They say they have nothing against towers. After all, many people near Yonge Street and Eglinton Avenue already live in condos. But residents say the rampant pace of development — from subway level to 50 storeys above ground — is bringing their neighbourhood to its knees.Even on side streets, condo dwellers say they are breathing construction dust on their balconies as trucks clog their streets and the people, including school kids, jostle for space on the sidewalk. They cite the death of a pedestrian hit by a cement truck on nearby Erskine Avenue in September.Now the residents are accusing the church of contributing to their woes through its proposed redevelopment of St. Monica’s Catholic Church on Broadway Avenue.They want the Archdiocese of Toronto and developer Collecdev to reconsider a plan to incorporate a new four-storey church building into a 44-storey, 398-unit condo at the site east of Yonge Street and north of Eglinton Avenue.“To us that is egregious,” said Miria Ioannou of the Republic Residents’ Association, a group that includes residents of 25 Broadway Ave., 70 Roehampton Ave., North Toronto Collegiate Institute (NTCI) students, parents and staff and those living in buildings adjacent to the high school.It is one of 12 neighbourhood associations asking Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Steve Clark to visit their community to see for himself the impact of the provincial Progressive Conservative government’s decision to overturn a city plan called Midtown in Focus that took eight years to develop and, they say, would have kept development in check. Clark’s office said the minister is working on setting up a tour of the neighbourhood. In an email to the Star, a spokesperson said the city submitted its official plan amendment, designed to reflect the Midtown in Focus goals set in consultation with the community, before the province introduced its own housing supply plan.“Because of this, (the ...
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