The cab corral is unreal! I fly Porter quite a bit and I've never seen that many cabs lined up, nor the need for that many. Add the amount of parking(?), what is that all in aid of? Paid parking for the Malting Site? Surely not all for airport reasons. This is the anti parking airport. I applaud the dedicated lane for the shuttle bus (and TTC?). And I could be wrong, but the number of approach lanes seems to have widened the approach road at the expense of the adjacent park? Am I wrong there?
No, you’re not wrong at all. PortsToronto holds a 100’ wide easement over the entire eastern edge of Little Norway Park. That easement, along with numerous other license agreements in Bathurst Quay in favour of the airport, pre-date the City’s ownership (since 1992) of the park and numerous other properties in the neighbourhood. Early in Rob Ford’s mayoral tenure the airport’s footprint was further expanded via a new lease over most of the silo property, which Council had already declared as surplus with an intent to sell for commercial development. Then add Porter’s jet proposal into the mix. That is the basic context and lead up to this 2012 concept from the airport’s parking operator.
Following cancellation of the jet proposal, the City acted swiftly to enact new OP policies, amend prior lease agreements, and to reverse Council’s prior surplus declaration, in support of the revitalization work underway on the silo property now. So a welcome course correction, much of which was made possible by the leadership of Joe Cressy and his staff, and a lot of hard work and negotiating by City staff. Still more to accomplish here, but we are finally headed in the right direction.
