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posted August 10, 2006

Heydon Park Police Station Meeting

I went to the meeting tonight about the proposed police station at the Heydon Park school site. (on Ste. Annes Road between Coolmine and Dovercourt - map).

Here's what they said:

The police very much want the site to build a 54 000 square foot police station, probably 2 stories high, maybe three, not higher (the current building is 80 000 square feet). The School Board is consulting with the community. They have not yet sold the site to the police. Since the meeting had very low attendance (four neighbours, 10 police, and 10 school board people) they plan to have another meeting in early September. They say they sent out fliers to everyone in the neighbourhood,but most people we've spoken too didn't get one (including us).

If the school board agrees to sell the property to the police - and the trustee at the meeting, Maria Rodrigues, said she supports the idea - then the police would start designing the building probably around December or January, and would start building about a year after that (January 2008). Construction would take around 2 years. It's important to point out that until they buy the land, they have no design for what the building will look like... that only starts once they acquire the land.

My impression from Sheila Penny, the TDSB executive superintendent for facility services, was that if the community strongly said they didn't want the police building on the site, they TDSB would turn down the request. I could be wrong about that... However, there were 5 neighbours at the meeting, and most were in favour, or leaning towards being in favour, of building.

The police say they are into community consultation, and because it's a city building, there is a process where the community is consulted. They say there are usually at least 5 meetings between the police and the community to hammer out details, etc... and they say they appoint a member of the community to sit on the design board for the building. They say they are flexible, and point out that 51 division many things changed during the consultation process with the community (i.e. the parking ramp was rejigged to not have car lights shine into houses, etc.). If we were very smart and organized, my impression is that our input would be taken seriously (somewhat)... the police also stressed that the new station would have a "community room" where community members could hold meetings, etc. and also that the 51 division building had an outdoor basketball court. They also said they will try and save mature trees, and will add many trees to hide...parking. Since the building proposed is smaller than the current building, a good deal of the space will be used for parking. Some might be underground, but mostly not. Also, the building would most likely be "green."

If you're interested in other new police stations, apparently 23 Division is a new building that is almost finished (as well as 51 division which is finished).

Also, the money from the sale would not go into classroom education, the TDSB would keep it in their real estate division to acquire other property.

Also, the old police station would not be used by the police after the new building was built...they would move all their stuff over to the new building and sell/lease the other one...which would probably get knocked down for condos.

I'm not sure what I think about all this yet (whether the building should go up), and am interested in your input.

Here are some contacts:

Sheila Penny
Exec. Superintendent, Facility Services
sheila.penny@tdsb.on.ca
416 394-3933

Michael Ellis
He gave the presentation for the police
Manager, Facilities Management
416 808 7951

Maria Rodrigues
Trustee War 9
maria.rodrigues@tdsb.on.ca
416 397-3069

Best,

Peter


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