Mayor Rob Ford vowed Wednesday that he would keep taxes as low as possible as city council voted alongside him to extend subway service into Scarborough rather than constructing a light rail line.
“I’m going to keep (taxes) as low as humanly possible,” Ford said at a news conference following the council vote Wednesday. “We’re going to make sure this is affordable for everybody in this city.”
Calling the move the first major transit expansion in Scarborough in decades, Ford vowed that an expanded subway would benefit the city for the next hundred years.
““The people of Scarborough have spoken and we’ve listened,” he said.
Council members went back and forth with arguments over the cost difference, funding sources and other issues for several hours Tuesday, but did not hold a vote before the first half of the two-day meeting recessed for the night.
The meeting resumed Wednesday morning with the vote happening around 3 p.m.
Councillors finally voted 28-16 in favour of extending the existing Bloor-Danthforth subway line into Scarborough.
“I sincerely want to thank the 28 councillors who stood by me and took a clear and decisive position,” Ford said as he stood flanked by TTC Chair Karen Stintz and Scarborough Southwest Coun. Michelle Berardinetti. “Folks, there’s no turning back.”
The vote for subways in principle abandons the already-funded project to convert the Scarborough RT to an LRT line.
The vote is contingent on three key items, most notably the securing of new federal funding in the amount of $418- to $660-million dollars that doesn’t include the $333 million already committed to the Sheppard LRT. The province must also contribute $1.8 billion as previously promised, according to the motion.
That prompted Transportation Minister Glen Murray to chime in Wednesday to say the province would not pick up any new costs associated with switching the LRT project to a subway project.
“I want to be clear that we are moving forward with The Big Move plan and we do not support putting other Big Move projects at risk through the redirection of funds,” Murray said in a news release. ”If the decision is made that a subway project is preferred, the federal and municipal governments will be responsible for paying the balance of costs. This includes the costs associated with changing the project.”
A press conference at which Murray will respond to council’s decision is scheduled for 12:15 p.m. Thursday at the Kennedy GO Station in Scarborough.
Council committed to the LRT plan in 2012 and the province set aside $1.8 billion for the project in a master agreement with Metrolinx.
However, council changed its mind and voted last May to support a subway extension from Kennedy Station to Scarborough Town Centre and Sheppard Avenue East.
The city will now seek to amend the master agreement or strike a new agreement with the province and Metrolinx to use the $1.8 billion for a subway.
The subway extension would cost an additional $1.1 billion, according to a report prepared by city manager Joe Pennachetti.
To cover that estimated amount, the report recommends a property tax hike of 1.1 per cent to 2.4 per cent over three years, in addition to a hike in development fees.
The city is also looking to the federal government for cash, and Mayor Rob Ford says he hasn’t ruled out the possibility of a public-private partnership (P3) to construct a new subway line.
According to the report, either project would effectively serve the Scarborough RT corridor, but there are questions about a subway’s impact on land use and ridership.
An LRT line on the existing Scarborough RT footprint would provide greater overall geographic coverage, more stations and reliable service at a lower cost, the report says.
A subway would be faster, eliminate the need for a transfer at Kennedy Station and carry more riders, and there would be no need to shut down the Scarborough RT during construction, but the report warns an extension has not been studied as thoroughly as an LRT line.
