This past June, our Councillor requested Parks, Forestry and Recreation (PFR) to develop criteria to determine sites acceptable for Commercial Dog Walkers and to propose a list of acceptable sites across the City (MM19.3). This will be included as part of the review and update to the City’s approach to dogs off-leash areas, requested by Council in October 2023 (2023.IE6.8).

As part of the public engagement to develop this criteria, the City is conducting a survey for all residents, which can be accessed through Toronto.ca/OLAStudy. If you are a dog owner, non-dog owner, or Commercial Dog Walker, they’d like to hear from you. The survey will be open until October 31, 2024.

If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to email me at john.danner2@toronto.ca.

Our local bike lanes are becoming increasingly popular with bicycles and now, e-bikes, e-scooters and e-mopeds. Each are very different in size, weight, and speed. The latter three each pose an opportunity for transportation and exercise, but also issues for pedestrians and other non-powered cyclists. And regulation has not caught up. This Global and Mail article neatly sums up the story.

The City of Toronto has implemented the following changes for short-term rental operators like Airbnb and booking.com, effective June 30 of this year: 

  • Operators will need to post a physical copy of the emergency contact information and exit diagrams prominently in the rental for the duration of the guest’s rental period. 
  • The 40-day registration revocation process will be reduced to a 10-day process. The appeal process will remain to allow operators to provide evidence and information to explain why their registration should not be revoked. 
  • Revised definitions of short-term rental, principal residence and dwelling unit clarify the bylaw and make it easier for operators to understand the regulations.
  • Licensed multi-tenant house operators will be prohibited from applying for a short-term rental registration. 

Changes coming into effect in September 2024 will reportedly strengthen the principal residence requirements, authorize annual inspections and introduce a limit of one registration per dwelling unit. Starting January 2025, the operator registration fees will increase and operators will be required to choose between registering as either an entire-unit operator (i.e. short-term renting entire home) or as a partial-unit operator (i.e. short-term renting only rooms in the home) for the duration of their registration period. 

More information on the bylaw changes and an updated Good Operator Guide are available at toronto.ca/ShortTermRentals. For any questions regarding the new rules, please email ShortTermRentals@toronto.ca.

If you walk or need a walking aid to get around Bloor West Village, this map is a great way to see where hazards, missing amenities or recent incidents have happened on our sidewalks and paths. It’s like Waze, but for when you’re not in a car.

Be sure to allow the site to access your location, so that you get the most accurate information.

The City is arranging for a public consultation period for basement flooding in our area which can experience basement and recurring surface flooding during extreme rainfall events. A study is underway to determine the contributing factors to surface and basement flooding. The City is recommending solutions to improve the City’s sewer system and drainage routes in order to mitigate flooding problems.The study recommendations include:

  • New storm sewers and catchbasins on local roads
  • Replacing existing sewers with larger pipes that have more capacity
  • Three (3) new large relief sewers, the Sunnyside, Garrison and Cabbagetown relief sewers, to provide additional capacity to relieve the existing overburdened sewers
  • Underground tanks or in-line storage pipes in new or replacement sewers to store excess storm water during extreme rainfall events
  • Vertical storage shafts in relief sewers

More information on the study is available in the attached newsletter and at toronto.ca/downtownbf. The City is hosting a virtual public meeting to share details about the study recommendations. The meeting will include a presentation followed by a Question and Answer period.

The meeting details are as follows:

Date and time: Tuesday, June 25, 2024 from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m.

Register: https://toronto.webex.com/weblink/register/r3512ce3eaafdbd2826521549bb0e32e6

If you would like to attend this meeting please register in advance using the above link.

Completed just this past week is a study on the recent effects of new bike lanes established along Bloor Street West in our neighbourhood. In short, the volume of bikes using the lanes has increased together with a reduction of bikes using our sidewalks. To read more and see the full stats, click here. As summer gets underway, the BWVA is very encouraged by these results.