Next week there is a proposed 3 storey, 12 bed hospice (desperately needed!) going to CoA for variances. It has generated... a lot of opposition from neighbours because it is on a long-vacant lot in detached neighbourhood (2 of those are actually in support, but were mis-coded).

(I have nothing to do with this project, for the record)

Staff have submitted a letter in support of the project. This is unusual, because if staff are ok with a project, they usually don't comment at all.

The local residents association submitted a lengthy opposition package... it is 104 pages long.

Some highlights.

They want the application refused because:
- It has a modern design
- 3 storeys is too tall
- Would "change the residential character"
- Traffic (NIMBY free space)
- Too few residents attended some meetings with the proponent (going back to 2018 at least)

- It isn't that they oppose the use (again, 12 bed hospice), just no at this location.
- That there is a housing crisis in Toronto and this project demolishes 2 detached houses. Seriously... they wrote this.
- Contrary to VisionZero. Also, seriously.

- Hospice = people dying frequently = high turnover = traffic. Not even joking.

- These dying patients will, like infect the neighbourhood with .. something. Hashtag covid.

Did I mention that this was a 12 bed hospice yet?

- "Dangerous precedent". If this is approved, could hospices in YOUR NEIGHBOURHOOD BE NEXT? DUN DUN DUNNNNNN (the quote is them, the rest is what I imagine they were thinking when they wrote it)

(nothing else they wrote is notable in any way)

Some highlights from the resident comments
- Will increase air pollution. I note that this is *literally* directly adjacent to the 401.
- Would take away green space from the community to recreate upon. I note that this is private property with plans for a hospice since 2014.

- Pain management drugs for people who are dying will attract criminals.
- "nothing positive for our neighbourhood"
- We bought here 20 years ago and don't want it to change
- I bought here 70! years ago and don't want it to change

- I will no longer be able to open my back gate [and trespass across the property]
- This wouldn't be permitted in a high-income area

[Aside: A hospice care home is not a permitted use in any residential zone. We should ask why not. Only ok in CR, CRE, I, IH zones.]

- It will basically pump disease into the environment like some kind of Industrial Revolution-era coal fired power plant [paraphrasing... only slightly]

This is just a shocking way to describe people who are *literally dying and want a dignified place to live out their days*

- PUBLIC HEALTH DISASTER

Again.... this is a 12 bed hospice.

- I have lived on the street for 30 years.
- It is Jewish and some of us are/are not Jewish. Equity, you know.

This isn't even everyone who commented in opposition to it.

I absolutely believe that hospice care homes should be integral components of any residential neighbourhood. Aging in place also means dying in place, which too few people are able to do. Normalizing this is equity.

I truly hope that it gets approved at Committee. I will note that CoA do not approve change of use variances lightly. You’re often accused of trying to do a “backdoor rezoning”. I don’t think that this is an example of that, however. It think it is an example of TO’s bad zoning.

While *I* don’t think it is, and the planning department doesn’t think it is, it is entirely possible that the CoA could think that it is and reject the application. We’ll see.

It’s 4am and I’m still awake and stewing over how bothered I am with the comments submitted and how utterly routine they are in Toronto.

This is just such a microcosm of what is fundamentally wrong with planning in Toronto. The Official Plan is supposed to reflect our values as a city. And by and large, it has been incredibly successful and we have the city we’ve planned for.

That is not a complement. If the Official Plan is fully realized (aided and abetted by its enforcer: zoning), Toronto will continue to be segregated and inequitable. It will continue to be unaffordable. It’s Neighbourhoods will be robbed of their potential.

It’s high street commercial areas will be replaced with the same tiered cake building over and over and over again. You will get too old to live where you love. Your neighbours will only ever look like you and earn like you. And we will have got the city we planned for.

I hear that soon there will be put forward something like the Missing Middle roadmap for the city. I haven’t seen it and have no idea what it contains. Obv I’m incredibly interested. Will it be a bold reimagining of the potential for Neighbourhoods?

I’m remain cautiously pessimistic, but very hopeful to be surprised.

Still me.

I should close this out highlighting the 2 letters of support for the project, especially when the other comments are so awful. Speaking out in support of a project that is hated by most of your neighbours is difficult, and the easy thing is to not say anything. I commend these 2

Pleased to see a strong letter of support from the local councillor for this project.

Wow… the number of letters of support (absolutely outnumbering the ones in opposition) on this file make me smile on a day when smiles have been few at best.