The recent news that properties are being assembled on the west side of Avenue Road between Macpherson and McMaster avenues for development of a mid-rise condo has spurred memories of the last time a developer had eyes for the neighbourhood.
In the spring of 1962, according to a history read to a RARA meeting in 1985 by Joy Tidy, residents heard informally from a shopkeeper that there were plans to put a large shopping plaza on Avenue from McMaster to Macpherson. The first four or five houses on the side streets would be torn down for a parking lot.
City planners favoured the proposal because their surveys had shown Rathnelly comprised mostly rooming houses and duplexes with very few people owning cars. They thought a supermarket would help the neighbourhood by bringing shopping to its doorstep.
After getting confirmation of the development from the planning board, McMaster residents Jack Robson and Peter Buitenhuis went to see the local alderman, David Rotenberg. They told him that the composition of the neighbourhood was changing, there were many more families with children and apart from the destruction of the homes and character of the area, the proposed plaza would create a traffic nightmare.
Rotenberg said residents would have a better chance of changing the city’s mind if it banded together in an association, which is how RARA was formed. (This was five years before the Centennial year unilateral declaration of independence and nine years before the successful Stop Spadina campaign.)
It took several months of insistent lobbying before city hall put a stop to the development plans.
“Our first foray into the complexities of city legislation was successful,” Ms. Tidy reported. “We realized how important it was going to be for us to keep a very eagle eye and ear open for any further encroachments into our little urban oasis.”