Some 74 townhomes are slated to built on the ML Ready Mix cement site.
Some Mimico residents say they cannot wait for the start of construction of townhomes on Judson Street to get rid of a controversial ML Ready Mix gravel hatching plant.
An application by Dunpar Homes was approved by the City of Toronto in 2016 to construct 72 four-storey townhouses at 49, 53 and 55 Judson Street. There will also be a three-storey commercial building with 28 units at the rear of the site.
The complex is doors away from now-shut ML Ready Mix, at 29 Judson Street, which residents have complained about for years due to the noise, dust and pollution caused by the heavy truck traffic.
Judson Street residents have complained about a concrete hatching facility they say created noise and pollution.
The property was eventually purchased by the City of Toronto. At one time a 17-storey had been planned to be built on the site, but that has since been scrapped.
The townhome site borders on Willowbrook Rail Yard, Metrolinx Lakeshore West rail corridor, the Willowbrook rail maintenance and re-fuelling facility and VIA Rail’s train fuelling and maintenance facility, and will be accessed by a series of fire routes and private laneways.
It is part of the Mimico-Judson Secondary Plan area, which is one of seven re-designated from a Regeneration Area to Mixed Use.
Dan Irwin, a community activist, said residents are in the dark as to when work will begin on the construction of the townhomes.
“Right now the property seems to be rented out for the storage of construction equipment,” Irwin said. “There are noise, crashing and back up beepers from vehicles going on all night long.”
He and other Judson Street residents fought successfully to have Ready Mix closed or moved and would now like to see a park on the site.
The proposed townhomes includes 72 parking spaces for residents, 24 for residential visitors and 71 for commercial occupants and visitors. Some72 spaces would be indoor and 95 on surface parking.
There are three existing low rise buildings on the site facing development, and they include an early 20th century house and warehouse, an office building, a second office building and a number of silos, the report said.
Portions of the south and west property lines are proposed to be lined by new 13 metre, acoustical walls. Along other portions of the site boundaries, an existing six metre acoustical walls would remain in place.