Each year, SERRA residents and members are asked to fill in a survey at Annual General Meeting, and construction always appears near the top of the list of key concerns. Early in 2016, SERRA administered an electronic survey with our active members to help us to gather more information on the nature of the problem (e.g., noise, sidewalk blockage, dust, debris).  
 
Last year, the results of our study were forwarded to the City task force that was reviewing how to improve responsiveness to problems at residential building sites. Our study helped City staff to confirm their findings and helped to validate their recommendations for improvement. We anticipate changes in responsiveness once all of the recommendations are acted upon. 
 

The city staff is now working on a new brochure titled the “Good Neighbour Guide“. The brochure will encourage developers and builders to reach out to immediate neighbours in advance of construction activities. The brochure will provide guidelines for good behaviour and will help to set expectations among all affected parties. The guidebook will also provide contact information for the various City departments with responsibilities for different areas (e.g., building inspection, garbage removal, noise, etc.). We anticipate that the brochure will be available in the first quarter of 2017.  
 

However, it’s not only residential construction sites that create problems. Construction of tall and mid-rise developments have their own issues with dump and concrete trucks coming and going. A large construction project on Yonge Street (Art Shoppe) is using an innovative process, called CCLC (Community Construction Liaison Committee), with regular meetings involving the contractor, SERRA and the Councillor’s office. Through these meetings we have successfully monitored the development and successfully ensured some level of tidiness and order (despite the fact it remains a construction site!).