Toronto Lower Don Lands Redevelopment | ?m | ?s | Waterfront Toronto

Tuscani01 said:
carving out a new river, and creating a new community out of it - they wouldn't believe it.
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There's no new river being carved out. This is filled marshland, where the Don emptied into one of the largest wetlands on Lake Ontario. The largest? Where High Park now surrounds. Whether Coutts Paradise counts or not is questionable. Technically it's on a bay that drains into the lake..
interchange42 said:
but Waterfront Toronto have said that the new river will not be quite enough to stop the largest overflows. That's why the whole Corktown Common area was put behind a berm, and why the east side is going to be put behind extensive berms over the next few years: the Don will still spill over its banks during the "100-year" events that happen once every year or so now.
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And that "100 years" ain't what it used to be with Global Warming. Flash flooding is on the rise across the Globe.
interchange42 said:
3. T&T is in the path of the Cherry Street realignment, so when they get far enough south with that, that store is gone. Rebel is not threatened by the redevelopment.
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T&T took over Knob Hill Farm's lease from the City. It's City land (maybe now ceded to WFT, I don't know) but all of Polson Street is private, and will remain so. And that includes the industrial operations. Ownership flips over the years have left a sordid tale (tail?), but that's another matter, another time. Of late, the Rebel has been 'keeping their nose clean'. Best let sleeping dogs alone...

As per the Don Mouth: (I thought it was Ashbridge's Bay, but needed to check before posting that), here's what's been lost:

Ashbridge's Bay Marsh, a 560 hectare wetland named after the first settlers east of the Don River, formed the mouth of the Don and was molded over time from depositional materials eroded from the Scarborough Bluffs. Since the late 1700s, the Donwatershed has undergone profound changes.
Don Mouth Naturalization and Port Lands Flood Protection Project ...
https://trca.ca/.../green.../don-mouth-naturalization-port-lands-flood-protection-project/
 
A good comparison of what Toronto's port naturally looked like prior to european settlement is either Shrewsbury, ON which is more or less its fully natural state, or Erie PA's harbour which is semi-urbanized but in a much better condition than Toronto's. The islands are essentially a gigantic sandbar sticking out into the lake.
 
innsertnamehere said:
A good comparison of what Toronto's port naturally looked like prior to european settlement is either Shrewsbury, ON which is more or less its fully natural state, or Erie PA's harbour which is semi-urbanized but in a much better condition than Toronto's. The islands are essentially a gigantic sandbar sticking out into the lake.
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I've always found Erie to be interesting as a mirror of what smaller, American Toronto might have looked like.
 
The current plan call for 11 phases how the whole area is to be built with new guild lines. How these new guild lines will work is going to be fun, since a number of developers are already want 50s towers like to the west were it was supposed to be 10-25s only..
 
jsmith77 said:
Love watching this unfold and seeing the progress. Have a few random questions though, figured I'd throw them out at the universe and see what people knew.

1. The Bayview extension was flooded again over the last couple days. Wondering if anyone knows whether the new alignment will help mitigate flooding there as well.
2. I know that this is specifically for the portlands development, but is there any news as to what's going on with the Don Mouth Naturalization, whether it's aligned with the progress behind this project? Wouldn't you enlarge the river mouth before bringing another river online?
3. What is the official word on what happens to Rebel and T&T? I don't think businesses in the area have been told if and when they're relocating as of yet.
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innsertnamehere said:
1. I be


1. I believe this would help, at least for when the southern part of Bayview floods.
2. The Don Mouth Naturalization is just another word for this project, I believe.
3. I believe they are on privately owned land so this is being built around them - they can stay as they are throughout the process.
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Northern Light said:
Second things first.

These two are the same project.

https://trca.ca/conservation/green-...n-project/don-mouth-environmental-assessment/

Note the title:

Don Mouth Naturalization and Port Lands Flood Protection Project – Environmental Assessment

Now back to number one, this project does not materially affect flooding of Bayview north of Queen. There is a plan to do some work in the Don narrows (the straightened part of the river from just north of Gerrard to Eastern) that will reduce flood depths a bit, but not eliminate them even on the 2-year cycle.

That said, there are other projects under way which will impact this.

Notably the new stormwater storage and conveyance tunnel system. Phase 1 is now underway and will address stormwater/CSO overflows from The Forks south (Area where East Don, West Don and Taylor Creek meet).

A later phase will run along Taylor Creek to Warden Avenue.

This will reduce stormwater surge levels on the river and eliminate some floods.

Fully eliminating floods at the 25-year storm level is not all that likely. This would require either raising the conveyance capacity of the river significantly or raising Bayview. The latter is more practical, but I'm unaware of any serious proposal to do so.

Finally, number three. So far as I know, the new alignment of Cherry Street will cross the existing T&T property and require its removal. Not sure on the timing.
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interchange42 said:
1 & 2. The "new alignment" and "new river" are one and the same, and it basically means that the Don won't have to make a sharp right turn into the Keating Channel to dump the water into the lake. The Keating Channel will still be there, but the water will also be able to continue flowing south from that spot, meandering its way through a curving course into the lake. That should mean that the water will not rise as quickly as it does now… but Waterfront Toronto have said that the new river will not be quite enough to stop the largest overflows. That's why the whole Corktown Common area was put behind a berm, and why the east side is going to be put behind extensive berms over the next few years: the Don will still spill over its banks during the "100-year" events that happen once every year or so now.
3. T&T is in the path of the Cherry Street realignment, so when they get far enough south with that, that store is gone. Rebel is not threatened by the redevelopment.

42
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One point to add to 2: while the works for the Don are mostly about that new river channel, some of the naturalization will also involve expanding the mouth between the GO tracks and Lake Shore Boulevard.

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What is the grey striped area to the west? Private property? I recall some of the tallest towers here in the masterplan
 
steveintoronto said:
There's no new river being carved out. This is filled marshland, where the Don emptied into one of the largest wetlands on Lake Ontario.
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And that fill is now being carved out to create a new mouth of the Don. (see image posted by DonValleyRainbow above)
 
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tstormers said:
That is still showing the old Gardiner alignment, so to me it would be a "to be determined" area in that particular map.
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That's where the giant inflatable air mattresses will be located. To catch any stunts that come off the Gardiner.

35c8a36beb712e3df5bafe928d9fff1a.jpg

From link.
 
Sidewalk Labs offers to pay for Waterfront LRT in exchange for cut of 'Quayside' tax revenue

From link.

Google subsidiary is proposing to help fund and build the Waterfront LRT as part of a futuristic neighbourhood it is developing in the Port Lands but the company wants to receive a cut of property taxes and development fees to offset the costs it incurs.

Sidewalk Labs previously partnered with Waterfront Toronto on a plan to develop a 12 acre (5 hectare) parcel of land along Toronto’s eastern waterfront but the company, which is a subsidiary of Google’s parent company Alphabet, is now proposing a larger scale development for the Port Lands.

The Toronto Star is reporting that Sidewalk Labs wants to help develop 350 acres (142 hectares) in the Port Lands area, though CEO Daniel Doctoroff tells CP24 that the company would really just be “a financier of infrastructure” for the second phase of development.

“The vision always contemplated at least looking at the broader geography but the way we think about it is it really should occur in a couple phases. For the first 12 acres we would actually play the role of developer perhaps in partnership with local developers where we could try out a lot of the hypothesis we have about how urban life could be improved with technology and innovation. For the second phase we would really just be a financier of infrastructure,” he said.

Sidewalk Labs would help fund Waterfront LRT

Doctoroff said that in order to fully build out the Port Lands, the area will need mass transit, specifically in the form of the long-discussed Waterfront LRT.

He said that Sidewalk Labs would be willing to help pay for that transit line in exchange for a portion of development fees and increased property tax revenue from the development.

The ownership of the transit line, which carries an estimated $520 million price tag, would reside with a public entity, he said.

“We are really just in the early process of formulating ideas but the notion is that if you can actually act as a catalyst to the creation of value in order to get paid back for playing that role you have to capture some of the value that is actually created and that might come in the form of a share of the increase in property taxes that otherwise wouldn’t have occurred but for the investment,” he said. “Really what we are suggesting is that our interests are completely aligned with the public sector so we don’t actually get paid back unless the public earns a lot more money,” he told CP24.

Sidewalk Labs has previously promised to build 2,500 residential units as part of the 12 acres it hopes to develop, 40 per cent of which would be offered at a below-market rate.

In a post on a website dedicated to the project on Friday, Doctoroff said that he envisions that Sidewalk Labs would help fund key infrastructure beyond just the LRT, including parks and “next-generation utility systems.”

He said that in exchange, the city could create “a value-capture zone in which development charges, incremental property taxes, and increased land value stemming from the project would be used to finance” the enabling infrastructure.

In a statement issued on Friday afternoon, Mayor John Tory pointed out that the city has not received “any formal proposal” from Sidewalk Labs at this time and “and no permissions or dispensations have been granted.”

He said that he is committed to ensuring that the Port Lands project “is done in a transparent manner that’s good for Toronto, good for the province, and good for Canada.”

“Any final proposal from Sidewalk Labs will be given full public scrutiny, subject to public consultation and discussion, and, ultimately, consideration by Waterfront Toronto and city council,” he said.


Project has faced criticism over privacy concerns

Sidewalk Labs was chosen in October, 2017 to prepare a plan for the development of a high-tech neighbourhood in the Port Lands.

In October of this year, a number of members of the panel helping to guide the development resigned over privacy concerns, including Ontario's former privacy commissioner Ann Cavoukian.

In her resignation letter, Cavoukian chided Sidewalk Labs for refusing to guarantee that other companies involved in the project would follow a privacy framework she had designed.

"I imagined us creating a Smart City of Privacy, as opposed to a Smart City of Surveillance," Cavoukian wrote in the letter.

A spokesperson for Sidewalk Labs has said that the company will not own any data collected as part of the development and will instead establish an “independent civic data trust.”
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See also the Sidewalk Toronto website at link.

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I say we tell them to go screw themselves. How much are we as taxpayers contributing to flood protecting the land? $2B+? Providing utilities? Design and construction of the nearby DRL?

How much is the information gathered by Alphabet going to be worth over the lifetime of the project?

Lastly, what kind of precedent would this set?

It's so absurd it almost feels as though they did this as a way to kill the public perception of the project so they can walk away without damage to their reputation.
 
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