On November 25th, the City of Toronto updated the community on the Bathurst Quay Precinct plan, downloadable here. The interest in the plans was evident. Please send your thoughts to Bryan Bowen, Project Manager at the Waterfront Secretariat at [email protected] or 4163384842.
November 13, 2017
Mayor John Tory and Members of City Council
RE: PG 24.6 Port Lands Planning Framework
Dear Mayor Tory and members of Council,
“Waterfront for All” represents a broad coalition of stakeholders across Toronto’s 46 km waterfront who support a shared long term vision for the transformation of the Port Lands. We believe that the Port Lands Framework Plan does not capture the vision, principles and policies contained in the Central Waterfront Secondary Plan that was unanimously adopted by city council in 2003. The “Regeneration” Official Plan Designation in that plan fully embraced the future potential of the Port Lands to successfully accommodate a diverse range of employment, mixed-use, institutional, community and industrial uses. The real challenge is one of managing the transformation of the Port Lands over an extended period of time while remaining true to that long term vision to realize the full potential of these valuable lands.
After studying the city planning report in detail, we support the adoption of the Mixed Use Residential designation for Villiers Island but recommend that the draft Official Plan Amendment for the remaining lands be deferred as it does not represent the best way of achieving that goal.
Our recommendation is based on the following key points.
Some media pundits are already expressing suspicions and doubts about plans for Sidewalk Labs’ Quayside joint venture on the Toronto waterfront. At Waterfront for All, we have a more optimistic view.
Waterfront for All, an umbrella organization dedicated to the preservation and revitalization of Toronto’s waterfront, welcomes the announced Quayside development partnership.
Over the past years, Toronto’s residents had to push back against several wrong-headed development proposals for their waterfront: Ferris wheels, mega-casinos, and jets. With these fights hopefully behind us, it’s time to re-focus on continuing the renewal of our waterfront.
It’s the balance of mixed uses from recreation to residential and commercial purposes that makes our waterfront such a unique and vibrant part of Toronto. Keeping that delicate balance means we need to be vigilant and push back against wrong-headed developments – like the wrong-headed mega-club plans for the Port Lands.
Visionary government funding commitment will unlock climate-resilient growth in Toronto's Port Lands.
Waterfront for All, an umbrella organization for groups from across Toronto, welcomes the newly announced tri-level government funding for the Don River mouth naturalization.
At the Bathurst Quay Neighbourhood Association AGM on May 10th, Waterfront Secretariat Bryan Bowen showed the City's revitalization plans, scheduled to be done by 2018. The report can be found here (right click and Save As): Waterfront For All strongly supports the city's vision for the space. Scroll on to see some artist concept previews of the work that will add the Bathurst Quay to the waterfront revitalization: