North York Rose Garden (Toronto, Ontario)

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some pictures at www.bridalspace.com/more/Th100762-1.htm
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It might just be a rose garden but to the nearly 100 people who showed up at a community meeting earlier this month, saving the small plot from being razed was of the utmost importance.

The community and the local councillor, Willowdale’s John Filion, met for a couple of hours on April 19 to brainstorm ways to save the garden from development and keep it as a public space. Filion said he organized the meeting gauge the amount of interest in the community and was pleasantly surprised at the "fantastic turnout."

A smaller working group was formed to deal with the issue. The crowd, made up mostly of seniors, talked about starting petitions and getting media attention to raise awareness of their cause.

"There are a number of things we can do to help us put the pressure on when it comes down to it — we’ll have more bargaining power," Filion told the concerned group of residents.

The flowerbed is located on the corner of Yonge St. and Park Home on land owned by Imperial Oil. It’s been there for the past 15 years. Imperial Oil had intentions of building its head office there at one point but changed its mind. The rose garden has since been maintained as a public space and Imperial Oil had never sought to sell the land until now.

They’ve been shopping for a buyer for months now with bidding closing March 31, said Filion. He hadn’t yet heard if the prime piece of real estate had been sold. At one point, Menkes, a real estate development firm, made a serious offer but reportedly withdrew its bid.

The land is worth a lot of money and debating the community over the rose garden was perhaps not worth their trouble, said Filion.

"I think they heard discouraging noises from myself and planning staff and figured it was more trouble than it’s worth," he said.

He estimated the land would sell for around $35 million, much to the disappointment of one lady who wondered out loud if she could buy the property to save it.

The land is currently zoned for high-density commercial use but the residents told their councillor they were worried another Menkes-type developer would come along, apply for rezoning and build yet another condominium tower in its place.

Filion told them that would be a "mistaken assumption" on the part of the developer and that the city wouldn’t permit the rezoning. But he admitted a case like this could end up at the Ontario Municipal Board.

towncrieronline.ca/main/main.php?direction=viewstory&st...

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Basically, a peice of private property which the owner now wants to sell much to the oposition of local activists.