Commentaire 185 – commentaires et rétroaction

Willowdale BIA

Re: Proposed Federal Electoral Boundaries in Toronto for York Centre and Bayview Finch – Division of Yonge Street

Dear Federal Electoral Boundaries Commission for Ontario:

The Willowdale Business Improvement Area is kindly requesting consideration of the impacts the proposed boundary adjustments, where it is proposed that Yonge Street from the 401 to Finch Avenue be split between York Centre and Bayview Finch. The proposed boundaries would create two districts on either side of Yonge, as opposed to Yonge Street being served within one district. A reminder that in Ontario this would most likely result in a split of representation at all levels of government.

A Business Improvement Area (BIA) is made up of commercial and industrial property owners and their non-residential tenants who join together under a volunteer Board of Management (BIA Board) to carry out improvements and promote economic development within their designated area.

The Willowdale BIA, along the Yonge Street corridor North of the Hwy 401 in Toronto is an emerging urban area with approximately 1,600 business and commercial property owners, 51,000 residents and 26,000 workers, and growing. This area is a central business hub and the main live-work-play destination for the North Toronto area. It contains about 41% of the population of the current district boundaries for Willowdale.

For your resolution, our concerns regarding the potential impacts of a proposed split along Yonge Street:

• Disjoint along this high-density main street corridor.
• Variations in service delivery to the business community in this main street corridor.
• Limited human resources for navigating further red tape due to additional advocacy required with two electoral representatives at each level of government for the same corridor.
• Variation in approaches to planning and development leading to less cohesion in the public realm.
• Further complexities during an upcoming significant public works project planned to occur along about 2.5km of Yonge St. where the proposed boundaries split the street.

Additionally, implementing these changes at this time could cause further disruption to the business community during the long-term recovery period from the economic impacts of COVID-19.

Sincerely,

The Board of Directors for the Willowdale BIA