City Council may have to decide within eighteen months. The waterfront is completely different from fifty years ago; does an airport on the island still make sense? A four-briefing note on where things stand.
We held our Annual General Meeting on December 12, 2023. Thanks to everyone who attended.
Ed Hore gave an overview of what's been happening. Here's the written version.
A November 20, 2023 story in the Toronto Star "Billy Bishop Airport needs longer runways. That may reopen the debate about its future" quoted WfA Chair Ed Hore and linked to his paper Does Toronto Need Two Airports?
A big thank you to everyone who attended Speaker Series 10: The Changing Waterfront, updates from Waterfront Toronto & Ports Toronto on November 7.
We regret that some of you who RSVPd were not able to get in. We had an issue with our Zoom account that we were not able to resolve on the 7th. We are happy to report it's now fixed and you won't encounter that problem at our next event on December 12th.
We want to thank our guest speaker Chris Glaisek, Chief Planning and Design Officer Waterfront Toronto, who gave great summary of progress on the Villiers island and Quayside projects. We'll post his deck and a recording soon.
We regret that our other guest speaker, RJ Steemstra, the President and CEO of PortsToronto, declined to attend at the last minute. Please click here to read PortsToronto's withdrawal letter. We look forward to hosting Mr. Steenstra at a future meeting.
Instead, Chair Ed Hore outlined some concerns about the airport renewal issue, and in particular suggested that the City conduct robust public consultation on the future of the Island Airport (BBTCA) and study possible alternative options for the site including park land or housing. Although the existing agreement doesn't expire until 2033, a decision whether to extend the island airport's existence for 50 or more years is likely in the next year or eighteen months.
Please click here to read Ed Hore's paper: Does Toronto need two airports?
A City Staff Report outlining the city's proposed island airport consultation process was planned for the City of Toronto Executive Committee Meeting on December 5, 2023, but is delayed; it may go on the agenda of the January 30, 2024 meeting.
We will be providing updates on the airport and other key issues in the coming weeks and will share the City report once it is available.
We look forward to seeing you on December 12th for our AGM, for a discussion of this and other waterfront issues.
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