Seaton Village Residents' Association

PRE CONSTRUCTION NEWS: The construction fencing was installed Friday, surrounding the playground and along the construction route from the playground to Rossmore, south of Bill Bolton. People will be able to use the playground over the weekend and access the west door to Bill Bolton from the south part of the park.

City forestry will be pruning low hanging branches off of a few trees to facilitate construction access through the park from Rossmore to the playground. The branches obstruct large truck access. The pruning is necessary so trucks don’t rip the branches causing greater damage to the tree.

Approximately four trees are being pruned for construction access.

The big Manitoba Maple, by the sandbox, which is at the end of its magnificent and very useful life, will be removed early next week.

RENEWAL UPDATE  from ANDREW IGNATIEFF – VSPRC CHAIR

Start Date: April 2nd, 2012

Anticipated completion: week of June 28th, 2012

Construction will begin on Monday, April 2nd and continue until the week of June 28th, focusing on the rehabilitation of the playground play area and replacement of the equipment. MOPAL indicated that construction would start on April 2nd, barring any major climatic interruption, even such as continuing downpours or significant snowfall on or before the start date.

In the first week, an enclosure wall will be built around the playground, outside the existing fence line. On the north side of the work site, the enclosure wall will run along the line of trees expanding to include the wading pool and continuing to the fence line on Palmerston Avenue. The wading pool will not be accessible during the construction phase. (please note: City of Toronto wading pools open only  after school is dismissed for summer holidays, either the very end of June/first week of July.

During the first week of construction, protective walls (hoarding) will be built around each of the trees to be retained according to the plans. The existing playground equipment will be removed and disposed of. The ground will be cleared and graded in preparation for the rehabilitation of the play surfaces. The large tree at the south end of the play area, which is reaching the end of its life, will be removed and disposed of at the end of the first week see above note.)

Access to the work site will be off Rossmore Road, immediately to the south of the entrance of Bill Bolton Arena. The bicycle posts outside the entrance will be cut down and replaced by the City at the north side of the entrance to the arena. Access to the building site will be between Bill Bolton Arena and the berm immediately to the south. There will be an enclosed materials deposit and parking space adjoining the work site.

Bill Bolton Arena will only be accessible from the main entrance on Rossmore during this construction phase. The trees on the berm and along Bill Bolton will be protected by containment walls. It is possible that some low hanging branches may have to be pruned back to allow passage of large equipment.

MOPAL construction was made aware of the concerns about unnecessary parking and vehicle traffic on Rossmore, indicating clearly that they would transport workers to the site and any parking would be short term for supervisory visits. Only the parking space immediately in front of the entrance to the construction site might be problematic due to large trucks entering or exiting the construction site and turning onto Rossmore. They also agreed to ensure that the entrance to the construction would be cleared on a nightly basis so as to avoid a messy appearance.

There will be site meetings, likely every two weeks, at significant stages of the construction, involving PLANT, MOPAL, Bob Duguid, and representatives of the VSPRC, for construction updates and problem solving. Jonathan Macri from MOPAL will be the Project Manager.

Andrew Ignatieff,

Chair, VSPRC