Process of Joining a BIA
– 2021 Update –
The Junction BIA is considering pursuing an expansion of the BIA boundaries east to Annette St and west to Clendenan Ave.
The Decision to Expand can only be made by Commercial Business and Property Owners in the Junction
Steps Toward Expansion
1. Pursuit of Major Expansion Approved by BIA Board and Membership at AGM
November 2020: Approved by unanimous vote.
2. BIA communicates with businesses east to Annette St and west to Clendenan Ave to Assess Their Interest in Expansion.
The Junction BIA will only pursue this if it is what the businesses and property owners outside of the BIA want. We ask that expansion business and property owners complete the following survey to provide us with feedback on whether we should pursue this expansion. This survey is not binding or official, but is important in helping to inform our decision. Using this information, we may also decide to only pursue expansion in one direction over the other.
3. A formal Steering Committee is Developed and Meets
Support from a Steering Committee made up of dedicated business and property owners from within the BIA and expansion area is required for the expansion to be successful. Please reach out to Carol Jolly, Executive Director, if you are interested in committing some time towards the expansion as a Steering Committee member.
4. Communicate Intent to Expand BIA to all Businesses
5. Public Consultation Meeting
Join us at a formal Public Consultation Meeting hosted by the City of Toronto, where they will present information and receive comments and questions regarding the proposed expansion of The Junction BIA. If more than 50% of those in attendance support moving to a formal polling stage, the Steering Committee then makes a formal request to proceed. This is a great opportunity to learn more about The Junction BIA’s most recent successes and its plans for the future.
6. Final Polling
Should we success past the Public Consultation Meeting, the City Clerk will issue a poll by mail to all property owners, also to be delivered to business tenants, with a 60 day deadline to respond. The poll for expansion will be considered successful if at least 30% of the number of ballots mailed are returned and at least 51% of accepted ballots respond in the positive.
7. Commercial Properties outside the BIA officially become members of the junction bia in 2023
Question: What if Expansion does not pass the public consultation meeting or the final poll?
If 50% of the vote to pursue expansion is not positive at the Public Consultation Meeting, the expansion process is over and the BIA will not move forward to request a polling of all business and property owners. If 50% or more of the returned ballots in the poll are negative, the expansion process has failed. In this case, there will be a moratorium on the BIA pursuing an expansion of its boundaries into this area for 2 years – meaning that the BIA must wait two years before formally launching an expansion process.
This failure of a Junction BIA expansion has happened once before. In 2019, we pursued an expansion of the BIA boundary east to Annette St and west to Runnymede Rd. We felt confident that a united Junction business community would strengthen our current BIA, allowing us to beautify the east and west gateways and drive greater foot traffic into the neighbourhood. We received an overwhelmingly positive response over the six months spent connecting with our neighbours face-to-face. To our surprise, the business and property owners voted 33 to 12 against expansion in a Public Consultation Meeting held in February 2020, with opposition predominantly emerging from west of Clendenan Ave.
This was a disappointment to many current and potential new members. We continue to receive interest from business owners east and one block west of our BIA to revisit expansion, which is why we have decided to gauge interest once again. Should interest be positive, we will begin the process and formally communicate our intent to expand the BIA in early 2022 – 2 years after the end of the last expansion process. Expanding a BIA required numerous resources – if an expansion were to fail again, it is unlikely that this BIA would consider any further expansions in the foreseeable future.
