire in an ongoing effort to divest at least 100 secondary market properties.
RioCan said it would focus on redevelopment of properties in the country’s largest markets — Toronto, Ottawa, Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton and Montreal.
On Oct. 31, RioCan reported it had sold or had conditional offers for 65 properties outside those
core markets but did not say how many involved Canadian Tire.
Wojtowicz said the existing University Plaza zoning, which permits the service centre use, also appears to support the association’s arguments.
The zoning states it “permits retail and service commercial uses which cater to the weekly and daily shopping needs of residents in the immediate and surrounding neighbourhoods.”
“It’s interesting they thought to have that description,” Wojtowicz said. “It’s not in any of the other commercial zones.”
A noise study opponents say was flawed was also deemed unacceptable by city planning staff, who returned it to Canadian Tire with their concerns. Staff told Wojtowicz the update came back Oct. 11 and would undergo a peer review.
Planning spokesperson Marie Fitzpatrick said a second update to the noise study was anticipated soon. She didn’t say when the peer review will be completed.
Association member Kris Gadjanski said the proposal not only doesn’t comply with the city policy for meeting neighbourhood shopping needs, but also contradicts RioCan’s own policies.
RioCan’s sustainability policy states the company will “minimize the environmental impacts of our developments, assets and procurement by protecting the natural environment, reducing resource consumption and pollution and increasing waste diversion and renewable energy use.”
Area resident Susan Joanis lamented other past plaza business closures, including a bookstore and one of two banks.
“Losing the grocery store is the final nail in the coffin,” Joanis said.
Wojtowicz said the association is reaching out to residents of neighbourhoods surrounding the plaza.
She said some people still don’t know about the grocery store conversion plan and addition of 10 auto service bays. They also want to bring in more members.