Here are my notes on this disaster:
A giant landslide occurred June 21 1966, in which the backyards of five homes on Notley Place, East York, collapsed into the Massey Creek/Taylor Creek system. Three houses were left hanging over a 100 foot drop, and one man (Leonard May, aged 58) was killed. The authorities evacuated 5 homes and sealed off access to 46 properties. The immediate cause was not known. Metro Parks Department had apparently made some excavations in the ravine on MTRCA land, but Lea's backyard had apparently been stable for 14 years (Toronto Telegram June 22 1966).
Metro Parks Commissioner Tommy Thompson is quoted as saying that builders should investigate soil conditions of ravine properties, where because possibility of slope failure exists even if fill placed on slope is fifty years old. The East York properties affected by the landslide were laid out by A W Farlinger, who denied placing fill on Leonard May's lot. Notley Place is 1/2 mile S of O'Connor & St. Clair area, within the old Woodbine Golf Club, developed for housing in the later 1940s and early 1950s. Properties affected by the slide were #31-#39 Notley Pl. They lost perhaps 18" of land during Hurricane Hazel, 1954, and had fill placed at the rear of the yards. Sidney Howe was a resident (Toronto Star June 22 1966). Mrs. Ernest Harris of #39 Notley Place reported the erosion of her backyard some 15 months ago ([Toronto] Globe & Mail June 23 1966).
Metro has agreed to step in and stabilise slide-affected homes on Notley Place, by placing fill. Metro insists that this is not an admission of responsibility. One affected was resident: John Jenkins of #35 Notley Place (Toronto Telegram June 30 1966).
Help is on the way for two Metro neighbourhoods affected by landslide risks. At Notley Place, Metro will pay for a $25,000 soil stabilization project after a resident died in a landslide recently. At Stanwood Crescent the MTRCA has given permission for a sanitary landfill scheme (a clean fill scheme would be too costly) to protect Stanwood Cres. North York Reeve James Service favours this. (Toronto Star 7 Jul 1966 p. 29).
Woodbine Gardens Fill
In April 1953 Woodbine Gardens Residents Association made a deputation to East York Council on the matter of providing surfaced roads and sidewalks in the new residential area. The residents complained of dust, mud and lack of sidewalks in the area of a new housing project being built by A W Farlinger Real Estate Co. One part of the project, according to Farlinger himself, crossed an area of recent landfill. Farlinger argued that although it could not be built on for 3 years, at least a wooden sidewalk might be laid (Toronto Star April 21 1953 p. 12).
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