Toronto Council gets set for major debate about major streets
The Week at Toronto City Hall for May 20-24, featuring a full preview of the May Council meeting, with debates on housing, e-scooters, construction and more
Hey there! Back again with a special free ad-supported issue looking at the week ahead. I’ve got a full preview of next week’s Council meeting, featuring e-scooters, a long bike lane construction saga, and a whole heck of a lot about housing. — Matt Elliott
What happened this week
In late-breaking news, Councillor Jaye Robinson has died. She’s represented Don Valley West since 2010 and served as both TTC Chair and Chair of the Infrastructure & Environment Committee during her tenure at City Hall. Deepest condolences to her family and staff.
🫠 TTC riders dealt with a prolonged subway closure Monday related to “fluid” spilled on the tracks. Gross. TTC CEO Rick Leary apologized at yesterday’s TTC Board meeting and called for a review.
According to a story by the CBC’s Shawn Jeffords and Rochelle Raveendran, Leary told the board that there have already been seven hydraulic leaks across the TTC system this year. “There have only been 10 leaks in the past five years, he said, calling the uptick concerning,” write Jeffords and Raveendran. Yes, it seems definitely concerning.
Also concerning? The TTC and its biggest union might be barreling toward the first work stoppage since 2008. The Star’s Karon Liu reports that ATU Local 113 has formally requested a no-board report, which would put them in a legal strike position on June 2.
💊 Queen’s Park has announced they are “100 per cent opposed” to Toronto Public Health’s request to the federal government to decriminalize drugs in the city. Mathematically, it’s hard to get more opposed.
TPH’s request was first made in January 2022 and further refined via a report with a decriminalization model for Toronto released in March 2023. The latter was backed by City Manager Paul Johnson and Toronto Police Chief Myron Demkiw. Both Demkiw and his predecessor, James Ramer, have argued that Toronto has had “de facto decriminalization” for years, with officers instructed to “minimize personal possession charges.” In 2021, the cops laid 617 charges for possession, but there were only 36 cases where possession was the only charge — generally, possession is added on top of other charges.
Still, the letter from the provincial government, signed by Minister of Health Sylvia Jones and Solicitor General Michael Kerzner, warns, “If Toronto Public Health fails to rescind its misguided application, we will be forced to explore all options available to us.” Foreboding!
The request has been in limbo status with Health Canada for more than a year, regardless.
Monday, May 20
👸 It’s Victoria Day. City Hall’s closed.Tuesday, May 21
🩺 A Board of Health subcommittee meets to review the performance of the medical officer of health at City Hall at 9:30 a.m.The relevance of this meeting — a provincial requirement — was somewhat undercut by Chief Medical Officer of Health Eileen de Villa’s announcement this week that she’d be leaving her post at the end of the year. She spoke with the Star’s David Rider about how it feels to say goodbye.
Previously, in City Hall Watcher
For paid subscribers of City Hall Watcher, this week’s issue has:
Council’s biggest road warriors, according to 2023 expense records. Which councillors are driving the most — and billing the cost back to their office budgets? I’ve got some data.
Next week, on Tuesday:
What are the highest-paid and lowest-paid jobs at City Hall?
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Wednesday, May 22
🏟️ Council meets at City Hall starting at 9:30 a.m.MAJOR IN THE STREETS: In the latest initiative intended to make it easier to build housing in a city facing a housing crisis, Council will vote on whether to adopt an Official Plan Amendment to permit townhouses and “small-scale apartment buildings” on an as-of-right basis on corridors classified as “major streets” across the city.
The definition of “small-scale apartment building” is up for debate. Staff recommend allowing up to 30 units and six storeys. However, a motion from Councillor Brad Bradford, adopted by the Planning & Housing Committee, commissioned a report on allowing up to 60 units. The report will be made available ahead of next week’s meeting.
I’d expect some similarities between this debate and last month’s debate on allowing alcohol in parks. In that one, several councillors moved to try to exempt their wards from having parks that permit booze. In this one, I’d expect several councillors to move to reclassify sections of streets in their wards so they are no longer considered “major.”
Councillor Parthi Kandavel got this started at committee, moving to exclude Guildwood Parkway, Morningside Avenue and Scarborough Golf Club Road. His motion failed 1-5.
MICRO MACHINES: Council will vote on an updated micromobility strategy. The big change will see “low-speed vehicles” — tiny electric cars that travel at a maximum speed of 50 km/h — permitted on Toronto streets.
If adopted by Council, the move will leave the lowly e-scooter as the only micromobility vehicle banned from use in the city. Some e-scooter vendors and associated lobbyists are working hard to push for change ahead of next week’s meeting.
ASSESSING ASSETS: A report on the City’s assets has revealed an eye-popping infrastructure repair bill. The City needs an additional $26 billion over the next ten years just to keep the infrastructure analyzed in this report in a reasonable state of good repair.
This report does not make any recommendations on how to deal with the problem, but it does set the stage for next year’s budget process at City Hall. I’d expect Mayor Olivia Chow to push for a new revenue source — potentially a commercial parking levy — to tackle this infrastructure need.
AND ALSO
Council will get an update on the King Street transit priority corridor. The good news is that the “traffic agent” program, where workers are stationed at intersections to direct car traffic, has delivered real-time savings for commuters. The bad news is that drivers tend to return to their rule-breaking ways immediately after the traffic agents clock out for the day. The city has installed new signage and traffic signals, but there’s genuine concern that it will mostly confuse everyone.
Council will vote on whether to expand their so-called “free-floating car-share program.” Alas, the cars don’t actually levitate. Communauto is so far the only company operating under these regulations, which allow car-share users to start and end trips at on-street parking spaces. The proposed changes will allow more car-share parking in the inner suburbs. I wrote about this issue for the Toronto Star a few weeks back.
With the LRT maybe, possibly, kind of, almost approaching its opening date, Council will vote on a plan to transform Eglinton Avenue into a “complete” street with bike lanes. If approved, construction between Bicknell Avenue and Mount Pleasant Road would begin this summer. Installation around the Allen Road & Eglinton intersection would come later, after changes are made in an attempt to improve traffic in the area.
An update on the City’s efforts to eliminate waste and litter from single-use products like coffee cups is interesting if only because it reiterates some data from a 2022 litter audit. Of the products listed, I’d be really interested in a policy approach to reducing waste from receipts. A series of amendments added at committee by Councillor Dianne Saxe may attract some scrutiny from her colleagues, including one calling for a report on a new bylaw “that would prohibit retail business establishments from distributing to their customers the persistent, harmful, unnecessary, single-use plastic items.” Related: Council will also review confidential advice from legal staff on the possibility of the City enacting its own ban on plastic products, in place of the federal rules recently struck down by the courts.
Councillor Stephen Holyday has some questions about the ongoing work to rename Dundas Square to Sankofka Square. He seems specifically concerned about the cost of making and installing new signage. An answer is due from staff ahead of the meeting.
The long, strange midtown Yonge bike lane construction battle
A long saga involving a YSC Development Corp condo planned for 1404-1428 Yonge and their request to close a section of the midtown Yonge Street bike lanes during construction could come to a head at this meeting. Two related items are on the agenda.
Here’s where we’re at:
Last October, staff reported that YSC requested a 35-month closure of both the southbound and northbound bike lanes between Rosehill Avenue and Pleasant Boulevard. Cycling advocates objected, noting that 35 months is nearly three years, and that feels like a really long time.
Local representative Councillor Josh Matlow, agreeing that three years is a long time, asked Council to defer the matter at their December meeting. It was then sent back to Toronto & East York Community Council so Matlow could work with the developer on a compromise.
At the January meeting of the Toronto & East York Community Council, the item was deferred to the February meeting.
At the February meeting, it was deferred until the April meeting.
At the April meeting, it was deferred until the May meeting.
At the May meeting, Matlow moved to bring it back to Council, where it is on the agenda with no staff recommendation. Council will need to amend the item to include a direction. (Or, potentially, another deferral.)
Simultaneously with all this, YSC has now applied to demolish a heritage building at 1420 Yonge Street. It was originally going to form part of the building’s podium. They’re now arguing that the demolition is necessary to keep the protected bike lanes active during construction. Their application to demolish the property is also on this Council meeting’s agenda.
Staff are opposing the demolition, arguing that there’s a solution that would involve retaining the heritage building and maintaining a 1.2-metre unprotected bike lane during construction. “A bike lane width of 1.2m, although narrower than Ontario Traffic Manual Book 18 suggested minimum, is still allowable over very short distances in constrained areas or in complex circumstances,” they say.
Council will need to untangle this knot. Seems a bit tricky.
🏘️ Housing corner
Over the last couple of years, Council has spent much time decrying changes to the development charges program foisted upon the City by the provincial government with Bill 23. Staff had calculated the changes — which required a five-year phase-in of increased rates and removed housing as a permitted use of development charges revenue — as reducing City revenue by $2.3 billion over ten years. Bill 185 walks back some of the Bill 23 changes, but the impact is definitely more limited than Council hoped. Staff say the changes reduce the budget hit by $144 million over ten years. By my math, that still leaves a $2.16 billion gap.
Council will vote on whether to add a new requirement to development applications, requiring applicants of some properties to submit a Cultural Heritage Evaluation Report, or CHER. This will “identify properties with cultural heritage value to be conserved and clear others of heritage concern.” Developer advocacy group BILD isn’t feeling very sunny about this CHER. In a letter, Senior Director Danielle Binder says the new requirement “creates a new up-front process to Heritage Conservation” beyond current provincial legislation.
A plan for the former airport lands at Downsview seeks to accommodate homes for 115,000 new residents. It’s one of Toronto’s largest remaining new housing development opportunities.
Speaking of housing, Councillor Paula Fletcher has submitted a notable communication on an item about the provincial Transit-Oriented Communities program. Of 7,898 units proposed for six TOCs in her Ward 14, just 215 are so far designated as affordable housing. That’s 2.7%.
After Etobicoke York Community Council went against advice from planning staff and rejected a 146-unit stacked townhome development on Plunkett Road, a lawyer for developer St. Gaspar’s is urging Council to reinstate the original planning staff recommendation.
I’ll have full coverage of the Council meeting on Mastodon, BlueSky and the other place.
🏆 The Bid Award Panel meets via videoconference at 2 p.m.CONTRACT AWARD OF THE WEEK: up to $1.2 million for up to 11 vacuum litter collectors.
Thursday, May 23
🏟️ Council meets again at City Hall starting at 9:30 a.m.We’ll be back again. The member motion run-through will take place after the lunch break. Here are a few highlights.
“Travel times on the Gardiner Expressway have doubled in recent weeks, and it’s killing our local businesses, choking our economy, and compromising quality of life for millions of Torontonians,” writes Councillor Brad Bradford. “We are quickly becoming a city where people do not want to live or work.” In response, he wants a report back by Q4 2024 on “a plan to accelerate work on the Gardiner Expressway Strategic Rehabilitation Plan.” If this passes, the report will look at 24/7 construction, pre-fabrication construction techniques, and ensuring any construction work on parallel routes is coordinated to not worsen the traffic situation.
A motion from Councillor Chris Moise reveals that the cost of improving the Lower Don Trail has nearly doubled, from $3.1 million to $5.8 million, because of “unforeseen unstable soil conditions discovered during construction.” He’s moving to fund the increase via a reserve fund. Here’s hoping that gets the damn trail open again soon.
After the recent saga about Councillor Nick Mantas’ pricy business trip to Italy, Councillor Paula Fletcher wants to ensure that any future items requesting Council approval for councillor expenses also come with attached receipts.
Councillor Lily Cheng wants planning staff to look at whether suburban condo developments should be required to include more visitor parking.
Friday, May 24
🏟️ Council may meet again for a third day at City Hall starting at 9:30 a.m.I think they can power through this agenda in two days, and we can all spend Friday on one of those freshly-installed CaféTO patios. But having said that, I probably jinxed it.
The Week After Next
The Infrastructure & Environment Committee meets on Tuesday, May 28.
The Economic & Community Development Committee meets on Wednesday, May 29.
The General Government Committee meets on Thursday, May 30.
The Far-Flung Future
Mayor Olivia Chow’s Executive Committee meets next on Tuesday, June 18.
Council’s next meeting starts on Wednesday, June 26.
Feedback? Tip? Email Matt Elliott. For advertising inquiries, email Sean Hansel.
Sad news about Councillor Robinson. There will probably be a by-election to replace her which won't happen until September at the earliest. What happens though in the interim? Will the absence of Robinson's vote on council affect things? Thoughts?
The ongoing band of electric kick scooters confuses and infuriates me. I use an electric Kick Scooter and I estimate it is reduced my car trips by about 30%. How can we say that all the other types of electric micro Mobility are fine but kick scooters are not!? How is it even legal to make that kind of ban? Like if my Kick Scooter had a seat all of a sudden it would be legal? I'm pretty sure this ban is a reaction to rental electric scooters that caused chaos in the streets but it's an unacceptable reaction. We don't ban cars because they're killing pedestrians. We don't ban bicycles because some idiots drive them on the sidewalk.