Noise barrier cut from TTC budget

Proposal to erect noise buffer near Allen and Eglinton chopped
Toronto councillor pushes for project to be added back in TTC budget
Kris Scheuer
(Written for Town Crier Jan.20)

Residents living near Eglinton’s Allen Expressway on-ramp say they are furious with TTC for quashing a plan to put a noise barrier between their neighbourhood and a noisy commuter lot.
The approved noise barrier project was noticeably absent when TTC presented its 2011 capital budget in January.

Residents Tom Sandler, left, and Randy Daiter are petitioning the TTC to restore funding for a noise barrier near Allen Road. Photo by Francis Crescia/Town Crier.

For years, residents living on Wembley Road have complained about honking, beeping and cursing from drivers competing to enter the expressway from Eglinton Avenue, and the noise coming from an adjacent commuter parking lot.
Four years ago, local councillor Joe Mihevc began pushing for funding of a noise barrier along the north side of the lot and the south side of the road’s residential properties.
“There’s been a 10-year plan for all the noise barriers on the Allen,” Mihevc said. “This is the last piece.”
In 2010, about $1.2 million was approved for the noise barrier. The plan was to design and tender it for contract this year, then build it in 2012, Mihevc said.
But there’s been a change of heart at the transit commission.

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Junior Academy wall may mean trees lost

Private school ordered to put up wall for privacy, noise barrier
Complying could mean trees damaged and cut down in process
Kris Scheuer
(Written for Town Crier June 17.)

Junior Academy parent Marva Gragtmans's concerned if a masonry wall is built, trees could be cut down or injured in process. Photo by Kris Scheuer/Town Crier.

Junior Academy is in a quandary.
It was told by the Ontario Municipal Board to build a masonry wall between the school and its neighbours to lessen noise and increase privacy for residents next door.
However, to do that the school may have to remove five trees and damage 18 others says an arborist hired by the school.
“No one in the community benefits from the destruction of 10–12 trees,” said Junior Academy parent Marva Gragtmans. “In North Toronto we have a great canopy but we are losing old trees especially in storms.”
Instead, the school is proposing erecting a wooden fence to comply with the 2006 ruling which required the construction of a 2.4-metre high masonry wall at the Bayview and Lawrence facility.