A close vote on the fate of the eastern portion of the Gardiner Expressway may not bring an immediate end to the divisive debate over what to do with the crumbling highway.
According to longtime city councillor Joe Mihevc, a narrow vote in favour of Mayor John Tory’s so-called “hybrid” option would likely be subject to months of legal wrangling over whether or not it meets the goals for the provincially mandated environmental assessment, which called for the selected plan to reconnect the city with the lake and revitalize the waterfront among other objectives.
“What is before council is the next step of the environmental assessment process and that is a multi-step process because even when council decides the Minister of the Environment will have to weigh in on which is better from an environmental assessment point of view,” Mihevc told CP24 on Sunday afternoon. “The first step of the process is that you set your goals and one of the goals is access to the waterfront. There is no doubt that the better access to the waterfront is achieved by the boulevard option. Frankly it doesn’t compare with the elevated option.”
Council to meet Wednesday
City council will meet Wednesday to debate the two options under consideration for the eastern portion of the Gardiner from Jarvis Street to Logan Avenue.
The ‘hybrid’ option would see the highway rerouted to preserve the link with the Don Valley Parkway and allow for the development of the former Unilever site near the DVP and Lake Shore Boulevard while the removal option would see the highway tore down completely and Lake Shore Boulevard widened to accommodate displaced traffic.
Though Tory has been vocal in his support of the hybrid proposal due to concerns over the traffic implications of removing the highway altogether, an increasing number of councillors and city leaders have thrown their support behind the tear-down option in recent days, including former mayor David Crombie, former city planner Paul Bedford and a group of 14 developers.
Meanwhile, on Friday a group that represents Toronto’s financial services industry wrote all 44 councillors to urge them to support the hybrid proposal.
“The Toronto Financial Services Alliance (TFSA) has a mandate to promote and grow Toronto as a global financial centre. As you are aware, infrastructure is one of the key components in supporting this mandate as it impacts the quality of life of our residents and the economic competitiveness of the region,” the letter from TFSA President Janet Ecker stated. “While we all support the need for more transit, a modern road infrastructure is also a critical economic support. Given the city’s current transportation challenges, public policy should not hamper or take away transportation capacity.”
The “hybrid” option is expected to cost a total of $919 million over a 100-year period compared to $461 million for the removal option. The immediate cost for the hybrid option is estimated at $336 million compared to $240 million for the tear-down option.
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