Waterfront Toronto Board Recommends Commencing an Environmental Assessment and Urban Design Study for the Partial Removal of the Gardiner Expressway

Chair's Summation - June 12, 2008

• The Board of Waterfront Toronto moved today to recommend to City Council the initiation of an Individual Environmental Assessment to consider the partial takedown of the Gardiner Expressway from Jarvis Street to the Don Valley Parkway and to replace the structure with a “great street”.
• Waterfront Toronto will seek Council approval for the recommended approach and for the City to be a co-proponent with Waterfront Toronto in initiating an Individual Environmental Assessment.
• In moving this motion, the Board of Waterfront Toronto is expressing its belief that the time has come to deal with this long-standing issue and to redefine the Gardiner’s role in a revitalized waterfront.
• We are also expressing our belief that the future growth and vitality of the waterfront, and of the City of Toronto more broadly, will be based on enhanced transit initiatives and transit infrastructure solutions including those being implemented by the City, GO Transit and Metrolinx.
• Our decision today is consistent with Waterfront Toronto principles of sustainable, intelligent city building. It is consistent with a global movement that seeks to put the environment and transit increasingly at the forefront of solutions to urban growth challenges.
• The Board’s discussion and decision today represent, fundamentally, an approach focused on the future and the vision of the kind of city and waterfront we want to build.· It will enhance the sustainable communities that Waterfront Toronto is building in the West Don Lands, East Bayfront, and Lower Don Lands.
• The EA will be the opportunity to go beyond examining road alternatives – it should define a transportation strategy for the area and an achievable plan for distributing demand among all available modes. This is an opportunity to facilitate discussion of multi-directional accessibility by all modes – vehicles, pedestrians, transit, cyclists - within the area and to the adjacent areas.
• And, as always, Waterfront Toronto will commit to ensuring full, timely engagement by the public on this issue.