*FEATUREDNEWS

Lake Leaside is back

It must be spring. Lake Leaside has made its appearance again.

The abandoned construction site on Vanderhoof Avenue, east of Laird Drive in Leaside, has started to fill with water again, as shown in the above photo in early March.

The water hole, named “Lake Leaside” by local wags, still has just a little way to go before it reaches the peak — or depth, rather — of last year’s lake during the early summer.

Lake Leaside
MUDFLATS: The “lake” bed after water was drained from the site last year.

It is thought the excavation was flooded last spring — and presumably this year — by water from melted snow, which wasn’t helped by last year’s excessive rainfall.

After receiving complaints from residents concerned about safety, Ward 26 councillor John Burnside negotiated with the property owner, SmartREIT, to have the excavation drained last spring.

However, the owners could not empty the lot immediately because they had to get permits and pay a fee to drain the water into the city’s sewer system and ultimately into Lake Ontario, Burnside said.

With these delays, the pond remained well into the summer.

By summer’s end, however, the body of water had been reduced to mudflats.

THE “LAKE” TODAY