Looks Like It's Up To Us

I live at 109 Westbury Crescent and have lived here for 40 years. In the last few years, the scrap yard behind our house has become increasingly annoying to the neighbourhood. More than just an annoyance, it has become dangerous to the community. Waking up to explosions on August 24th was the last straw for many of us.

Sean Kloosterman at 81 Westbury Crescent has outlined the resident's efforts to remove the scrap yard from our neighbourhood. Only to be told that the scrap yard has a right to exist at their present location. We have since learned that there are now 2 scrap yards operating on Hyde Avenue! One at 75 Hyde Avenue - Waxman Recycling has been here for 50 years and recently sold 96 Hyde Avenue to GB Scrap metal Ltd. Even though the two scrap yards at 96 and 75 Hyde Avenue have been disregarding the noise bylaws and fire code bylaws for years, they are still able to operate, annoy and pollute...and apparently multiply.

I was told to fill out noise logs for a 3 week period (along with 2 neighbours) so I did so EVERY DAY that I heard noise before 7AM. I submitted them to Enforcement Officer Bryan McGuire in late October. Mr. McGuire called me to inform me that they could not charge either scrap yard as I could not document which exact scrapyard was operating and what the exact noise was that I was hearing. Ugh.

He told me that they have been visiting the area the last few weeks and have warned the scrap yards that they will be charged if they operate before 7AM. At least it has been quiet before 7AM for the first time in years. I have since distributed flyers to local residents with the following information to log complaints. We were told be the supervisors that they would send investigators out to check on these yards each time they received a complaint...we'll see:

Noise Violations: Joe Luzi - Supervisor Licensing & Standards 416-394-8575 or Email: jluzi@toronto.ca
Fire violations : Glenn Misiurski - District Chief of Fire Prevention 416-338-9450
or Email: GMISI@toronto.ca

I've just received fire reports from the City of Toronto since 2000 for 96 Hyde and I am awaiting information from the Province regarding previous environmental violations/fines. I'll include this information in future posts.