On December 12th, Waterfront Toronto will be holding a public meeting at the Toronto reference library to present a new plan to city council. Here’s a few things that will be on the agenda:
Price tag for flooding. Flood proofing will be a major requirement when they go forward with the development of the waterfront. The mouth of the Don river would be shifted and three new channels added. The cost of this? About $634 million. Finding a way to fund it is a big challenge, and will likely be hotly debated on the 12th.
How fast can they do the redevelopment? A big issue is getting the Port Lands revitalized quicker, however how fast that will be is up for discussion. Original timelines showed the construction starting in about ten years, and completed in twenty-five to thirty years.
What are they doing? Currently Waterfront Toronto is open to all new ideas. Will they go with large scale retail, or an entertainment mecca?
Where will the proceeds go? The idea was to have the proceeds of the water redevelopment go into further developing the area, however many residents fear that the money could end up going to other projects.
Ferris Wheel? Councillor Doug Ford has been proposing a large ferris wheel, which the public has been less than enthused about. Even if this idea gets buried, we may still get a ferris wheel with Ontario place and their interest in revitalizing their floundering tourist attraction.
Either way, we can expect a lot of work around the waterfront over the next twenty (or so) years!
