Sundial · Ajax, Ontario
The Town of Ajax sold the Sundial Pavilion. The public green space around it is going too — to a parking lot and a sports court. Residents found out on 23 July. Four days later the trees came down.
Media enquiries: Realtransparency1000@gmail.com
Sundial Park, 8:46 pm, 24 July 2026.
On television
On the record
The decision to sell was taken in public, at a Council meeting on 24 June 2024 — two years before residents were told. Item 9.3 of that meeting, “Sale of Underutilized Town Facilities, Hartrick House and Sundial Pavilion,” was moved by Mayor Collier, seconded by Deputy Mayor Lee, and carried. Both properties were dealt with in the same motion. The minutes and the Town's own video of the debate are below — read them and decide for yourself.
Councillor Nancy Henry, Ward 2For Sundial, what's going to be the process in informing these residents…
Nicole Cooper, Deputy Chief Administrative OfficerPursuant to our procedures for the disposition of land, there is a notice that is required to be provided to the public… the traditional means: advertisements through local newspapers, the town website, probably signage on the property. There are no requirements for notice to specific households.
Councillor HenryIs there public meetings about this?
Nicole CooperNo, no. That's not required.
Town of Ajax Council meeting, 24 June 2024, item 9.3. The exchange begins at about 4:05 in the Town's own recording.
… negotiate zoning change requests to consider other appropriate uses in keeping with the character of the existing neighbourhoods
What is happening
The Sundial community has used this park for fifteen years — for soccer, cricket and volleyball, for the Town's own free summer drop-in program, for learning to ride a bike on the sidewalk loop, for a toddler's first steps, and as a safe path for older neighbours getting their daily exercise. The loop is now severed. The Town says staff are investigating a new pedestrian crossing in the area.
99 Barnham Street was built as the sales centre for the Sundial development. When the homes sold, the building became the neighbourhood's pavilion and the field around it became the park.
The Town of Ajax has sold the building to a private operator for use as a licensed childcare facility and community hub. Residents are not opposed to childcare in this neighbourhood, and this campaign is addressed to the Town, not to the operator.
What residents object to is what came with it: an expansion beyond the building's footprint and onto the adjacent public green space. A parking lot in the middle of the field. A sports court. Waste collection in sight of houses. Fencing across the walking loop. And the removal of eighteen established trees.
None of it was put to the neighbourhood before it was decided.
Ajax residents want transparency and accountability. Taxpayers deserve answers, and to be part of the conversation.
What the Town says
What has not changed: the parking lot, the sports court and the loss of the walking loop are still proposed on land that the Official Plan designates Open Space, eighteen established trees are still to come out, and no one on this street was consulted before any of it was decided.
Residents met Town staff on 29 July. This is the written reply that followed, in full. Some of it answers questions this page had been asking since 23 July. Some of it corrects things this page had said, and those corrections are listed at the end.
The records they released
How we got here
Town of Ajax Zoning By-law 95-2003 designates the site OS — Open Space. Exception 149 permits a sales centre, which may afterwards be used as a daycare, community centre or library. The Official Plan designation is, and remains, Open Space.
The sale brochure (PDF) (opens in a new tab)Ajax Zoning By-law 95-2003, s.5 (opens in a new tab)
Source — Zoning By-law 95-2003; sale brochure, 99 Barnham Street
Residents purchase lots marketed as backing onto open space and mature trees, several paying documented premiums for the position. Street trees are planted along the loop. Over the following fifteen years the field becomes the neighbourhood's cricket pitch, volleyball court, summer drop-in program and cycling loop.
Source — Residents' accounts and purchase documentation
The Town's own public notice states that the Pavilion “and the associated lands” were sold in October 2025, following what it calls a Council-approved process, to a private operator for a childcare facility and community hub. The same notice records that the Town “finalized a boundary adjustment” as part of the sale — keeping the public sidewalks in municipal ownership while providing, in its words, “sufficient space for parking, outdoor amenities, and other site features.” That adjustment is how the green space came to be inside the sale. Residents were not told until 23 July 2026, nine months later. The Council meeting that authorised the sale — 24 June 2024, item 9.3 — is on the record and is published above. What residents have asked for and still do not have is the boundary adjustment date, and the agreement of purchase and sale that the same resolution required be brought back to Council by the end of 2024.
The Town’s public notice (PDF) (opens in a new tab)The sale brochure (PDF) (opens in a new tab)The planning file on ajax.ca (opens in a new tab)
Source — Town of Ajax public notice, 99 Barnham Street
“Outdoor area with additional adjacent park land”
Residents arrive at Town Hall at 9:30 am asking for answers, speak with Town staff, and ask the Mayor's assistant to arrange an appointment. There has been no response from his office to date. Later the same day the Town issues a public notice about the site — for most residents, the first they hear of any of it, nine months after the sale.
The notice residents were handed (PDF) (opens in a new tab)
Source — Town of Ajax public notice; residents' account of the visit
A formal request to defer application SPA2/26 goes to the Mayor, Council, Planning staff and the MPP at 11:58 am, followed by dozens of individual letters. A neighbour builds a QR code that opens a pre-addressed draft so anyone can write in under a minute. That evening, families roll thirty metres of vinyl across the grass and paint it. The same afternoon, a contractor stakes out the parking area.
Source — Correspondence and timestamped photographs
“Our park was not for sale.”
Residents walk Councillor Nancy Henry through the park and put their concerns directly. A second wave of letters goes out asking Council to convene a special meeting. Residents demand answers. Fencing now encloses the Pavilion.
Source — Community group, 26 July 2026
Residents return to Town Hall at 9 am and speak with the project planner and the Manager of Planning. Residents report both staff reiterating that the owner had no authority or approvals for work outside the building and that no permits had been issued — the site plan approval, SPA2/26, would be the authority once granted. The Town's own notice says as much in writing: a building permit was obtained for interior renovations, while the exterior works were still under review. That same morning, survey lines appear across the field, trees are marked and an excavator begins work. The first tree is pulled out at about 10:29 am. The children's banner is found torn down. By-law officers attend and work on the green space stops for the day. A by-law complaint is filed. Residents report that the Town has since fined the developer for removing trees without a permit — an account the group is seeking written confirmation of from the Town. Residents again ask the Mayor's office for the boundary adjustment date, the Council minutes and other documents relating to the Pavilion.
The notice, on permits (PDF) (opens in a new tab)The planning file on ajax.ca (opens in a new tab)
Source — Town of Ajax public notice; residents' account; timestamped video and photographs
“… including obtaining a building permit for interior renovations. The Town is currently reviewing the owner's plans for the proposed exterior works.”
Town staff meet residents and follow up the same day with a written reply covering the pathway, site safety, the summer playground programme, the parking lot, the sports court and waste collection, and release the planning records the group had been asking for. Those records answer two questions this page had been unable to: the boundary adjustment was made on the south side of the building to give the childcare parking and pick-up space, and the agreement of purchase and sale went to Council on 20 May 2025 — in closed session, five months after item 9.3 required it — and was ratified by by-law on 19 January 2026, six months before residents were told. The reply is published in full above, corrections included.
By-law 08-2026, ratifying the sale (opens in a new tab)Council minutes, 20 May 2025 (opens in a new tab)Email to Council, 29 October 2025 (opens in a new tab)
Source — Town of Ajax written response, 29 July 2026, and the records released with it
“… we had to make a minor boundary adjustment on the south side of the building to ensure sufficient space. The purchase price was increased to account for the value of the additional strip.”
What the neighbourhood has done
Letters to Mayor Collier, Councillors Henry and Lee, the Planning department, Transportation, By-law and MPP Rob Cerjanec — a formal request to defer application SPA2/26, plus dozens of individual letters.
A neighbour generated a QR code and link that opens a pre-addressed draft, so anyone can write to Council in under a minute.
On the evening of 24 July, families and children painted a banner the length of the field and hung it on the construction fence.
Residents walked Councillor Nancy Henry through the park on 26 July and put their concerns directly.
On the morning of 27 July, with trees already coming down, a resident attended Town Hall and brought by-law officers to the site. Work on the green space stopped for the day.
A by-law complaint about the works on the green space, filed with the Town on 27 July. Residents report the developer was subsequently fined for removing trees without a permit.
Every photograph and video on this page is timestamped and was taken by a resident. Nothing here is reconstructed.
Posts to the North Ajax community group of 12,000 members, contact with the Hartrick House campaign, and outreach to regional media.
Beyond our street
Sundial is not the only Ajax property where residents have found out late. Hartrick House was sold under the same Council motion, on the same day, and it has its own resident campaign, covered by Global News. Both files are on the Town's public planning portal — the same portal that carries the documents for this site.
Ward 1
Hartrick House is in Ward 1. Sundial is in Ward 2. Both were sold under the same Council motion, on the same day.
Hartrick House is a pre-Confederation home dating to the mid-1800s. For decades, this Town-owned property served the community through public programs, summer camps, municipal elections, weddings and other gatherings. It is now at risk of demolition as part of a proposed residential development.
Despite the property’s age and potential heritage significance, the Town did not commission a formal, independent Cultural Heritage Evaluation Report before approving the redevelopment process.
Town staff have advised our group that an informal heritage assessment was completed in 2017 but has not been made public. However, the 2017 assessment was not a formal, independent Cultural Heritage Evaluation Report.
We believe the community deserves a complete professional evaluation before any irreversible decision is made.
Their fundraiser, for an independent heritage review (opens in a new tab)
Run by the Hartrick House campaign, not by us. It opens on gofundme.com, who set their own terms.
The record
Taken by residents between 24 and 27 July 2026. Nothing here is staged or reconstructed. Journalists are welcome to use this material with credit to the residents of the Sundial community.
Take three minutes
One letter in your own voice is worth more than fifty identical copies, so this button opens an empty email addressed to all seven members of Council. Write what you like — but say what this park means to you, because that is the part they cannot answer with a policy paragraph.
What we are asking Council to answer
This went to Council from the neighbourhood on 24 July 2026. It is here as a record of what was already asked, and to borrow from if it helps — it is no longer loaded into the button above, because a letter in your own words carries further.
Dear Mayor Collier and Members of Council, I am writing to respectfully request that Council hold a Special Council Meeting to address growing public concerns regarding the former Sundial Pavilion (99 Barnham Street) and Hartrick House (120 Robertson Drive). These two properties have raised broader questions about transparency, meaningful public consultation, and the future of publicly owned community assets in Ajax. Regardless of where residents live, decisions involving public lands should be made openly, with clear communication and meaningful opportunities for public input. I respectfully ask that Council support a Special Council Meeting so residents can hear directly from Council and Town staff, ask questions, and better understand the decision-making process. Thank you for your time and consideration.