Residents of High Park in Toronto, Canada, have expressed numerous concerns over plans for two new apartment buildings.
According to TorontoToday, Elysium Investments wants to build a 41-storey and 39-storey tower in the High Park area, replacing 11 houses beside residential neighborhoods. The two buildings would comprise 875 rental units with two or more bedrooms.
At a city-run consultation on the project, over 100 residents voiced their concerns, ranging from parking spaces to zoning changes to basement flooding. Many were also worried that the development would harm High Park's natural ecosystems, namely by threatening black oak savannahs.
These savannahs are a rare ecosystem that has already been drastically reduced by human development and expansion. The savannahs once spanned almost 5 million acres, but now they cover less than 25,000 acres.
The ecosystem has existed for at least 4,000 years, and many locals want to protect what's left of it. The proposed site for the new apartment towers contains three rare black oak trees. One local argued that the construction would destroy one tree and hurt another.
Nigel Terpstra, director of development for Elysium Investments, told TorontoToday via email that his experts concluded the site is not part of the natural oak savannah ecosystem, and that two of the three trees are already marked for preservation.
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People also expressed concern for how excessive stormwater runoff might impact local animals. In the email, Terpstra wrote, "The proposed development does not have any direct pathway to affect flora or fauna within the park."
Uncontrolled stormwater runoff would be a serious problem, possibly flooding people's basements and worsening soil and water pollution. However, Terpstra claimed the towers would improve water control and lessen flood risk.
Hopefully, the developers will consider local concerns and create rental housing that doesn't negatively impact residents, infrastructure, or the surrounding environment. However, Toronto's recent renovation of beloved College Park is a prime example of good intentions gone wrong.
The Elysium team had answers to every concern, and the new towers would ease Toronto's worsening housing crisis. But people were still against the plan.
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A resident pleaded with city officials, saying, "If you want me to get on my hands and knees, I will … I am begging you, do not allow this development to happen. It will destroy our neighbourhood. It will destroy everything."
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