Crazy Idea for Toronto's Waterfront?

[papa]

What about draining all the water between the mainland and the Toronto Islands then infill the land to create more land? From the map I found (link below) the water doesn't seem to be that deep close to the shore. Doing this will not only create more land but it will give the City of Toronto a second chance at planning the waterfront right. It will be like working with a clean slate! I got this idea from flying over Incheon Korea and seeing the Koreans draining the water to create new land. Thoughts?

http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/mgg/image/images/ontario_72.pdf

 

[dt_toronto_geek]

What about draining all the water between the mainland and the Toronto Islands then infill the land to create more land? From the map I found (link below) the water doesn't seem to be that deep close to the shore. Doing this will not only create more land but it will give the City of Toronto a second chance at planning the waterfront right. It will be like working with a clean slate! I got this idea from flying over Incheon Korea and seeing the Koreans draining the water to create new land. Thoughts?

http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/mgg/image/images/ontario_72.pdf

That's a totally insane idea. No one in their right mind would consider such a twisted, ridiculous proposal. That's a cool map of Lake Ontario though.

** End **

 

[papa]

Is it really an insane idea? It's being done all over the world http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_reclamation are these people all out of their mind?

 

[grey]

Is it really an insane idea?

Yes.

We're already getting a "second chance" at building a proper waterfront by rearranging the existing one. What's your problem with this plan?

 

[junctionist]

I'm all for further infilling so that we can have a larger and better public waterfront downtown around Bay. But I think that doing it all the way up to the islands is excessive and would ruin the uniqueness of the islands.

 

[DSC]

Is it really an insane idea?

Yes it is but I bet people said exactly the same thing in the 1850s when the railway started to fill in the lake below Front Street and The Esplanade and look where the shoreline is now.

 

[Observer Walt]

... It will be like working with a clean slate!

People who live on the Islands, and people who like to sail from the yacht clubs over there, and those who like to just go to the Islands for a day of recreation, might disagree.

 

[adma]

Hey! I have a great idea. Demolish Toronto City Hall and commission a world-class replacement

 

[valkoholic]

I actually think the idea's kind of cool. It'll never happen for thousands of perfectly good reasons, but for a crazy idea it's one of the better ideas I've heard in a while. Plus, it gives me a moral justification for dumping a load of bricks from my driveway into the Keating Channel this weekend (just kidding).

 

[SunriseChampion]

So, in addition to ruining countless acres of some damn good farmland and associated woodlands in this bloody mess of an urban conglomeration, we're now going to start ruining the lake some more as well?

You trying to make Detroit look attractive?

Why don't we instead flood all the inefficiently built-up areas of the city? A bit of a flip-side to your idea. Then, we can build a new city on platforms. Like Waterworld but waaaay better and waaay less Costner. Now, THAT'S starting from scratch. Leave the fishies alone and instead take your ideas out on the shitty cul-de-sacs, bungalows and stucco-covered McMansion monstrosities, I say!

 

[valkoholic]

Well, technically this would save farmland by increasing the size of Toronto's core. My crappy math tells me you could hold 160,000 jobs+ people in a filled-in Toronto harbour. That's like taking north Oakville and Seaton together and putting them in a walkable urban area.

And the fishing sucks in Toronto harbour anyway. Mostly carp. Ideally this plan would not fill in the little channels in the islands (aka the 'New Waterfront') because apparently those have good spring pike fishing.

 

[PinkLucy]

What about draining all the water between the mainland and the Toronto Islands then infill the land to create more land? From the map I found (link below) the water doesn't seem to be that deep close to the shore. Doing this will not only create more land but it will give the City of Toronto a second chance at planning the waterfront right. It will be like working with a clean slate! I got this idea from flying over Incheon Korea and seeing the Koreans draining the water to create new land. Thoughts?

http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/mgg/image/images/ontario_72.pdf

Umm .... no.

 

[savevp]

I'm all for thinking outside the box but I don't think that this idea would be feasable for a number of reasons.

Firstly and most obviously, the enormous cost. While it may be cheaper than some of those Dubai megaprojects, it is still expensive and we don't have the money required at this time.
Secondly, this would isolate our Downtown and Queen's Quay as well as other developments in Toronto which were built because of their proximity to the water. Take Redpath Sugar as an example of this.
Thirdly, as said before, the islands would be disturbed too much. There have been multiple proposals to bridge the gap between the islands (and until the recent Porter tunnel), they have all been shut down due to heavy opposition.

Again, this kind of open thinking is what Toronto needs. Just not in this case...