Eglinton residents decry chopping down mature trees for LRT construction

Eglinton residents are outraged after they received word that trees in their neighbourhood might be at risk of being cut down for the construction of the new light rail line.

The “mature” trees located at Eglinton Park are set to be bulldozed, according to residents, and they have decided to hold a special meeting to protest the destruction on Tuesday night.

“Let our councillors, city staff and Metrolinx representatives know that we must reduce harm to our precious park in the shadow of this mammoth construction project,” said the flyer created by residents.

Residents call the park a sanctuary in a busy urban area.

“This part of town has a green deficiency, 40,000 more people and nowhere to spread out but little parks,” Eglinton Park Resident Association President Tom Cohen said.

Just last week, over 140 residents in the area signed a petition claiming that the racket coming from the construction of building the LRT is severe and causing people to lose sleep.

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“The noise and vibration is due to the service locomotives that run approximately every 30 minutes in both tunnels,” the petition states. “We are proposing that Metrolinx adjust their schedule so that this down time occurs between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. weeknights thus permitting the project to finish on time and residents to sleep.”

Local businesses in the area said they were given a map from Metrolinx that shows the plan to chop at least a dozen trees.

“The frontage of the North Toronto Memorial Community Centre has been identified as the best location for construction staging and laydown for Avenue Station,” Metrolinx spokesperson Anne Marie Aikins said.

Aikins said that occupying this land is necessary to meet construction schedules on-time and on-budget.

“Our review led to a major reduction in the size of the proposed construction staging area, leaving the western-most portion of the originally proposed staging area undisturbed,” she said. “Two thirds of the identified trees have now been removed from the proposed use of a portion of the park.”

She added that the city has removed four to five trees in the west part of the park since the inventory was done and the trees removed were diseased and dying.

The green space, just west of Yonge Street, is to become a staging area for the next four years of construction. The entire 19-kilometre transit line is expected to be completed by 2020.

“Everything is last-minute,” said Councillor Christin Carmichael-Greb, who is hoping Metrolinx will consider another option.

Aikins said the tree removal permits are in the application stage and no firm date for removal has been set as discussions are still underway.

The meeting will take place Tuesday at 7 p.m. at the North Toronto Community Centre.