Front steps on Wilton Street

Published by the Board in the Weekly,  June 22, 2025

At the conclusion of work on the Wilton Street steps (removing the sealant and re-sealing where the step joins the building) the contractor found the plates that hold up the steps had deteriorated significantly.

Upon learning of this, we contacted CMS. Their investigation found that the steps were not attached as per the blueprints for the mid-rise building and had been changed with no record of the change kept.

Until the sealant was removed, we had no way to be aware of this situation. Had we not found this, there would have been serious and dangerous consequences.

[Engineering firm] CMS have provided us with a plan to attach the steps. This will involve drilling 2 holes in each set of steps and then inserting pins that extend into the foundation of the building.

Unfortunately, the work we need to do will create a certain amount of noise and vibration. We ask that the members be patient while this work is done. We hope this work will start shortly. Stay tuned.

Facts about soundproofing

From the Board of Directors, The Weekly, June 8, 2025

In 1975, the Ontario Building Code (OBC) set uniform standards and technical requirements. The primary focus at that time was to minimize risk related to structural failures.

There were few requirements provided for insulation and no requirements for sound transmission (STC – sound transmission class as it is known today – was not introduced to the building code until 2020).

Woodsworth was built in 1978, and the first members arrived in 1979. Both the mid-rise and the townhouses were built to standard, at that time.

What we’ve learned about the mid-rise since then:

  • The parquet floors were laid directly on the cement with no sound abatement material under them (in fact the only floor to have sound abatement under it is the penthouse which was added when we put in the new floor).
  • There is limited insulation and no soundproofing between the units.

What we’ve learned about the townhouses:

  • The floors and ceilings are built of wood. The subfloor is laid on the joists, with little insulation and no sound abatement material. This is also true of the walls .

All of this has led to an inherent problem with sound transmission that is not present in buildings built after 2020. The board has investigated sound proofing in the past. Improvements would require removing all drywall and ceilings.

To remediate the issues, each townhouse would cost approximately $100,000. Unfortunately, it isn’t financially feasible for the co-op to undertake this work. Knowing these facts about the infrastructure of our buildings, it’s important that we are understanding and tolerant of each other when it comes to noise as we live our daily lives together in this co operative community.

Monthly Board report, June 2025

Monthly Board Report – June 2025

These updates are intended to keep members informed about the latest developments, decisions, and upcoming events within Woodsworth. Note the board is now meeting Monthly and so these updates will be published to coincide with the new monthly cadence.

PODIUM DECK PROJECT

The project is out for tender, meaning we are choosing who will do the work. Once a contract is signed and a plan in place, a Member Forum will be held. Thanks for your patience.

STAFF’S PERSONAL PHONE NUMBERS

If you have been given the personal cell phone number of an office or maintenance staff please do not use it beyond its intended purpose. You should always call the office first.

BBQS

Bbq’s on the rooftop can only be used at social events for the whole co-op, not by individual members or in tandem with a penthouse rental.

RECYCLING

The blue bins in the basement of the mid-rise are often overflowing onto the floor. On checking in with maintenance, they stated that the one most significant thing that causes this condition is the fact that people are not flattening their boxes.

Please, please, please – keep on recycling BUT flatten boxes (both large and small). Our maintenance folks are spending a couple of hours a week working on flattening boxes. The maintenance team’s time is better spent looking after priority maintenance items.

If you need help flattening your boxes, please ask a friend or neighbour to help.

If you have an assistant or personal support worker that is helping you, please make sure that they know.

All of this will help in focusing our resources where they are really needed.

BULLETIN BOARDS

Please keep in mind that items should not be removed from the bulletin boards before their due date.

OFFICE AND BOARD CORRESPONDENCE

It is a member’s responsibility to update the office when you have new contact information (i.e. email address/phone number). You must explicitly notify the Office that you want to update your information e.g.  saying “Update my email address on file to example@example.com” vs just emailing the Office a query from a new email address.

Messages from members will normally receive a prompt response from Woodsworth’s Office Staff, who handle virtually all administrative matters with little or no input from the Board. Staff have the skills and resources to resolve most issues. Matters that may require a Board decision are rapidly brought to the Board’s attention, along with background material that can speed the process.

The Board email address is to be used only for escalations from members where the office could not adequately assist, and for correspondence from committees.

INTERNAL ESCALATIONS

If you have an after hours need, please call the on-call team.
If you have issues of an administrative nature (e.g. waiting lists, pest control, priority moves, housing charge, RGI or maintenance), please contact the office. The Board does not need to be cc’d on these emails.
If you have an escalation (regarding the property manager or another issue for which no resolution has been reached) contact the Board, and specify that it is an escalation requiring action.

If you are having an issue with another member, contact the Conflict Mediation Committee.

If you have an idea – consider whether it could be addressed to a related committee. The list of Woodsworth Committees and their contact information is on the Woodsworth website.

FORMS

If you would like to submit an accommodation request, please complete the relevant Accommodation for disabilities request forms on the Woodsworth website and submit it to the office.

If you would like to receive electronic communication from Woodsworth please fill out the Electronic communications agreement on the Woodsworth website and submit it to the office.

If you would like to submit a complaint to the co-op about a violation of the co-op’s Human Rights By-law please complete and submit the Human rights complaint form on the Woodsworth website and submit it to the office.

If you would like to report an incident, complete the Incident report form on the Woodsworth website and submit it to the office. In this case, an incident would be an accident or problem you would like the co-op to be aware of and/or take action on.

See a complete list of Woodsworth forms on the Woodsworth website.

The Board reads all submissions to the inbox, and endeavors to respond quickly to business correspondence and official communications from co-op committees. Response to individual co-op members is limited to cases where Board intervention seems necessary. The Board meets just once a month and typically intervenes only on matters of overall co-op policy, or in cases where it becomes convinced that all other channels have failed. The cut off for correspondence to be covered in a board meeting is 9 days before the meeting date.

LOOKING AHEAD:

The board’s next meeting will be July 22, 2025.

Board Report May 2025

Monthly Board Report – May 2025

These updates are intended to keep members informed about the latest developments, decisions, and upcoming events within Woodsworth. Note the board is now meeting Monthly rather than Bi-weekly, and so these updates will be published to coincide with the new monthly cadence.

FRONT DOOR

The issues we’ve been having with the Mid-rise Front Door are fixed for now. The board is addressing the ongoing issues and associated costs with the contractor.

BULLETIN BOARDS

Please keep in mind that items should not be removed from the bulletin boards before their due date.

INTERNAL WAITING LIST

You may have noticed that the internal waiting list was no longer available for viewing outside the office.  A copy will be made available outside the office again for members to view.

PAPER REDUCTION

The board has been looking into the consumption of paper by the office, board and membership, and the cost of our photocopier. If you are interested in joining a sub-committee to examine this topic, please contact the board.

RECYCLING

Toronto is making changes to the blue bin program.  Have a look at the details via this link

https://www.toronto.ca/services-payments/recycling-organics-garbage/houses/what-goes-in-my-blue-bin/changes-to-the-blue-bin-recycling-program/

OFFICE AND BOARD CORRESPONDENCE

It is a member’s responsibility to update the office when you have new contact information (i.e. email address/phone number). You must explicitly notify the Office that you want to update your information e.g.  saying “Update my email address on file to example@example.com” vs just emailing the Office a query from a new email address.

Messages from members will normally receive a prompt response from Woodsworth’s Office Staff, who handle virtually all administrative matters with little or no input from the Board. Staff have the skills and resources to resolve most issues. Matters that may require a Board decision are rapidly brought to the Board’s attention, along with background material that can speed the process.

The Board email address is to be used only for escalations from members where the office could not adequately assist, and for correspondence from committees. Note that the Reconciliation Committee has rebooted for assistance with issues between members.

The Board reads all submissions to the inbox, and endeavors to respond quickly to business correspondence and official communications from co-op committees. Response to individual co-op members is limited to cases where Board intervention seems necessary. The Board meets just once a month and typically intervenes only on matters of overall co-op policy, or in cases where it becomes convinced that all other channels have failed. The cut off for correspondence to be covered in a board meeting is 9 days before the meeting date.

LOOKING AHEAD:

The board’s next meeting will be June 24, 2025.

2025. Note that members can attend the “open” section of the board meeting.

Cooperatively,

Woodsworth Board of Directors

Monthly Board Report, April 2025

These updates are intended to keep members informed about the latest developments, decisions, and upcoming events within Woodsworth. Note the board is now meeting Monthly rather than Bi-weekly, and so these updates will be published to coincide with the new monthly cadence.

PODIUM DECK REPLACEMENT

This is an upcoming project scheduled to begin in summer 2025. Please see the article in this week’s The Weekly for all the details we know now. Stay tuned! Once the contract has been finalized there will be a member forum on this topic.

HUMAN RIGHTS TRAINING

The Board has been looking into Human Rights training options for the board and members. Here are some options:

The Ontario Human Rights Commission’s eLearning module, “Human Rights 101”.

https://www3.ohrc.on.ca/en/learning/human-rights-101-3rd-edition-2020

Another helpful training module is “Human Rights and Rental Housing”.

https://www3.ohrc.on.ca/en/learning/human-rights-and-rental-housing

As well, Board Liaisons will be reaching out to committees about mandatory AODA (Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act) training.

UNIT INSPECTIONS

The office has informed us that the Unit Inspections are 99% complete. Just a few units left. Thank you for accommodating the inspections.

2026 BUDGETS PLANNING

The Treasurer and Finance Committee continue to work on the 2026 Budgets (both Capital and Operating) for presentation to the membership at the next hybrid GMM (tentatively May 21,2025).

Thank you to those who provided cost savings ideas. Keep them coming!

PAPER REDUCTION

The board has been looking into the consumption of paper by the office, board and membership, and the cost of our photocopier. If you are interested in joining a sub-committee to examine this topic, please contact the board.

HANDRAILS

There have been some delays with this project due to weather, but it is in progress. Thank you for your patience.

BAIT BOXES

A reminder to those who have bait boxes for rats in their backyard – the boxes will be changed by the pest control company on a monthly basis and the pest control representative will enter the backyard to collect the boxes . Members DO NOT have to pick up the boxes and place them on the front porch.

RECYCLING

Please flatten cardboard boxes that are to be recycled. Our maintenance folks are spending a couple of hours a week working on flattening boxes. The maintenance team’s time is better spent looking after priority maintenance items.

And speaking of recycling, the city of Toronto offers an amazing 3Rs Ambassador program (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle) for residents of condos, coops and apartments. There are some upcoming training dates in April and May.

You could be an ambassador for Woodsworth and learn more about Toronto’s waste management best practices and bring those back to our community! To apply to volunteer

See Toronto 3R’s Ambassador Program

OFFICE AND BOARD CORRESPONDENCE

It is a member’s responsibility to update the office when you have new contact information (i.e. email address/phone number). You must explicitly notify the Office that you want to update your information e.g.  saying “Update my email address on file to example@example.com” vs just emailing the Office a query from a new email address.

Messages from members will normally receive a prompt response from Woodsworth’s Office Staff, who handle virtually all administrative matters with little or no input from the Board. Staff have the skills and resources to resolve most issues. Matters that may require a Board decision are rapidly brought to the Board’s attention, along with background material that can speed the process.

The Board email address is to be used only for escalations from members where the office could not adequately assist, and for correspondence from committees. Note that the Reconciliation Committee has rebooted for assistance with issues between members. <ED: Renamed Conflict Mediation>

The Board reads all submissions to the inbox, and endeavors to respond quickly to business correspondence and official communications from co-op committees. Response to individual co-op members is limited to cases where Board intervention seems necessary. 

The Board meets just once a month and typically intervenes only on matters of overall co-op policy, or in cases where it becomes convinced that all other channels have failed. The cut off for correspondence to be covered in a board meeting is 9 days before the meeting date.

LOOKING AHEAD:

The board’s next meeting will be May 20, 2025. Note that members can attend the “open” section of the board meeting.