About 40 people attended.
Dick Watts welcomed everyone to the 32^nd annual meeting of the Association and introduced the following special guests: Councillor Cesar Palacio; Evan Castel (Chairman of Davenport Neighbourhood Association); Tony Bolla (representing Regal Heights Village BIA ); and Renata Gonsalves (Principal of Oakwood Collegiate).

Renata Gonsalves welcomed everyone to the school and reviewed some upcoming changes planned for OCI. The Developmentally Delayed Program (DDP) will be relocated this fall to OCI. There are six children from the district who will be integrated into the OCI DDP program. An elevator will be installed to make the school a fully accessible school. This is a real bonus for students and visitors with handicaps. The main office will be relocated to the front foyer on the first floor. The OCI pool which was drained this past year will be retrofitted as a state of the art exercise facility. This will help to make OCI a fully AAA school, that is with a strong focus on Arts, Athletics and Academics.

Principal Gonsalves requested community assistance in preventing misuse of the athletic field by dogs. The field is used as an outdoor classroom by the students. Dogs digging holes in the ground has led to ankle injuries when the students run on the uneven ground. Dog feces is a particular problem. While she wants the field to remain open to the community for use as green space, she said she may be forced to close it to community use if the dog issue cannot be resolved.

Tony Bolla, on behalf of the Regal Heights Village BIA, reported that the former boundaries from Westmount to Glenholme have been officially extended eastward to Oakwood Ave. A goal for the coming year is to further expand the boundary eastward to Winona Drive. This will close the gap along St. Clair where no BIA has existed to date. As a result the BIA will be better able to work on improving the streetscape with pedestrian lights and street furniture. They are planning to hold sidewalk sales this summer coinciding with the Salsa and Corso Italia festivals. Also they will create baskets with items from the BIA to donate to community fundraisers. Feel free to approach the BIA if you need items for your fundraising events.

Reports and Discussion

1. Heritage & History
   Lane naming ceremony in memory of John Brooks – David Raymont explained that the laneway from Glenholme to Northcliffe was being named after this prominent Regal Heights citizen who contributed so much to his community, to Ontario and to Canada. This public ceremony to honour Mr. Brooks and the unveiling of the lane signs will be held on May 19th at 6 pm at the lane north of 27 Glenholme Avenue.



2. Street Beautification – Florence Watts reported:
   1. The care and maintenance of the Rosemount gardens has been co-ordinated by Marla Percy for the past couple of years, but she will be moving away and we are seeking a new co-ordinator to help organize the volunteers to remove weeds, trim shrubs and water the gardens. Thanks to Councillor Palacio’s Community Compost Day at OCI, the Rosemount gardens received a much needed nourishing of compost this spring.
   2. The Springmount gardens are getting overgrown. Lots of help is needed to help control the invasive garlic mustard, dandelion and goldenrod plants.
   3. We are obtaining cost estimates for improvements to the irrigation systems at Springmount and Rosemount gardens.
   4. Daffodil Hill is much enjoyed by many. Over 2000 daffodil bulbs have been planted over the years along with many trees. The hill is cleaned of litter and culled of unwanted growth twice a year by enthusiastic groups of RHRA members and volunteers.
   5. 24 Planter barrels in the community are filled with plants obtained from the City and adopted by volunteers who water them regularly. In the fall evergreen boughs are sought for use in the barrels over the winter.
   6. Street litter was particularly bad this past winter. While the street sweeper is now out on the streets cleaning, it is difficult to get to the curbs where cars are parked. A program is being considered by Councillor Palacio’s office to overcome this problem. In the meantime don’t hesitate to clean around your car yourself. Clean up day on April 24th this year made a big difference.
   7. The Street Beautification Committee really consists of everyone in the community whether it be working on community gardens, on your own garden, or picking up litter or cleaning up graffiti; it all helps to beautify our whole community.
   
   
3. Planning, Zoning, Construction
   1. Mount Royal Parkette and Bump-out – Amy Bodman reported that the planning began two years ago to improve the parkette and bump-out area. The City will begin renovating the bump-out site this summer, then it will be up to volunteers to plant the gardens and maintain them.
      The Parks Division plans to landscape the south end of the parkette this year. Amy is working with Winona Drive School students to help control litter in the parkette.
   2. St. Clair Construction Clean-up Contract – Councillor Palacio expressed his thanks to the RHRA for the vision and leadership in this community. A walk-about was held along St. Clair a few weeks ago to identify certain deficiencies left by the construction work such as: missing Garrison Creek markers, missing or dying trees, lack of recycle and litter receptacles and lack of bicycle posts. Another walk- about will be scheduled again soon with community representatives participating. Margaret Smith suggested that current funding for the “Shop on St.Clair Program” be extended for an additional year to help the businesses on St. Clair Ave. Councillor Palacio will follow-up on this suggestion and report back to the Association.
   3. New Zoning By-law – Peter Norman reported on the progress of harmonization of the zoning by-laws that were in effect prior to amalgamation. Suburban and industrial areas are most affected by the harmonization. The key challenge is to protect employment areas. The updated draft by-law text and maps are now available at www.toronto.ca/zoning/index.htm where one can find details of proposed zoning for any specific location.
4. Special Events
   1. Regal Height Street Sale – Saturday June 19th from 9am to 2pm. Margaret Rao reported that street captains are needed for this 10th annual street sale. Responsibilities include distributing flyers and posting them on poles, then collecting $2 from each participating table on the day of the sale. The money is used to cover the costs of advertising. Call Margaret Rao at 416.658-0998 if you’re available.
   2. Canada Day Parade – Thursday July 1st at 11am. Meet at the northeast corner of OCI. Bring your noisemakers and flags and join the parade which will go up and down our streets and end at Regal Road schoolyard for popsicles
   
   
5. Police Community Partnership – Rosa Cordiano reported that she attends the monthly police meetings on behalf of RHRA. The meetings are held in OCI cafeteria on the first Thursday of each month (except July and August) where Police are present to discuss issues of concern with the community. All are welcome to attend the meetings, especially if you have a concern you would like to raise. Statistically the crime level in our area is unchanged from last year.



6. Community Welcome Project – Harry Lay shared information about the welcome package we are delivering to welcome and orientate new residents to the neighbourhood. Your help to inform us of new residents moving into the area is appreciated so that we can deliver a package to them.



7. Community Information Kiosk – Brigid Higgins circulated a photo of a kiosk that we have agreed to have in our neighbourhood. John Keating will be building it with supplies provided by the City Parks department. The location of the kiosk is still to be determined.



8. Finances & Membership
   Linda DeGiorgio reported that 31 memberships were purchased tonight and that account balances were as follows:
   

   2010	April 20	May 18
   Operating Fund	$1158	$1670
   Heritage Fund	1092	1092
   Mt Royal Bump-out (in trust)	1500	1500
   Street Sale (in trust)	57	57
   Petty Cash	107	77
   Total	$3914	$4396




9. RHRA Meetings & Election of Executive
   1. Meetings – four meetings will be held at OCI in the coming year: November, January, March and May. Four others will be held in the homes of the executive members.
   2. Election of the Executive was led by past-chairman David Raymont. The following members were unanimously elected as the RHRA Executive Committee for the 2010-2011 season: Amy Bodman, Brent Calhoun, Richard Cavanagh, Rosa Cordiano, Linda DeGiorgio, John Keating, Anita Kung, Harry Lay, Brian MacConnell, Beth Marcilio, Peter Norman, Florence Watts, Dick Watts.

Closing remarks were made by Dick Watts.

The next regular Executive Meeting will be Sept 21, 7 pm at Watts’ place, 57 Regal Rd. Anyone interested in participating in executive meetings is welcome to attend.