Toronto businesses wary of construction projects, consultant calls for change

Church-Wellesley Village is well-established as one of the largest 2SLGBTQ+ communities in the country, full of shops, cafes and restaurants that come alive especially in the warmer weather.

Last Easter Monday, the sun shone with temperatures above 11 degrees, prompting The Garage, bar and restaurant on the corner of Church and Maitland streets, to open its patio for the first time this spring.

“Customers have been enjoying the sunshine at our tables,” said bar manager Frankie Palermo.

But that happy afternoon ran into an obstacle.

“Suddenly, construction crews appeared and began digging up the sidewalk at the front entrance. People had to move inside because of the noise and dust.”

The work also blocked customer access to and from the front of the bar.

Palermo called the owner of the bar to find out what was going on.

“Neither he nor I received any notice that this would happen,” he said.

According to Palermo, customers began to stream out of the facility, forced to use the back employee entrance “which goes through our trash and recycling area.”

Crews also tore up the sidewalks in front and outside of the facility.

“If customers wanted to come in, they had to go down the street to get in our back door, so people thought we were closed.”

Palermo said they were told by a construction manager working for a third-party contractor hired by the city that the work would be done quickly, but the project stalled after rain.

“Our main entrance was not accessible at this time.” Palermo said. “We put up signs to use the back entrance, but it affected the business, it was dead here.”

Due to incessant rain, the work was delayed and was finally completed after six days.

“I think we lost about $15,000 because of this job,” bar owner Tyler Oliveira told CityNews. “We are trying to find out why we were not notified. We could have planned this in advance.”

Oliveira and members of the Church-Wellesley Business Improvement Area (BIA) began contacting the city to investigate, but said it was difficult to get a response.

“No one seems to know what happened here,” said BIA President Adam Wynn.

This incident is not isolated, says the consultant

In search of answers, the BIA reached out to District 13 Councilman Chris Moise, who represents the Village of Church-Wellesley. He told CityNews that the project was approved by Toronto City Council several years ago to create curbs and other improvements to improve pedestrian safety.

“But we didn't know when that would happen,” Moise said. “Normally, with my office, the BIA and affected businesses are supposed to receive written notice from the third-party contractor, and for whatever reason, that didn't happen.”

Moise looked into it a bit more and reached out to other council members.

“I have heard from other councilors that this has happened in their wards. Projects started without warning, so there is a loophole in the system that we need to fix.”

Moise will meet with city staff this week to discuss what went wrong.

“I'm looking at whether I should make a recommendation to the council to prevent this from happening again,” he said.

CityNews contacted city staff and the contractor told them that a verbal notification was sent to the garage owner's father because the owner was not present at the time, a claim Oliveira and his father denied.

“We had no warning,” Oliveira said.

In any case, city officials responded by saying proper protocols were not followed.

“The City of Toronto follows a multifaceted notification protocol determined by the size, scope and scope of the project. These may include pre-construction and construction notices, on-site signage, personal notices and letters to affected parties delivered at various stages of the project's life cycle,” a city spokesperson said.

“In this case, although individual notice was given, a more involved notice process seems to better suit the property owner's needs. The City takes their feedback very seriously and will take steps to ensure that any construction or renovation is done with appropriate notice and in partnership with the individuals and/or businesses involved.”

The bar owner is demanding compensation for lost profits

Oliveira said he wants to be reimbursed for the money he says he lost because of the construction, but Kuhn said. Moise, there's nothing in current city policy that provides for that, but it's something he's looking into.

“The city pays these contractors and there should be some sort of fines if it hurts the business,” he said. “These are the things I'm looking at. I want to gather as much information as possible and submit a proposal to the council.”

But Kon. Moise said any future policy change is unlikely to replace Oliveira.

“As far as I know, we can't reverse such an action. My job now is to see what I can do to make sure it doesn't happen again, and that's my main focus.”

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