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

[steveintoronto]

Very interesting, I love the water channel. I know that would be a straight-up 'nope' from Hydro One if those transmission towers were theirs, but those actually belong to the City, correct? Not sure about the vegetation hanging from them, probably don't want that growing out and creating a ground connection.

[There is
no higher-order transit
service and introducing
higher order transit on Commissioners Street requires
resolving the
hydro transmission towers located within the
right-of-way east of the Don Roadway]
Pg 9
http://www.portlandsconsultation.ca/sites/all/themes/portlands/files/Transportation and Servicing Master Plan.pdf

So what exactly is the status of this, or has it been forgotten?

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Ontario Generator Output Information

Vision Statement:
To respect our environment, and ensure that we create a positive impact on land, air and water, for Life.

Mission Statement:
Electrical energy is the cornerstone of our quality of life.

The Portlands Energy Centre strives to be a world-class power generation facility. We will remain a responsible corporate citizen by:
[...]
http://www.portlandsenergycentre.com/

[...]
How the Central Waterfront Secondary Plan
addresses Energy and Conservation Issues
The Central Waterfront Secondary Plan (adopte
d by Council on April 16, 2003) defines as one of
its four principles the promotion
of a Clean and Green Environment.
In the Port Lands, the Plan policies specifically
support the development
of “green” industries
and medium scale development with opportunities
to live and work within the community. New
development would be required to meet a set of
environmental performance standards including
high energy efficien
cy, reduction of CO
2
emissions, water conserva
tion, clean air and waste
reduction requirements. It was recommended that
the Environmental Assessment process would
provide an opportunity to integr
ate Toronto’s environmental and su
stainability goals into project
design and implementation.
Policy P26 of the Secondary Plan requires “the Ce
ntral Waterfront to be
a model of leading edge
environmental technologies. Alternative sour
ces of generating electr
icity, including co-
generation, anaerobic digestion, wind turbines and so
lar power, will be pursued as well as district
heating and cooling”. It was also
noted in the Plan that the H
earn Plant would become an asset
to the Port Lands with many potential reuse options.
[...]
http://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/2006/agendas/committees/pof/pof060620/it015.pdf

New waterfront complex just plain ugly
The Portlands Energy Centre, Premier Dalton McGuinty's little gift to Toronto, is a vast and obnoxious, misplaced and inappropriate project that will seriously damage plans for waterfront regeneration in Toronto.

By Christopher HumeUrban Issues
Fri., Oct. 26, 2007
Welcome to Toronto's beautiful new revitalized waterfront!

Complete with parks, public transit and housing for 100,000, it is an urban dream, a veritable city of the future. Designed by some of the world's leading architects and landscape architects, these new communities will be sustainable, accessible and fully integrated, cosmopolitan even.

But wait, what's that monstrous, multi-smokestacked industrial complex now under construction on Unwin Ave. in the heart of the docklands?

Oh, yes, that would be the Portlands Energy Centre, Premier Dalton McGuinty's little gift to Toronto. Well, actually, it's not so little. In fact, it's a vast and obnoxious, misplaced and inappropriate project that will seriously damage plans for waterfront regeneration in Toronto.

Of course, McGuinty meant well; he always means well. But, sadly, we don't live in a perfect world, and there's only so much the poor man can do.

Too bad, then, that so much of what he does manage to do is so wrong-headed. Certainly, the energy centre is about as wrong-headed as a premier could get. It even flies in the face of his own government's efforts to revitalize the waterfront, to make it a model 21st century community for Canada and the world.

To see how wrong, just look at the proposals for the Portlands, all of them chosen through international design competitions, with the energy centre.

Notice the compact waterfront neighbourhood organized around green space, the mixed uses and community focus.

Somehow that vision just isn't compatible with the 550-megawatt energy centre, with its four enormous chimneys and mega-scale. The operator, Ontario Power Generation, argues that the site has always been industrial and that the scheme is in harmony with revitalization. Berms will be built, OPG says, 3,000 trees planted and noise-abatement and emission control equipment installed. OPG also claims the station will be "isolated from residential communities and is expected to have no discernible impacts."
[...]
https://www.thestar.com/opinion/columnists/2007/10/26/new_waterfront_complex_just_plain_ugly.html

Rebel (which probably has a lease too) will disappear, eventually.

Rebel is on land owned by a 'silent partner' Jerry Sprackman, who along with Ross Surgeoner, bought the entire ex-pulp and paper operation decades ago, Sprackman owning the western half, Surgeoner the eastern. Due to unpaid taxes, Surgeoner was forced to sell out his half to Sprackman. There are a few unsavoury side details, nuff said for now.

 

[Kitsune]

... why are they not burying the hydro lines and instead keeping those giant eye sore hydro towers ?

 

[steveintoronto]

... why are they not burying the hydro lines and instead keeping those giant eye sore hydro towers ?

Cost. London, UK has buried a major one in tunnel across the city, but to do it below the water table along Commissioners could push costs up astronomically. It is a developing technology though, albeit controversial.

The bottom line is that much of the Waterfront Idyllic Dream is just that, unfortunately, in a city that doesn't have a comprehension of costs when it comes to selling the Average Plebe a vision with his own money that will have to be borrowed. All very nice when Plebe is paying for developers.

There's actually an extensive report on the xmssn factors that I just dumped off my taskbar. The fact is that it's provincial jurisdiction, and arm's length at that. I'll see if I can dig out that report later. Certain aspects of the established RoW may also be protected under federal legislation too, especially in portlands.

http://www.londonpowertunnels.co.uk/

National Grid’s £500m plan to move biggest and ugliest pylons underground
[...]
Putting lines underground requires a 50-metre-wide trench to be dug to about two metres deep, to accommodate the six lines carried by pylons. Hard rocks or archaeological sites can also present obstacles. Alternatives include moving the pylons to less obtrusive locations. In the High Weald AONB in south-east England, the 50-metre-tall pylons may be moved down the hill, so they have wooded slopes behind them rather than sky.

The scheme will add £500m to electricity bills over eight years, or about £7m a pylon, which National Grid says is equivalent to 22p a year on an average customer bill.[...]

https://www.theguardian.com/busines...und-to-put-pylons-underground-in-beauty-spots

Guess how that will go over with Ontarians?

But worry not! Don't let reality stop Toronto's endless fantasies of grandeur...developers have it all figured out for you.

 

[DonValleyRainbow]

[There is
no higher-order transit
service and introducing
higher order transit on Commissioners Street requires
resolving the
hydro transmission towers located within the
right-of-way east of the Don Roadway]
Pg 9
http://www.portlandsconsultation.ca/sites/all/themes/portlands/files/Transportation and Servicing Master Plan.pdf

So what exactly is the status of this, or has it been forgotten?

The renderings show streetcars in the current eastbound lanes where the towers stand in the middle of the road, with the westbound lanes converted into two-way (one lane each direction. Is that not resolving the issue?

... why are they not burying the hydro lines and instead keeping those giant eye sore hydro towers ?

I believe the hydro towers on the south side of the ship channel, leading away from Hearn, and the capturing tower on the immediate north side, are identified as...wait for it...heritage. With those having to stay in place, it probably doesn't make sense to move the ones on Commissioners.

I think they look great, for the record. Add character to the area.

 

[tripwire]

Rebel is on land owned by a 'silent partner' Jerry Sprackman, who along with Ross Surgeoner, bought the entire ex-pulp and paper operation decades ago, Sprackman owning the western half, Surgeoner the eastern. Due to unpaid taxes, Surgeoner was forced to sell out his half to Sprackman. There are a few unsavoury side details, nuff said for now.

Huh, does that mean it'll be a challenge to boot them out later on? I just don't see how the club works with the future plans.

 

[steveintoronto]

Huh, does that mean it'll be a challenge to boot them out later on? I just don't see how the club works with the future plans.

Going by past experience, he's in for the long-haul, my own feelings and dealings with the man beside. He's assembled by lease and ownership a fair holding down there, but has clear title (as best I know, and has been written about in a number of in-depth articles, Toronto Life being one IIRC) and even the resurrection of the old mill into usable space by (gist) "Ross Surgeoner and his welding rig on the back of a pick-up truck". The building was flooded, the basement is well below lake level, and the sump system had been turned off. I surmise that Surgeoner scrapped a lot of the machinery that was left, and it might have just gone up the road to the local scrap yards or smelter at the foot of Parliament.

Whatever, that building is privately owned...and as long as the Ontario Liquor Licensing regs are adhered to they have little to fear. (And they're being good neighbours right now, they have a couple of venues open there, and you can't hear a thing of either 100 metres away.) I avoid the place, just not my scene, not my crowd, but the bouncers are usually alright, talk to them on their most frustrating nights, they need to talk to someone "sensible"...like older stoners instead of younger ones who can't handle it...lol.

As long as Sprackman Incorporated, or subsidiary partners toe the line, they'll be fine, and next to impossible to evict. I'll only intimate this, not state it: Start digging the dirt on those folks, and a hell of a lot you weren't expecting will also turn up. Nuff said on that...well...perhaps not completely...it goes right to City Hall. You'll have to dig on that yourself. Some of it is on-line.

Needless to say, the soil is very contaminated there. The power xfrmr, btw, in front of the building, is also privately owned by the building. They get 'wholesale' rates from Hydro by doing so, caveats apply. Load regulation is pretty poor at this time though, the xfrmr ratings were for a heavy machine load no longer extant.

With those having to stay in place, it probably doesn't make sense to move the ones on Commissioners.

Well thank God for small mercies. You do realize the set-backs required in Ontario for new-build residential from 230kV xmssn lines I take it?

Glad you like them. It's a real "Detroit feel" ain't it? Developers just love that sort of thing. Those Motown hits just keep on comin'...

 

[Waterloo_Guy]

I believe the hydro towers on the south side of the ship channel, leading away from Hearn, and the capturing tower on the immediate north side, are identified as...wait for it...heritage. With those having to stay in place, it probably doesn't make sense to move the ones on Commissioners.

If this garbage counts as "heritage," we're really in trouble.

 

[steveintoronto]

If this garbage counts as "heritage," we're really in trouble.

That's not the worst of it. "Heritage" would only count for the towers themselves, not the live xmssn cables. To move those, there's serious complications involved, and frankly, I can't be bothered rifling through the hundreds of pages of Idyllic Wonderland, where the nice developers tell you what to buy and how much you'll pay through the nose to do it. That's after your tax money cleans the place up, ya understand now?

But getting back to the Industrial Modern on your doorstep, they gloss over that in the renderings. Soma helps...and some Rust-Oleum for the towers. Now which colour to choose? Decisions, decisions...

 

[DSC]

Huh, does that mean it'll be a challenge to boot them out later on? I just don't see how the club works with the future plans.

I think the key phrase is 'future plans". Even if the Club's current plans are approved I doubt they really think they will still be there in 20 years and the planning for that part of the huge site is still in its very early stages. It will be quite a while before T&T and Rebel need to move to get out of the way of any bulldozers!

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

I think the key phrase is 'future plans". Even if the Club's current plans are approved I doubt they really think they will still be there in 20 years and the planning for that part of the huge site is still in its very early stages. It will be quite a while before T&T and Rebel need to move to get out of the way of any bulldozers!

The T&T site may be needed for the mouth of the new river, but I don't think there are any major earthworks where Rebel is.

AoD

 

[steveintoronto]

The T&T site may be needed for the mouth of the new river, but I don't think there are any major earthworks where Rebel is.

AoD

T&T site should also be OK, but if not, it is leased from (whatever the Gov't Quango of the day was). Most of Polson is private. Last time I checked, Stavro had sold the lease to Sprackman....phhhhh....no love lost between those two guys...at least Sprackman was good to his executives. But the real power down there is with the cement crowd....and as much as they weren't to be messed with, they were honest, straight-forward operators on day-to-day matters. There was a lot of sleezy business going on. Cement boys were well above it, in fact had private investigators on it. Dennis Mills was also onto it, but it was complex, not normally mentioned in the media.

Here's a reference, it was very 'sticky' business, and I quickly realized at the time it was multi-layered:
[When the Town Crier asked NDP leader Jack Layton, who attended the presentation, what he liked about the designs he replied: "The key question is will the (Toronto) Port Authority — an undemocratic body started by (MP) Dennis Mills — will they let this happen?" said Layton, who is taking on Mills for the federal seat in Toronto-Danforth.

Layton explained that the Port Authority owns land just north of the park and "can order an environmental assessment for anything 50 metres from the dock wall."

Toronto-Danforth Councillor Paula Fletcher (Ward 30) said in an interview that "there has to be a great design, but there also has to be a financial commitment behind it. All three partners the federal, provincial and city governments (have to chip in).

"The most important thing is to get it right," said Fletcher, who also attended the meeting.]
http://mytowncrier.ca/news/the-greening-of-the-waterfront/

There's direct connections to City Hall too, still. On the Waterfront.

Even if the Club's current plans are approved I doubt they really think they will still be there in 20 years and the planning for that part of the huge site is still in its very early stages.

And how exactly are they to be moved? Lots of puffed up talk about how 'The Will shall be done', but the mechanics of this isn't as easy as some think. Essroc, for instance, were offered a trade of land, plus some sweeteners I'm sure.

"The Club's current plans" or not, Sprackman's no fool. He's sitting on a gold mine, tainted as it is.

 

[44 North]

Very interesting, I love the water channel. I know that would be a straight-up 'nope' from Hydro One if those transmission towers were theirs, but those actually belong to the City, correct? Not sure about the vegetation hanging from them, probably don't want that growing out and creating a ground connection.

I think they're Toronto Hydro, but not sure. They've definitely made it look pretty rustic with the vines growing up it. I see those creepers on pylons in the valley, but not even in the bush have I seen anything like what's shown. I wouldn't say they'll be deactivated in the future until I saw your later post that says they're designated "heritage". Seems pretty odd to me. I like trellis' and hanging gardens, but I think I'd prefer if the old rusty towers were removed outright. Then again this is the Port Lands, and it's kinda supposed to look run down. Even if it there were no development down there in the future I'd be ok with the area remaining as it is today.

 

[steveintoronto]

I think they're Toronto Hydro, but not sure.

Hydro One.
http://www.hydroone.com/RegionalPlanning/Toronto/PublishingImages/Web-Metro Toronto.jpg

And they've just invested in the Basin TS:

TORONTO – Hydro One completed more than $157 million in upgrades through ten transmission projects across Toronto and the GTA in 2014 to improve reliability and replace aging infrastructure. In addition, the Company plans to complete over $688 million in additional improvement and replacement work between 2015-2018.
[...]
Basin Transmission Station, Toronto - $7 million Work included the installation of two system stabilizers that will prolong the service life of station equipment not only at Basin Transmission Station but also at Gerard Transmission Station, Carlaw Transmission Station and Hearn Switching Station.
[...]

http://www.newswire.ca/news-release...-toronto-and-surrounding-areas-517405641.html

I guess someone didn't get the memo...

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

Land ownership map from TPLC:

AoD

 

[DSC]

Great map but hard to read the text. See: http://tplc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/TPLC-MAP-September-2015-Web-version.pdf