NEW POST: Questions about the Bickford House Terrace, Guild Inn

The Guild Inn is now plastered with PRIVATE PROPERTY No Public Access signs.

What is going on!?!?!?

Residents of the City of Toronto – including the immediate community as well as Guild Park visitors and Clark Centre of the Arts visitors, staff and artists – are locked out of what is arguably one of Toronto’s most important public spaces.

Few details are known to the public about the agreement between the City of Toronto and the operator of the wedding facility inside. There are lots of documents online but not the actual lease agreement which we’re told is confidential. We did find the By-Law that authorizes the City to enter Municipal Capital Facilities agreement, see below.

What we do know is that residents, from the very beginning, were sold on the idea that part of the building would be used for municipal and community centre purposes to the benefit of all Toronto residents. By-Law 967-2014 makes very clear references to this.

Instead, the doors are shut and locked to public. And PRIVATE PROPERTY No Public Access signs are now posted everywhere – screwed right into the stucco of the 1914 Bickford House.

Toronto residents need to know what’s going on. What is the agreement between City of Toronto and Guild Inn Estate, Inc.? Why is the public shut out?

By-Law No. 967-2014 to authorize the entering into of an agreement for the provision of a municipal capital facility at the Guild Inn at 201 Guildwood Parkway. Enacted August 28, 2014.

Key points:

• The Eligible Premises are exempt from Taxation for municipal and school purposes and Development charges.
• The Eligible Premises are defined as 23,350 square feet of indoor space used as a Banquet Hall and Community Centre; and 4,184 square feet of outdoor space used as a Gazebo
• This by-law shall be deemed repealed if the Eligible Premises cease to be used for community centre purposes.

Source: https://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/bylaws/2014/law0967.pdf

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