Merton row hits OMB
Several unhappy residents on Merton Street are preparing to square off against Sunnybrook School at the Ontario Municipal Board July 5.
At issue is the school’s plan to tear down a home it owns next door to its cramped property at 469 Merton St. in order to build additional classroom space.
Although the city gave Sunnybrook the go-ahead to proceed with the plan back in November, the school discovered in February that neighbours were planning to appeal the matter at the OMB.
“They had some concerns about the proposed development and those relate to whether further intensification of commercial type uses are appropriate on the street,” said Eric Gillespie, a lawyer hired by Merton Street resident Geoffrey Jones to fight the development.
Also at issue for his client and other like-minded residents, said Gillespie, is a concern about whether the school’s added space might pave the way for higher enrolment. Despite the fact that the city’s approval of the expansion was contingent upon a bylaw capping the school’s enrolment to 150, Gillespie said Sunnybrook might try to have the bylaw overturned in the future after adding more classroom space.
But expansion is not the school’s goal, said principal and director, Irene Davy.
“I feel like what we are doing is being completely misrepresented because we’re expanding not our numbers, but the facilities we can offer our current students,” said Davy. She noted enrolment at the school has remained the same since 1985.
“Aside from the building being larger, this will not change the impact on the street… The same potential number of cars up and down Merton Street will be here, but we will have 25 feet more of frontage to accommodate at drop-off and pick-up, so it’s actually – with the same capacity – improving the strain on the street.”
Davy, the daughter of the school’s founder, said Sunnybrook has long been a part of the neighbourhood and most residents currently living on the street moved there knowing about the school.
“We have been a part of the neighbourhood for 50 years and intend to continue,” she said, adding many residents do not oppose the
project, including several Sunnybrook families who live on the street.
“We’re dealing with some individuals who would rather not live near a school… Do they really want us to move to a busy street or an industrial park? Children belong in neighbourhoods.”
However Gillespie said some residents might view things differently.
“It’s a private school, which in the minds of many people, puts it in a different category than public schools,” he said.
Both Gillespie and Davy said a mediation session between the parties was being sought ahead of the July 5 hearing at the OMB.