On June 20 my wife and I attended the public meeting concerning 135 Bruce Street and certain city-owned lands and the proposal of Bruce Street Developments Limited (Medallion Corporation). After listening to the presentation by Medallion's representatives, and the concerns of my neighbours, I felt I had to start this petition to block their current proposal.

Medallion's presentation, while slick, seemed designed to mislead. Attachment 4 of the Planning Act Public Meeting Report clearly marks the proposed developments as condominiums. A condominium by definition is an owned property, whereas Medallion's representatives at the meeting admitted that all the units they plan to build will be rental units. They also claimed that the 2241 units they propose to build would house a population of 4500. According to StatsCan[1], the average household size in 2011 was 2.6, which would make the number 5827 (rounding up).  How then did they arrive at their number of 4500?

Medallion's representatives  also mentioned something about having 200 people *and* jobs per hectare of the proposed development, but other than a few convenience stores planned for the bottom of some of the proposed apartment buildings there does not seem to be any job creation in this proposal. The over-all unemployment rate in Oshawa is currently 5.8[2]. According to Oshawa This Week[3], the youth unemployment rate in Oshawa is 7.9 (meaning almost 1 in 5 youths are unemployed).  With a population of 149, 607[4] (as of 2011) means there are already 8678 unemployed people in the city (rounding up). Where will these 4500 to 5827 people work? Why does this proposal not address work growth as well as population growth?

Issue must also be taken with Medallion's proposal to amend By-law 60-94, allowing them to build apartment complexes of up to 20 stories. This proposed amendment would in no way be in Oshawa’s best interest, as it is simply a means for Medallion to cram as many rental units onto the land as possible. People who chose to live in Oshawa did so in part because it is not a city of concrete towers. People who live in the neighbourhoods adjacent to 135 Bruce Street bought their homes where they did in part because they were not located in the shadow of high-density apartment buildings. And though Medallion proposes in some places to gradually increase in height, with low-rise buildings as a “buffer”, there would only be a few hundred feet between existing homes and high-rises.

Medallion's representatives admitted during their presentation that the existing neighbourhoods around 135 Bruce Street are low-density areas. Their argument that the north end of this property touches downtown and therefore the property should be high-density is disingenuous. By their own admission the area is surrounded by low-density neighbourhoods. These neighbourhoods are mostly fully detached owned homes, including on the north side of Bruce Street directly across from the proposed site. How then does this high-density proposal, designed simply for Medallion to cram in as many rental units as they can, possibly be said to fit the current make-up of the existing communities?

This current proposal from Medallion also does not take into account the draw on current amenities. Where will the children living in these units go to school? Where will they received medical attention? What will the impact of this many units be on the postal service, the water supply, hydro, and so on?

Medallion's representatives also did not seem to want to discuss the parking or traffic situation the proposed plan would create. When pressed they admitted that there would be some underground parking for the townhomes and three-story parking lots for the apartment buildings which were misleading labelled as Landscaped Decks on Attachment 5 of the Planning Act Public Meeting Report. If one of my neighbours had not asked Medallion's representatives about parking we would never have known that the parking for the proposed buildings would be aboveground and contributing to the new concrete towerscape Medallion want to create.

In 2008, there were 607 cars per 1000 people in Canada[5]. This means between 2732 and 3387 more cars in the area. Traffic in the area around 135 Bruce Street is already heavy, especially on King and Ritson. Have studies been done to show what impact all these new vehicles will have on our traffic? Even with the proposed extensions to McKim and John I am doubtful the level of traffic would be eased. In fact, I see quite the opposite happening, with the level of vehicles in high traffic area becoming even worse, and areas in the surrounding neighbourhoods with low traffic becoming much more busy. Residents in the surrounding communities chose to settle in these areas because they are low traffic, and safer for themselves and their families. This current proposal would put that safety and ease of mind at risk.

I mentioned before that these proposed units are all rental units, which also does not match the current neighbourhoods surrounding 135 Bruce. Most of the neighbourhoods are made up of fully detached owned homes with the occasional *low-density* apartment building of two or three floors. This part of Oshawa is almost exclusively made up of home owners. It is a generally accepted fact that most people who own their own home take better care of it than renters do with their rented units[6]. In general the existing communities around 135 Bruce take great care of their properties. The current residents care about their communities and work hard to keep it clean and to show pride in themselves and their city. There is justified fear in how well maintained these rental properties will be. The Medallion representatives tried to say that since Medallion would still own the properties, they would want to keep them well maintained, but my personal experience in living in high-density apartments would show a different story. High-density apartment buildings also seem rundown, with fading paint, flickering lights, untrimmed grass, and so forth. Landlords are seldom interested in spending money, only on making it. I also happen to live right next to one of the lots Medallion owns, and they do not maintain it currently. Every year I have to call the city to complain as the lot grows wild with grass and weeds growing up to five feet in height. These weeds then come through my fence, infest my lawn, and are pushing up through my driveway causing considerable damage. If Medallion as a corporation cannot be trusted to maintain the properties now, how can we trust them to maintain them later? A quick Google search of their company also shows negative reviews of their existing rental properties.

Another aspect the current communities around 135 Bruce enjoy is how quiet the neighbourhood is. You can stand outside at night and at times hear nothing but the breeze. With between 4500 and 5827 moving into the area, that quiet will be shattered. This is especially true since all the units are to be rental units and (presumably) partially marketed to students attending Durham College.  The city has had to raid student housing before[7] and I am sure does not want to face more lawsuits from homeowners who find themselves under siege by problem students[8]. At the very least, the density of residents should be limited to low-density especially south of the John street extension, which is not included in the urban growth section of the development. As I said before, high-density and low-density do not mix.

Light noise is another concern. Over 2000 units will generate a lot more light, and with buildings of up to 20 storeys looming over us, our night sky will be a conglomeration of glowing apartment windows.

As these proposed towers would be looming over us, I am also minded of the fact that current residents will suffer a severe loss of their privacy as residents of the proposed apartment buildings will be able to look down into peoples’ backyards. Has a shadow study been conducted? Medallion's proposed twenty storey building is directly adjacent to homes.

There is also an environmental concern due to the fittings plant that used to occupy 135 Bruce. Dangerous chemicals are known to have leached into the ground[9], and there is a concern that construction on the site could blow contaminated dust into the surrounding neighbourhoods (there is a very prevalent wind at almost all times in the south-east area of 135 Bruce for instance). I understand that Medallion is in the middle of environmental testing, but I believe a third party tester should be used. The rate at which studies are found in the favour of the entity that sponsored it are staggering. If Medallion’s study says it is safe to build, and building progresses, and people start getting sick, where will the liability be? With the company that carried out the test? With the city? With Medallion?

I am also concerned by the fact that Medallion has made no effort to reach out to the existing communities to let us know about the status of the environmental testing of the site, their plans for the site, to try to make allies of the current residents, or to offer any information regarding the project until the meeting on June 20. Even then, their representatives did not offer any contact information to the concerned members of the community.

This proposal by Medallion does not take the interests of Oshawa or its current residents into account. It is purely designed as a means to generate ongoing profit for Medallion as they collect rent on these properties. Their current proposal looks to me like a future slum in the making.

While these comments may seem overwhelming negative, I do want to point out that I (and my neighbours) am not against going forward with a plan for development, just not this plan. For example, a buffer zone of fully or semi-detached homes should line the south and east portions of the site, which can move to townhouses further in, and apartments in the north west quadrant, to gradually transition from the existing, established neighbourhood of detached homes into the higher density properties as you move closer to down town - this would allow existing neighbourhoods to maintain the atmosphere and culture of their community, while allowing new residents to move into the area, fully aware of the style of neighbourhood they are moving into. There was a prior proposal for 135 Bruce that would have been a mix of free standing homes, a nursing home, a medical centre and so forth that would have been much more compatible with the existing communities and would have addressed community needs and employment.

We ask the City of Oshawa and Medallion Corporation to build a sustainable addition to the city that merges with the existing community and takes the needs of the city and its citizens (both current and future) into account.

[1] http://www.statcan.gc.ca/tables-tableaux/sum-som/l01/cst01/famil53b-eng.htm
[2] http://srv129.services.gc.ca/ei_regions/eng/oshawa.aspx?rates=1
[3] http://www.durhamregion.com/news-story/5616492-youth-unemployment-driving-up-oshawa-area-unemployment-rate/
[4] http://www.oshawa.ca/business-and-investment/demographics.asp
[5] https://web.archive.org/web/20140209114811/http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/IS.VEH.NVEH.P3
[6] Do a Google search of “pride in home ownership”.
[7] http://www.macleans.ca/education/uniandcollege/police-raid-student-houses-in-oshawa/
[8] https://www.thestar.com/news/politics/2010/04/02/homeowners_sue_oshawa_over_rowdy_student_renters.html
[9] https://industryinoshawa.wordpress.com/foundries/fittings-limited/