New Petition: The City ignores toxic site by design - 21 Windermere Ave, Swansea Mews

The City of Toronto has adopted a TCHC Proposal 35-storey and 20-storey towers and a cluster of mid-rises at 21 Windermere Avenue, the former Swansea Mews, on a site where the applicant's own contractors confirmed lead at 30 times the Ontario residential safety limit, plus mercury, cadmium, arsenic and methane above the provincial screening threshold. No Record of Site Condition has been filed with the Province. The City voted to approve on March 25, 2026 on a decision report that did not disclose any of this to the Planning and Housing Committee. Deputants did. And they were ignored.

A mere three weeks later, the same Council unanimously deferred a smaller 11-storey building at 419-425 Woodbine on far less severe contamination. Councillor Brad Bradford moved that deferral. He sits on the same Planning and Housing Committee chaired by retiring Ward 4 Councillor Gord Perks. Bradford was absent without explanation from the meeting where Swansea Mews was approved to go to Council by 3 of 6 members. The same standard, applied to a smaller site in someone else's ward, was not applied here.  Please sign and share our petition because we need your help:  https://c.org/RVzBCWbw7X

The site is a block from High Park, two blocks from Lake Ontario, above the aquifer that drains into Grenadier Pond — a Provincially Significant Wetland. The applicant's own consultants confirmed further investigation is required to delineate the contamination, and that the contaminated water cannot be discharged into the sewer system without treatment. Neither has been done.

Also ignored is a better plan. Swansea Park, swanseapark.ca , is the work of a licensed architect and 20-year Swansea resident. It delivers more affordable homes, faster (about two years instead of four to five), cheaper for the taxpayer, and by design the layout and landscaping cap and contain the site contamination instead of disturbing 10 metres of toxic peat next to the Lake. The 108 families displaced on May 27, 2022 have never been shown it, but Perks knows it full well.  

Perks chaired the Planning and Housing Committee meeting and has been promoting the towers, all before he exits for others to hold the baggage. He also sits as a Director on the Toronto Community Housing Board whose application this is. He retires in October. He wants Site Plan Approval pushed through before the required Record of Site Condition is on file, before he rides out of town. This is unacceptable. 

The Toronto Star has reported on this. The Province has opened a file: MECP Case 357-2026-1214. Minister McCarthy at the Ministry of the Environment is investigating. Minister Flack at the Ministry of Housing needs to step in.

This affects every Torontonian who drinks tap water from Lake Ontario, walks in High Park, or believes their City builds on facts.

Please sign, share, and send to your friends:

Petition: https://c.org/RVzBCWbw7X

It will also be helpful if you send 2 short notes - 

To Minister McCarthy (Environment): minister.mecp@ontario.ca Cc: premier@ontario.ca · minister.mah@ontario.ca Subject: : Re: Case 357-2026-1214, 21 Windermere Avenue

"Dear Minister McCarthy, I support the Ministry's investigation. I am asking the Province to pause Site Plan Approval until the Record of Site Condition is filed and the contamination is properly addressed. The 108 displaced families, the taxpayers, and the Lake deserve a development built on a complete record."

To Minister Flack (Housing): minister.mah@ontario.ca Cc: premier@ontario.ca · minister.mecp@ontario.ca Subject: 21 Windermere — OPA 888 / ZBA 238-2026

"Dear Minister Flack, I am asking the Province to pause Site Plan Approval at 21 Windermere and direct a thorough assessment of the site. The City's planning instruments were adopted on March 25, 2026 with no Record of Site Condition on file (parallel MECP Case 357-2026-1214). The 108 displaced families, the taxpayers, and Lake Ontario deserve a development built on a complete record."
[your name] [address / phone]

The full evidentiary record is at SwanseaMatters.com.

Thank you for helping us be heard