Railing against the rail path, and City Hall's island airport debate prepares for takeoff
The Week at Toronto City Hall for the week of August 19 to 23, plus a look at headlines about the West Toronto Rail Path, the AMO Conference, the Island Airport & more
Hey there! It’s mid-August, so City Hall is in vacation mode, but the news keeps coming. Here’s a free issue with a look at the municipal stories filling up my browser tabs this week, including notes on the West Toronto Railpath, next week’s AMO confab, the island airport and more. - Matt Elliott
What happened this week
🌁 RAILING AGAINST THE RAIL PATH: The Star’s Ben Spurr reports that some city councillors are railing against the cost of a two-kilometre West Toronto Rail Path extension. The price is now almost $150 million, about double previous estimates. The money is being put up by the City ($125 million) and the federal government ($23 million), but it will be delivered by Metrolinx because it runs along rail lines.
Spurr’s piece includes skeptical quotes from Councillor Josh Matlow (“Spending $150 million on a two-kilometre walking trail is completely insane”) and Councillor Brad Bradford (“Heads are going to explode”). At the same time, Councillor Alejandra Bravo, the local rep, “initially had questions about the price tag but concluded it was justified by the complicated work required,” Spurr reports.
Bradford followed up with a fiery op-ed in the Toronto Sun:
And that’s what this is really all about — a lack of leadership, prioritization, and accountability. This project is a nice to have, it’s not a need to have — and certainly not at any cost. Real leadership would be stepping up to ask the tough questions and demand answers. Prioritization would be a careful evaluation of competing interests and deciding where our scarce resources are best spent. And accountability would be taking responsibility to correct the problem, rather than pointing the finger at funding partners.
We need more value for money and less cost overruns. Unfortunately, mayor Chow’s $150-million cycling path offers neither.
All this sharp criticism is somewhat undercut by the fact that none of this is new information. The updated cost estimate was included in the 2024 budget that Bradford and other councillors debated in February. The budget notes for Transportation Services noted the 2024 capital plan update now included “Increased funding of $74.000 million to advance delivery of the West Toronto Rail Path Extension.”
This wasn’t buried deep in the budget details — it was highlighted as one of the major changes to existing project budgets on page 16.
Later in the budget notes, on page 31, the increase is attributed to “escalating costs of construction, Metrolinx Administrative Costs, and major utility relocations.”
During the February budget debate, no one raised any notable concern about the increase or tried to amend the capital plan to remove the increase.
Still, it’s hard to deny that $150 million is an eye-popping figure. Digging into the details of what’s planned does help explain it. This isn’t just a bike path. It’s four bridges. And bridges are never cheap.
You can of course argue that, given the cost, the City should pursue alternatives to the Rail Path to connect cycling routes, but I’d point out that this kind of off-street cycling infrastructure, which won’t take up road space or remove lanes for other vehicles, is exactly the kind of thing critics of on-street bike lane infrastructure have been calling for. Any alternative plan would need to be built on-street and would come with other trade-offs. Pick your poison.
For me, the biggest lingering question is Metrolinx’s part in all of this. The City’s budget notes make reference to “Metrolinx Administrative Costs” as a factor in the budget increase. What are those costs, specifically? Office space? TPS reports? Swingline red staplers? Since this Rail Path work is being conducted in concert with other rail corridor upgrades, why exactly is the City on the hook for these administrative costs?
It seems fair for Council to demand those answers on this project from Metrolinx. The agency does not exactly have a sterling reputation for project delivery these days. More scrutiny is always a good thing.
🚴 SHARING IS CARING: The good news is that any new bike infrastructure will likely see a lot of use as various cycling metrics continue to pop off. Bike Share Toronto reports 901,400 trips in July. They’re closing in on passing the milestone of one million trips in a month. I’d expect it next summer, if not sooner. The July stats included a weekly record, with 207,976 trips recorded between July 15 and July 21.
📞 THE 411 ON 311: For the Toronto Star this week, I wrote about how — even after a dumpster illegally placed in a bike lane was likely a factor in the death of a cyclist — the City still didn’t offer an obvious way to report a blocked bike lane via 311.
After I published, a City spokesperson reached out to thank me for the column (Hey, I never miss an opportunity to gripe about 311) and tell me the City has now added an information page on the 311 website with some detail on how to report an encroachment.
It’s a start.
✈️ AIRING IT OUT: The Star’s Ben Spurr has an article on efforts to get City Hall to agree to allow the construction of runway end safety areas (RESAs) at both ends of the Island Airport. Ports Toronto is considering three potential designs, all of which involve filling in parts of the lake to create safety buffer areas in scenarios where pilots make an oopsie during takeoff or landing.
The runway changes will require amending the tripartite agreement governing the airport operations. And while they’ve got the agreement open, federal agency Ports Toronto is also arguing it makes sense to extend the agreement beyond the 2033 expiry date.
Spurr also notes PortsToronto “intends to explore the use of other types of aircraft than the Q400 turboprop planes currently allowed to operate out of the airport, as part of a process it stressed was separate from the RESA project.” That will raise alarm bells for the advocates who fought against a proposal to fly jets out of the airport during the Rob Ford era.
A report on all this is due this fall. Mayor Olivia Chow has consistently said she will avoid weighing in until after the report is published.
An interesting tidbit from the presentation materials presented at a public meeting on July 17: one of the options up for consideration for the RESAs would allow for “Possible space allocation for provision of landside perimeter pathway for public use.” It’s written in the most bureaucratic way possible, but I think that means there could be a public path around the runway, that could get people to the rest of the Islands. That seems relevant to ongoing debates about improving access to the Toronto Islands.
Still, all this comes during a time when there are continued unanswered questions about the long-term business viability of the Island Airport. Its largest tenant, Porter Airlines, has moved a large part of their business to Pearson.
🫥 TRANSITIONS ARE HARD: From Amarchi Amadike in the Beach Metro:
Although the reasons behind its stalled development are unclear, The Sud Group’s The Beach House condo project at Queen Street East and Kingston Road appears to be on hold.
Since the properties at 1684, 1698, 1700, and 1702 Queen St. E. were demolished in order to give way for the developer’s six-storey mixed-use building in 2021, the site has appeared to be deserted, leaving an “ugly mess of old foundations and stagnant mosquito breeding water”, according to one long-time resident.
These vacant lots are likely to become more common as developers wait for a more favourable interest-rate environment (and market demand) to build projects in the pipeline. Coming up with a City program that allows for interim uses — dog parks, maybe — seems like a good use of City Hall’s time.
Previously, in City Hall Watcher
For paid subscribers of City Hall Watcher, this week’s issue has:
💪 The Council Power Rankings for 2024 — your list of every current member of Council ranked by power and influence.
As part of the rankings, City Hall Watcher has also crunched the numbers and produced data on attendance records and the number of motions introduced at Council meetings — and councillors’ overall success rate at getting stuff passed.
Next week:
Guest contributor Damien Moule returns with a timely piece on his proposal to make streets safer for cyclists without spending a ton of money. You could call it a quiet revolution.
Subscribe today for ad-free access to weekly subscriber-exclusive issues.
Monday, August 19
🤬 The Association of Municipalities of Ontario conference continues in OttawaIt’s the 125th anniversary of AMO. Not to be ageist, but that’s pretty darn old. The City of Toronto is not a member of AMO, but some city councillors will attend, and the news will be relevant to Toronto.
Andrew Coyne will start the day with an opening keynote address. From the political side, there will be appearances from Premier Doug Ford, Ontario NDP leader Marit Stiles, Ontario Liberal leader Bonnie Crombie, and Ontario Green leader Mike Schreiner. Federal housing minister Sean Fraser will also show up and probably be the tallest person there. Let me know if you see anybody taller.
According to a story by The Trillium’s Jack Hauen, AMO has been making calls for the provincial government to do more to help address homelessness and addictions. On August 8, AMO Prez Colin Best and others called for the designation of a single minister who oversees these issues and can work with municipalities. It’ll be interesting to see what Ford has to say about that.
🏚️ The Toronto Preservation Board meets via videoconference at 9:30 a.m.
The Board will tackle a report recommending approval of a 10-storey addition atop 41-45 Spadina Road. The building, erected in 1905 or 1906, was one of Toronto’s first six apartment buildings and one of only two remaining from that cohort.
The Annex Residents Association are not fans of the new plan. “It may be separated from the heritage building, and its cantilevered positioning may be surprisingly acceptable to Staff, but its street presence is positively jarring as the illustrations in the report demonstrate,” writes ARA Heritage Chair Sandra Shaul.
Tuesday, August 20
🤬 The AMO conference continues in Ottawa. Ministers Sylvia Jones (Health), Kinga Surma (Infrastructure) and Paul Calandra (Municipal Affairs & Housing) are set to appear as part of the plenary program.
There are rumours that the provincial government may be dropping some news about the future of harm reduction programs like safe consumption sites and needle exchanges. Let’s watch closely.
🌳 North York Community Council meets at North York Civic Centre at 9:30 a.m.The community council will have a quickie meeting to consider planning reports recommending approval for a 16-storey building at 6125 Yonge and a 50-storey project at 6355 Yonge.
Wednesday, August 21
🤬 AMO wraps up in Ottawa.A newly-elected president of AMO will cap things off with a speech. Candidates are Robin Jones, mayor of Westport, and Wendy Landry, mayor of Shuniah.
🏆 The Bid Award Panel meets via videoconference at 2 p.m.CONTRACT AWARD OF THE WEEK: $29 million for upgrades on Harbord Street, Howland Avenue, Huron Street and Palmerston Avenue, including sewer replacement, water main replacement, and bike lane upgrades.
Thursday, August 22
No meetings scheduled.
Friday, August 23
No meetings scheduled.
The Far-Flung Future
There will be a special meeting of Council on September 5 to consider urgent matters.
The next regular Council meeting is set to kick off on October 9.
The by-election to fill the vacancy in Ward 15 is on Monday, November 4.
Feedback? Tip? Email Matt Elliott. For advertising inquiries, email Sean Hansel.