mole hill lives!

that lil red spec is Gwen

watching seaplanes take off is a favourite activity

Amazing news: Last night after work went out to run a quick errand and on my way home the executive director for Mole Hill CHASED me down to tell me the best thing. So remember when I told you about the developers who want to put up a big, ugly monstrosity right next to my apartment? Well, that wasn’t the ONLY place in the block where people were looking to build something- at the west end of my block there is an apartment building with a little bungalow next door- the bungalow used to be the caretaker’s home but now it is rented to a family. Behind the buildings is a little open area and those owners wanted to put up a huge monstrosity as well. They were actually further along in the process, had put in their development proposal and were supposed to have their public hearing (and the city’s vote) in June. WELL, their plan was such a mess (too big and ugly, no concept of following by-laws, where is ur fire lane, etc) that the city DESCHEDULED it and told them to start from scratch and come back with a new plan for a building no more than two storeys high.

So what does this mean for the developers next door? Well, seeing as how their idea is just as big and ugly, in all likelihood if they try to make this proposal to the city they are gonna get the same result: go away and come back when you’ve got a plan for a TEENY TINY HOUSE FOR ANTS. Basically they bought this property with the idea of putting in a big ol’ condo building they could make a huge profit from, but instead they got a 2.1 million dollar development lemon. They’ll probably keep trying (or maybe they’ll just sell it, WHO KNOWS) but I think the result from this other building shows that when it comes to developments in Mole Hill the city is on the right side.