NORTH TORONTO NEWSMAKER OF THE DECADE: Minto condos helped change midtown for better or worse

[attach]1121[/attach]A pair of high-rise condo towers changed not only the physical landscape in North Toronto, but the political one.

For this, the Town Crier has named the Minto Midtown condominiums as North Toronto’s Newsmaker of the Decade.

During the 2003 municipal elections, Eglinton-Lawrence residents voted in political newbie Karen Stintz to represent Ward 16 at city council, effectively booting out incumbent and veteran politician Anne Johnston.

Johnston’s loss was largely due to backlash from residents who vehemently opposed the size of the 37- and 54-storey towers on Yonge Street, south of Eglinton Avenue.

During the application process, Johnston brokered a last-minute deal with Minto to have the condos approved at city council.

Left with a bad taste in their mouths, residents took out a newspaper ad in the Town Crier seeking new blood for Ward 16. Stintz replied, and slid into the council seat with 8,108 votes. Johnston received 5,787.

The Minto project ordeal has had a lasting effect among skeptical residents in the neighbourhood, who remain cautious whenever talk of new development arises.

Current areas of contention include the fate of the open concrete space at the northwest corner of Yonge and Eglinton, in front of Riocan’s Yonge Eglinton Centre mall.

[attach]1122[/attach]Residents’ groups want to see it beautified as a public outdoor space, but Riocan is looking to build an enclosed addition for retail space.

The redevelopment of the former TTC bus terminal just across the street is expected to see some change in the next few years as well, including residential and commercial developments, though the plan will likely depend on the construction of the Eglinton
Crosstown light rail transit line.

In 2009, the city published the Yonge-Eglinton Centre Focused Review, which included development plans for all four quadrants of the intersection. At public consultation meetings held in January, area residents once again expressed their concern with the potential for large-scale development to move in to their neighbourhood.

Whatever development rises in midtown Toronto in the next 10 years, one thing is certain: residents won’t go down without a fight.

—With files from Brian Baker