THE FOLLOWING IS A SUMMARY OF OUR AGM - FOR THE ENTIRE TRANSCRIPTION PLEASE CONTACT A MEMBER OF THE EXECUTIVE
Oriole Park Association
Annual General Meeting – Virtual Zoom
Thursday May 7, 2026 6:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
In attendance – Special Guests: Councillor Josh Matlow, Ward 12 (Toronto-St. Paul’s); Nika Lennox, Advisor, Transportation & Constituency Relations, Councillor Matlow’s office; Jim Baker, President, Avenue Road Eglinton Community Association (ARECA).
Oriole Park Association Directors: Dave McMahon, President; Lynne Frank Vice-President; Daryle Hunt, Vice-President; Steve Sims, Treasurer; Bruce Huggins; James Houlachan; Richard MacFarlane, Special Advisor.
Regrets: Paul Nimigon, Ron Hutchinson, Eric Lascelles, Olivier Goldhar.
Residents: Charlotte Ryan, Andrew Vernon-Betts, Carrol Paleothodoros, Allan Redford, David Doyle, Susan Johnston, Nora Guinane, Liz Clunie, Tina Fedson, Jeff Kerr, Sonita Horvitch.
Oriole Park Association, Annual General Meeting – AGENDA
6:45 p.m. Online Registration Commences
7:00 p.m. President’s Welcome – Dave McMahon
7:05 p.m. Guest Speaker – Councillor Josh Matlow for Ward 12 (Toronto-St. Paul’s)
President’s Welcome – Dave McMahon
Dave McMahon welcomed everyone to the OPA Annual General Meeting. He referred to the history of the association, established in 1954, now 72 years old. He thanked Councillor Josh Matlow for his attendance and upcoming presentation. He summarized the Agenda, approval of 2024 AGM minutes, followed by Committee Reports, and a Question and Answer session.
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Lynne Frank, AGM Meeting Chair
Lynne Frank welcomed everyone. Lynne introduced Councillor Josh Matlow, highlighting his long service as Toronto-St. Paul’s councillor since 2010, and previously, Ward Trustee. She paid tribute to Josh’s initiatives such as securing the new the Davisville Community and Aquatic Centre, Completion is expected in February 2027
Councillor Josh Matlow
MTSAs. Major Transit Station Areas. You’ve heard a lot of news about the Province of Ontario changing the planning legislation to encourage high density housing near transit stations. “It’s about building as much as you want, as high as you want, next to transit stations.” It’s another one of those arbitrary decisions that doesn’t take into account the community views. I am sure you would agree that it’s about fostering well planned communities, as opposed to the “build high-rises anywhere near a transit hub without much thought to the consequences to people who live there.”
Canada Square at Yonge/Eglinton
I have also kept track of the Canada Square property at Yonge/Eglinton. As you know, we worked very closely with the ratepayer associations and stakeholders, those who were part of the Midtown Working Group in 2021. We want to have better public spaces, more community benefits, and more amenities. We’re still not satisfied. We’re still negotiating with Oxford Properties.
Oriole Parkway Median Project
This is a beautification plan. Your median is coming back greener and better. We’re finally getting it done. I worked for years on this. I appreciate that some residents are opposed. But we specifically created “cut throughs” to provide access from the road to driveways. I’m really proud of that. It should be beautiful. I am excited to see it finished, hopefully in June 2026.
Traffic Safety, Congestion, and Intersections
I’d like to introduce Nika Lennox, my transportation advisor. We’ve addressed a lot of pedestrian and traffic safety issues, for example, installing a four-way stop at Tranmer. I like this comprehensive approach. It has to be done in a thoughtful way.
Improving Davisville Avenue
We have been going through a public consultation process to beautify Davisville. We want to ensure that Davisville is a beautiful, functional, and safe street.
Elmsthorpe Road and College View Avenue
We are looking at installing signage there to aid the crosswalk requirement. There was a recommendation to pave over the road interlock but the residents have opposed this. We will leave the interlock as it is and have the white crosswalk markings painted again.
Neshama Public Park Playground
We are working on replacing the signage. It has gone missing.
President’s Remarks – Dave McMahon
In the past two years, we have witnessed a changing dynamic in our Oriole Park community. Residents have become more cynical about the political realm and they are losing hope about development. The number of people coming out to meetings is dwindling.
We have had some success with the opening of the Eglinton Crosstown LRT. At the same time, we’ve had complaints about length of station concourse and the depth of the escalators. There were a number of issues about tunnelling. We will discuss this with Metrolinx.
Lynne Frank
I’d like to move a motion to approve the November 21, 2024 AGM meeting minutes. Minutes were approved unanimously.
Our OPA bylaws indicate that we should have an Annual General Meeting every 10 to 15 months. I am moving a motion to increase, retroactively, the length of time between OPA AGM meetings. Bruce Huggins seconded Lynn’s motion. Amendment approved unanimously.
Treasurer’s Report – Steve Sims
Our 2026 OPA memberships were half of what we collected, for instance, in Year 2020.
Our financial statement does not reflect the amount of voluntary activity by our Board of Directors and what goes on behind the scenes, for example, regarding traffic and development issues.
A year or two ago, we stopped doing a printed OPA newsletter. Since then, we have discussed going back to producing a printed newsletter to generate more new members.
More of our expenses are for two or three items. For advertising, we spent $500 in 2026, and our website and internet costs in 2026 are $1,345. The balance is plus or minus $1,000, year to year. In 2023, $12,621. In 2024, $13,187. In 2025, $13,276.
Committee Reports
Pedestrian and Traffic Safety Report – Eric Lascelles and Olivier Goldhar
as read by Dave McMahon
The City of Toronto is examining traffic along Eglinton Avenue and Avenue Road to mitigate congestion. Pursuing several initiatives to improve traffic flow in our neighbourhood. These include lengthening of the stoplight at Avenue Road and creating a left turn lane from northbound Avenue Road to westbound on Eglinton Avenue.
There will be a new street plan for Davisville. From traffic going east bound on Chaplin Crescent to northbound on Yonge Street, we will get a left-hand turn lane as part of a broader Davisville redesign. The current city proposal includes a dedicated right turn light from eastbound Chaplin to southbound Yonge Street which should prove helpful.
There is an exploration of pedestrian safety in the vicinity of Chaplin and Oriole, with aspirations to improve the paralyzed traffic flow along Chaplin to Oriole Parkway and Avenue Road. But this is only preliminary.
The crosswalk lines will be painted at College View Avenue and Elmsthorpe Road, across from Oriole Park Junior Public School. Signage will be changed there. As Councillor Matlow said, the Oriole Parkway median project is underway.
Development – Richard MacFarlane, Special Advisor
There is a lot of condo development proposed, appealed, and approved at and near Yonge/Eglinton. I’m focusing on the 29-45 Berwick Avenue condo tower proposal.
This proposed development involves the demolition of five single family homes on the south side of Berwick Avenue. As I said at the Toronto and East York Community Council meeting on February 19, 2026, “We fervently hope that City councillors will stand up and vote to reject this ludicrous proposal.”
At Toronto and East York Community Council on February 19, 2026, Agenda Item TE29.13, then approved at City Council on March 25 and 26, 2026, Councillor Josh Matlow had his motion to support the City of Toronto sending City staff [in this instance, two City lawyers have been registered as Party Status] to challenge the developer at the Ontario Land Tribunal. The introductory OLT Case Management Conference was held on March 11, 2026. Such was the extent of opposition, and there were at least 25 area residents, including 6 from The Berwick, a 17-storey condo that was deliberately approved as a mid-rise building, stepping down from the Canada Square towers at 45 to 65 storeys, who sent their letters of opposition and spoke out against this development that Madam Chair Gwen Croser, OLT Member, allowed a second introductory OLT meeting to be held on June 1, 2026. If additional residents wish to register as a Participant and submit a Written Statement, they are welcome to do so, Croser stated.
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Development – Richard MacFarlane, Special Advisor (cont’d)
On February 23, 2026, I walked the neighbourhood and hand delivered my double-sided 1-page bulletin to 225 homes along Berwick Avenue, Duplex Crescent, Duplex Avenue, Hillsdale Avenue West, Anderson Avenue, Colin Avenue, Imperial Street, Chaplin Crescent, and as far west as Oriole Parkway, beyond the usual standard perimeter where the developer lawyer delivers OLT Hearing legal notification. I advised residents of this 49-storey development proposal. I spoke to some residents. They are alarmed, emotionally distraught, and immensely concerned about this proposal.
Community Police Liaison Committee – Paul Nimigon
as read by Dave McMahon
On April 27, 2026, there was a meeting of the Community Police Liaison Committee at Toronto Police Services 53 Division headquarters.
Toronto Non-Emergency Tool (TNET)
There was a presentation about the new Toronto Non-Emergency Tool (TNET),
Initiated on March 10, 2026. A new AI tool is in place to field non-emergency calls quickly. They have had great success with improved response times and people not
calling 911 for non-emergency issues.
Residential Neighbourhood Security Patrols
Various ratepayer groups attended this meeting. They discussed how communities can hire third party security staff to patrol specific areas. If 100 homeowners are interested, the cost is split accordingly. Cameras are placed at key locations to discourage home invasions, car thefts. A new version of “Neighbourhood Watch”.
Toronto Police Services Events
June 6, 2026 - Police Open House, 53 Division. 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. June 29, 2026 – Next meeting of the Community Policy Liaison Committee at 6:00 p.m. Community - Police Barbecue - Fall date - TBD
In September, we will meet with Di Di Cameron who runs the Neighbourhood Watch Program at Lawrence Park, to talk about initiatives by other ratepayer associations who are starting virtual community patrol programs.
Election of OPA Directors, 2026-2027 – Lynne Frank
We will now elect our OPA Directors for 2026-2027. Deborah Staiman is stepping down after assisting us for many years. Deborah did wonders for her annual OPA garage sale event in the neighbourhood.
Oriole Park Association Directors Elected, 2026-2027
President – VACANT ; Lynne Frank, Vice-President; Daryle Hunt, Vice-President;Steve Sims, Treasurer;
Directors - Bruce Huggins, James Houlachan, Paul Nimigon, Ron Hutchinson, Eric Lascelles, Olivier Goldhar; David McMahon(Past President ; Richard MacFarlane, Special Advisor
General
The annual MayFair at Oriole Park Junior Public School is coming soon.
[It will be held on Saturday May 30, 2026]
Adjournment
Meeting adjourned at 8:30 p.m
These Oriole Park Association Annual General Meeting minutes of May 7, 2026 were prepared by Richard MacFarlane, Special Advisor to the OPA.