Opening remarks were made by Chairman Dick Watts to welcome everyone to the meeting of RHRA. Special guests were welcomed and introduced. They included: Councillor Cesar Palacio and his executive assistant Mike Foderick, Idalina da Silva community relations assistant to Mario Silva, Member of Parliament for Davenport, and Nancy Byers author of the 'St. Clair West in Pictures' book. Unfortunately Principal Renata Gonsalves, who wanted to be present to welcome members of RHRA to OCI, was unavailable tonight. Also introduced were: Margaret and Mike Smith of Save our St.Clair (SOS); Elizabeth Cinello, Shuster Gindin and Gary Gannage of St.Clair Right-of-way Initiative for Public Transit (SCRIPT); and Tony Turrittin of St.Clair West Village Residents' Association. A total of about 45 people attended the meeting.

Reports and Discussion of RHRA activities

• Heritage & History
  Regal Road School portico - Harry Lay, an architect and member of RHRA, reported that a grant of $20,000 from the City of Toronto's History and Heritage Fund is being awarded in response to an application by Regal Road school, with RHRA support, for the restoration of the the school's portico. The extent of repairs to be made with the grant money is yet to be determined. Harry and Mike Foderick will meet with School Board staff on November 28th to try to finalize the scope of work and budget for the restoration work. Many thanks to Harry Lay for his expertise and tireless involvement over the years towards this end, as well as the assistance received from Councillor Palacio's office.



• Street Beautification
  
  1. Gardens and garden signs - Florence thanked everyone from Regal Heights who helped throughout the year to beautify our neighbourhood. She reported that many green initiatives have been undertaken by individuals separate from RHRA projects. They include: an individual who has been sweeping the wet and slippery leaves from the Springmount steps, an individual who goes to the OCI field once a month to pick up dog droppings, an individual who planted some wheat in the Springmount boulevard gardens. Recent RHRA gardening projects have included: the planting of an additional 700 daffodil bulbs on Daffodil Hill; the cutting back of the Trees of Heaven on the hill; the development of gardens along the Springmount steps and OCI parking lot entrance with the grant from the 'Clean and Beautiful City Secretariat'. With the cold weather approaching, the barrels will soon need to be decorated. Volunteers are welcome to help, as are donations of evergreen branches if anyone is trimming their evergreens.
  
  
  
  2. Litter - the litter in the neighbourhood seems to be getting bad in the streets particularly following recycle garbage days. The leaves are also clogging sewer grates and trapping litter. Councillor Palacio reported that the Council is looking at initiatives to deal with the litter issue. The garbage collection procedures need to be reviewed, and public education initiatives are being considered. One resident who lives on Glenholme Ave suggested that returning to alternate-side-monthly parking would permit more effective cleaning of the curb areas.
  
  
  
  3. Graffiti - graffiti can be reported to Mike Foderick and a bylaw officer can be sent out to issue an order for the graffiti to be removed by the property owner. Otherwise, RHRA members are continuing to clean graffiti from mailboxes. People are encouraged to participate in this cleaning effort by using a little elbow grease and some lacquer thinner to help keep our neighbourhood graffiti free.
  
  
  
  4. Home & Gardens TV project / Tricon Films & Television - Mike Foderick has been asked by Shaam Macan of Tricon Films to help them search out 'orphan spaces' which could be revitalized, with community involvement, and incorporated into new television shows. With a list of suggested spaces and potential projects from Dick, Mike toured Mr MaCan through Regal Heights on Nov, 17. No decisions have yet been made.
  
  
• Communications and Website
  David Shanoff reported that the RHRA Website http://www.regalheights.ca is alive and well. Thanks to professional Webmaster Art Dacks, it is maintained and updated on a regular basis. David distributes information by e-mail to members, and others, who provide us with their email addresses. Examples are: minutes of monthly meetings; RHRA news; newspaper articles of interest to our neighbourhood; and special notices.



• Schools
  
  1. Regal Road Public School - Acknowledgement and thanks from Regal Road school go to Brian MacConnell for his ongoing volunteering at the school. Not only does he spend every Monday at the school assisting children to learn to read, but he also spoke to the children from grades 4,5&6 on Remembrance Day as a veteran of war. He enthralled the children and had their intense attention span for the entire hour that he spoke.
  
  
  
  2. Oakwood Collegiate Institute - the walkways and two stairways facing Oakwood Ave are in need of replacement. Principal Gonsalves is negotiating with the School Board to have the repairs done over the summer holidays when school is out.
     The Environment club has submitted an application to the City requesting 3 of the 400 cherry trees being given to Toronto by the Japanese Consulate. They would be planted along the walkway just north of the parking lot.
  
  
• Special Events
  Carol Sing - will take place again this year on Friday December 16th from 7 to 8 pm outdoors at the Oakwood Collegiate Parkette. Hot chocolate, Santa, the Salvation Army Band and 2 mounted police on horses (in lieu of reindeer) are expected. Volunteers are sought to help post flyers. Please speak to Florence.



• Membership and Finances
  Eleven new memberships were purchased this evening bringing our total 2005-6 membership to 70 families Yearly expenditures include bank fees, website fees, costs of gardening supplies, refreshments for public meetings and special events as well as the costs of printing flyers and notices. Our present balance is $1697 including $805 in trust for possible heritage projects.
  
  
• Planning and Zoning
  1. 41 Rosemount Ave - Alex Russell of 106 Oakwood Ave updated the group on the status of the empty lot on Rosemount. The large tree at the back of the lot has now been declared unhealthy. New house design plans are being developed so that it will be two stories high with a flat roof. However, the lot owners still wish to retain the density as initially set out in the previous 3-storey design. Councillor Palacio will request Council to require that any development on the lot be subjected to site plan control in order to ensure that the building, landscaping etc. will be entirely suitable for the site and the neighbourhood.
  
  
  
  2. Rosemount Bicycle route - According to a City master plan to eventually have bicycle routes throughout the city, Rosemount will be designated as a bike route, but no special lanes will be painted on the road. Judy Adler is a member of the cycle committee for the City. Unfortunately she is not always available to attend our meetings. Laura McGrath volunteered to work with Judy to keep us informed of matters related to bike use and bikeway planning and perhaps also to seek membership on the cycle committee.
     Websites with information about cycling, include the City of Toronto site and StClairBUG.
  
  
  
  3. St. Clair Avenue Study consultations - Mike Foderick reported that the study is looking for volunteers to sit on focus group studies to help shape the vision for the future of St. Clair Ave. This is a separate issue from the TTC transit project. It is expected to be completed in the spring of 2006. Two study areas have been established: one from Glenholme Ave west to Keele, and one from Glenholme Ave east to Bathurst.
     A consultant and a study group will be selected for each area. Councillor Palacio is looking for 15 volunteers from each area. This is an opportunity to be involved in the generation of ideas towards the development of new investments and incentives for St. Clair Ave. Reply to Mike Foderick if interested.
     
     Discussion followed regarding concerns that the boundary lines of the study divide Regal Heights into two parts. A unanimous request was put forward to Mike to ensure that the planning staff work together with both consulting firms, and both study groups to ensure that the end result will be a well-integrated and harmonious set of plans and policies. And further, that representatives from both consulting firms attend public meetings for both areas.
  
  
  
  4. St.Clair Transit - the future of the TTC right of way project is on hold at present because the issue is before the courts. David Shanoff read the following report to the meeting to try to clarify how the issue is being dealt with.

     "On October 11, the Ontario Divisional Court stopped the work on the St.Clair transit project. No reasons have been disclosed, because subsequent events have prevented the judges from issuing their formal reasons. So we do not know why the court stopped the work.
     
     Following that decision, the City argued that there was an appearance of bias against the City by one of the judges.
     
     The judges said they had independently reached the conclusion that the project should be stopped. However, two of the judges decided that while they don't believe their decision was tainted, their decision should be set aside and they called for a new panel of judges to re-hear the case. Last Friday, November 18, the Save Our St. Clair group (SOS) announced it is seeking leave to appeal this last decision and is asking the Ontario Court of Appeal to uphold the original decision made on October 11."

  5. Other
     Councillor Palacio congratulated everyone in RHRA for all the hard work put into the maintenance of this community. A special acknowledgement of thanks was given to Dick and Florence Watts for their vision and leadership given tirelessly to the RHRA community year after year.
     
     Councillor Palacio also reported that new protocols and guidelines for the erection of communication towers is expected to be in place nationwide within the next couple of months. This will enable the community to give input prior to the erection of future towers.
     
     Mike Foderick reported that he is working with the area planner and the owner of 1130 Davenport (recently demolished by fire) on redevelopment of the site with uses that harmonize well with surrounding development.

  Closing remarks were made by 9 pm by Chairman Watts. People were thanked for attending.
  
  The next General Meeting will be on May 16, 2006 at Oakwood Collegiate.
  
  The next executive meeting, which anyone is welcome to attend, will be held on January 17, 2006 at the Keating residence , 99 Springmount Ave. at 7:30 pm.