St. Basil’s School:  “Deterioration by neglect”, illegal car park & bylaw non-enforcement.

From the manner in which the subject property is currently being maintained and operated, it is apparent that the developer owner is allowing the property to deteriorate to bolster its argument for redevelopment: plywood-covered windows, deteriorating stone & trim, weeds, trash, toilet stench and inadequate lighting are all a blight and give rise to safety concerns.   Moreover, the developer owner is operating a car park on the subject site.  We understand this operation to be illegal.  Consequently, we would request that City staff be directed to enforce the City’s zoning and property standards with respect to St. Basil’s School , and at all heritage-designated sites in HCDs throughout Ontario. 

Any infill development on the subject site should respect the designated building and the area context.  Further, the developer owner should not be rewarded for his neglect of St. Basil’s and should, instead, be required to abide by the City’s standards.  We thus respectfully request that the City refuse the applications and enforce its by-laws as against the maintenance and operation of the subject property. 

From Committee of Adjustment, Mar.4, 2004, Notice of Decision re Minor Variance/Permission . . . File No. A0045/04TEY . . . Legal Description PL 302 LTS 6 & 7

The applicant wants to maintain the existing parking lot of 26 spaces.

An application was approved for a temporary period of 2 yrs, expiring March 3, 2006, or until the existing site is redeveloped, whichever comes first.  The applicant was advised of the need to re-apply to the Committee of Adjustment prior to the expiry date .

Note:  the attached photos show up to 36 cars--including 2 parked at the east facade--in the parking lot.  There was never a re-application to the Committee of Adjustment for an extension of the temporary parking lot licence.  Nor has the lot abided by its requirements for landscaping, and adequate lighting.  As a result, an adjacent property had six break-ins into its cars in the last two years--more than twice the number experienced in the previous two decades. 

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