To my elected representatives,
As you consider plans to introduce jets to downtown Toronto, please take into consideration the impacts this will have on the existing homes and attractions on our waterfront, as well as Toronto’s ability to follow through on the vision for our waterfront that our city has spent two decades developing and putting into action.
This made-in-Toronto plan was designed in consultation with residents and experts to meet our growing city’s needs, including housing, recreation, and tourist attractions - carefully balanced with practical considerations like traffic, access to public transit, and livability.
Recently, we have seen this vision coming together.
The City has announced an exciting redevelopment of Exhibition Place that will animate the space year-around, as well as a new training facility and community recreation centre across the street. These attractions will be easily accessible on the Ontario Line for tourists and conference-goers arriving on the UP Express to Union Station, and for residents from as far as Don Mills and Eglinton Ave E (the former side of the Ontario Science Centre).
In the Port Lands, we have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to build a new community that can house 15,000 people – building density where the City has the most room to grow. We’ve even secured $2 billion from your governments to build a new light right line to serve this new community. The risk that bringing jets to downtown could cut density in these new developments by up to two thirds undermines your government’s housing targets, and would require that we continue trying to build higher in neighbourhoods where traffic and infrastructure capacity is already under strain.
I’m also concerned about the impact that jets on our waterfront will have on existing attractions like concerts at the RBC Amphitheatre, open-air Jays games at the Rogers Centre, Little Norway Park, and potentially any use of the Toronto Islands, from kayaking and cycling, cultural festivals and dragon boat races, and even getting those iconic pictures of our waterfront or watching a sunset.
And with millions of additional passengers landing at Bathurst and Lakeshore, at the intersection of so many attractions and residential density, the increase in traffic risks making the area impossible to both live in and visit. By contrast, the made-in-Toronto plan, extending housing and recreation to the Port Lands, and planning new attractions downtown that can be accessed with public transit, is a thoughtful approach to balancing growth and traffic management.
The waterfront belongs to all of us, and it holds so much potential to support our economy, while also serving residents and improving attractions for tourists- it shouldn’t be overwhelmed by a massive runway and blast wall.
I’m asking you to respect our city’s local autonomy, and our vision for the waterfront – plans we have underway and will continue to build on as a community.