President's Report

Posted Feb. 05

We hope everyone enjoyed Winterfest this year.  It is always nice to have a winter event in the community that gets everyone outdoors.  CCRA is proud to be one of the organizers of this community event.  Thanks to Jennifer Fitzgerald who represented CCRA on the organizing committee.

I believe one of the things that make this community a great place to live is because the residents are kept informed on a regular basis about issues and events that affect our community.  One of the means we use to communicate to you is through the newsletter that we publish10 times a year and distribute to every household in our community.  We try and include articles and events that are relevant to our community and its residents.  If any one feels they have something appropriate that should be shared with our community, please submit your article to:

 communications@centennialcra.com .  

 An event of interest to our community was the recent World Junior Dragon Boat Championships held last fall in Shanghai China.  A large number of the team members were students from Mowat Collegiate Institute.  They practiced for many hours to participate in this world event and I am happy to report that they were successful in winning a bronze medal.  Congratulations!  This is a significant accomplishment for these young people and CCRA is pleased to be one of the sponsors of this team.

As many of you know, long time CCRA founding member and resident Bill Dempsey moved from our community last fall.  One of the things Bill left behind were many boxes of documents pertaining to CCRA matters since the association was formed back in 1949.  As time and space permits I will be writing short articles for the newsletter which will chronicle some of the issues, events and activities that have taken place in our community over the years.

 On January 10^th I attended a reception held by the City of Toronto Parks and Recreation Department to honour volunteers in Scarborough who have made a significant contribution to their community.  The CCRA nominated Joan Gruchy and I am pleased to report that Joan was presented with an award in the category of Volunteer Award Citation.  Joan was given this award in recognition of her many years of community involvement as chair of CCRA Events.  Congratulations Joan this is a well-deserved award.  I have written a more detailed report on Joan’s award elsewhere in this newsletter.

 CCRA is still pursuing the disposition of the Wanita School site with the Toronto District School Board, the City of Toronto and the Toronto Region Conservation Authority.  Planning Chair Kathy Sullivan has written an article to update you on the status of this issue.

 As many of you will have noticed, work on the Yellow Moon development on the old Manson factory site at Lawrence and Port Union Road is proceeding.  From the most recent information we have received the following is a breakdown of the number and types of housing to be built on this site.

60      Semi-detached residential

73      Single detached residential

49      Townhouse- Rear Access

32      Townhouse/Retail

In addition 2 small parcels of land on the west side of the site are dedicated to park land and a school site.  Both of these parcels adjoin park land and a school site presently associated with Port Union Village.  A small parcel of land approximately 30 meters wide by 170 meters in the southeast corner of the site will be dedicated to the Village Common.

 The City of Toronto is conducting a Class Environmental Assessment regarding expansion of the F. G. Horgan Water Filtration Plant, which is on the waterfront near Manse Road.  A Public Information Meeting was held last October to present the project to the community and to receive public input.  The

City plans to expand the existing plant to meet the needs of the City of Toronto and surrounding Region of York.  The next Public Information Meeting was held on January 26^th, 2005.  

Another project associated with the expansion of the water filtration plant is the construction of a 2250 mm watermain from the filtration plant to an existing water reservoir on Ellesmere Rd. west of Morningside Ave.  A Public Information meeting for this project was held last November.  The next Public Information Meeting will be held sometime in February.  At the time of writing I do not have a date or location.  Alternative routings for the watermain are being considered.  One route would be along Morningside Ave.  Other alternative routings would be up Manse Rd. and through the University of Toronto property to Military Trail and then along Ellesmere Rd. or along a route east of Manse Rd. through the University of Toronto grounds to Ellesmere Rd.

 Both of these projects are outside of our community but we will continue to monitor them and provide input as necessary.

 The City of Toronto has completed their Feasibility Study of the expansion of the Port Union Recreation Centre.  Some of you may have attended the Public Meetings that were held early last year to receive input on the expansion.  The study determined that the centre should be expanded in 3 phases.  The first phase proposes an addition/renovation which would include the construction of a Gymnasium to the north of the existing centre.  The existing Fitness Centre would be demolished to allow the construction of a Multi-Purpose (future Change) Rooms and a new Fitness Centre on the second level.  A new entrance configuration and associated landscaping would also be included in this first phase.  The second phase would include the construction of the new Multi-Purpose Rooms to the south of the existing Centre.  This would permit the new rooms to the north of the existing courtyard to be relocated, allowing for their renovation as Change Rooms and in preparation for the Phase Three construction of the Pool.  A detailed report on this study is available for viewing at the Port Union Recreation Centre.

This centre is used a great deal by our community and is in need of expansion.  The City

presently has not included the expansion of the Centre in the near term budgets.  We will be requesting the City include monies for the expansion of the Centre in future budgets.     

Jeff Forsyth