Bannockburn park saved

[attach]7832[/attach]Community members who live near Bannockburn School have been handed a victory, as the city’s committee of adjustment has ruled against severing the school property.

The committee’s North York panel concluded on May 14 it could not support the severance based on the community’s use of the space and the fact that the Toronto District School Board did not follow its own guidelines for severances.

“I think the committee of adjustment saw this was an improper application that was done behind closed doors that denied the community the right to have their say,” Eglinton-Lawrence MPP Mike Colle said after the decision. “But today the community had their say, so I applaud the committee of adjustment for listening to the people.”

Dozens of local residents who opposed the severance attended the meeting.

A week and a half earlier, a heated public meeting on the issue saw Colle and local councillor Karen Stintz walk out after becoming frustrated by trustee Howard Goodman’s support of the severance, which was approved by the TDSB in June 2013. The standing-room-only crowd argued the board had not followed its own directives regarding the severance of properties because there had been no public consultation before the decision.

Co-organizer of that meeting, Trish McMahon, said after the committee of adjustment ruling it felt like vindication.

“The fact is, procedure matters,” she said. “I’m really hopeful that, going forward, if the TDSB has to get rid of surplus land, they have a broad consultative process and they get a really good sense of what is being used by the community and what isn’t being used by the community.”

Before posing for a “picture of victory” with about 20 supporters, Colle suggested the result was one for the ages.

“This is one of the most exciting victories we’ve had in the middle of Toronto for decades,” he said. “We actually saved a park from being destroyed.”

McMahon said if she could speak to every community member who had been involved during the fight, her message would be simple: “Well done. Community mobilization matters.”