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.
Annual General Meeting
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.
WfA in Toronto Star
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?
Follow Up to Speaker Series 10: The Changing Waterfront
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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WfA joined with Ontario Place for All & ACO to ask the Auditor General to review Therme deal.
"The provincial government's Ontario Place Revitalization project — the cornerstone of which is the controversial Therme Spa — is now officially under scrutiny by our auditor general.
Advocacy group Ontario Place for All, which first requested such an examination last December, shared the news on Friday, saying members are thrilled that "the rushed and secretive process that is leading to the ruin of Ontario Place" is being looked into.
An open letter dated December 5, 2022, from Ontario Place for All, Waterfront for All and the Architectural Conservancy of Ontario cited concerns that the Ford government's process for redeveloping the waterfront property was not adhering to environmental protection nor heritage legislation as required."
https://www.blogto.com/city/2023/11/doug-fords-plans-redevelop-ontario-place-spa-investigation/
READ THE OPEN LETTER BY CLICKING HERE.
Do we need two airports?
The Tripartite Agreement governing the island airport expires in 2033. The operator of the airport recently asked to renew it, probably for 50 years. The City owns some of the land. It can say no. Should it? What are the alternatives? Will there be public consultation? City bureaucrats are preparing a long report, to go before Executive Committee of City Council on December 5, 2023. The key decision affecting the waterfront for generations could be made sooner than you think. Ed Hore asks Does the City Need a Second Airport?
Opening up more space for Speaker Series 10
We have had an overwhelming response to Speaker Series 10 on November 7.
So we have opened up more space and reopened the RSVP's for
The Changing Waterfront: Updates from Waterfront Toronto & Ports Toronto
With our guest speakers:
RJ Steenstra
President and CEO PortsToronto
Speaker Series 10: The Changing Waterfront, updates from Waterfront Toronto & Ports Toronto
Join us Tuesday, November 7th at 7 pm for Speaker Series 10
The Changing Waterfront: Updates from Waterfront Toronto & Ports Toronto
With our guest speakers:
RJ Steenstra
President and CEO PortsToronto
CANCELLED - Speaker Series 10: Transit on the Waterfront: The Good, the Bad, and the Possibilities
Unfortunately we have had to cancel Waterfront for All's Speaker Series 10 due to the unavailability of one of our key speakers.We look forward to rescheduling this event as soon as possible.
Transit on the Waterfront: The Good, the Bad, and the Possibilities
FEATURING
Ken Greenberg — Urban designer, former City Planner City of Toronto, and Principal of Greenberg Consultants
Dr. Shoshanna Saxe — Associate Professor, Canadian Research Chair in Sustainable Infrastructure, Univ. of Toronto
We just shared the slide deck from "How do we talk about the future of the Island Airport?"
Many of you had asked us to share the slide deck from our December 2022 Speaker Series:
How do we talk about the future of the Island Airport? featuring Nicole Swerhun.
We have posted it here: https://www.waterfrontforall.ca/speaker_series_presentations
But for your convenience you can go right to it by clicking here: Slide deck
Or review the recording of the even by clicking here: https://youtu.be/bfjytiQjKhI
