City Council will vote at its meeting October 9 - 11, 2024 whether to adopt the recommendations in the September 27 Staff Report .
It should do so! Here's our brief communication to Councillors as to why.
We believe and hope most Councillors will vote tomorrow to follow the Staff recommendations, adopted by Executive Committee, the Mayor and Councillor Ausma Malik: authorize the smallest, least intrusive option for Runway End Safety Areas, known as RESA 1, so as to deal with the pressing federal safety requirements now (RESAs must be built by July 14, 2027). As a separate matter, recommends Staff, take the time to study the bigger issues, such as whether the Tripartite Agreement, the airport land lease and operation agreement, should be extended in some form past its 2033 expiry, whether the airport should be expanded, including studies and public consultation exploring its adverse impacts and upsides, including we hope consideration and study of potential alternative uses of the land.
It would be a crazy leap for Councillors to do what Ports Toronto and Nieuport want: reject city staff‘s recommendations, meaning: extend the tripartite agreement for 40 years NOW, and authorize the airport to build the other, bigger RESA options - allowing a huge non-safety-related airport expansion immediately. Ports Toronto and Nieuport demand Council vote to agree to all this NOW without any study of the local impacts, ecological and health issues, transportation efficiency, economic effects or consequences on future development in the Portlands and elsewhere.
We are deeply concerned that airport industry lobbyists have been misrepresenting the position of community representatives.
Contrary to the findings in the Staff Report, Ports Toronto claims it needs an extension of the Tripartite Agreement because it otherwise can't afford to build RESA 1. That's not true.
