This week was our October meeting of City Council. We considered several important items.
Billy Bishop Airport
The debate around the Island Airport took up most of the first day of Council.
Despite the item's intended focus on complying with new federal aviation safety regulations, many Councillors, spurred on by a strong lobbying effort, took the opportunity to expand the debate well beyond that.
Council supported the simplest and cheapest option to meet the compliance needs of the airport. Council left the door open for a shorter-term lease extension, contingent on options for the airport to finance the required construction.
The other options presented by PortsToronto required additional complex environmental approvals. With the federally imposed deadline of 2027 for the completion of the runway safety improvements, staff recommended the simplest, cheapest option be taken.
Council did not support a motion to extend the lease until 2073, which would have meant a significant city-wide decision was made without any public consultation.
Mayor Chow was clear that this discussion had nothing to do with any plans to close the airport and reiterated this countless times throughout this process.
Council voted to ensure that proposals for the airport are not considered in isolation from the broad, multifaceted work to transform our waterfront.
Council’s decision enables the airport to comply with safety regulations while allowing for more substantial proposals to be considered in a measured, holistic process informed by public feedback and in coordination with the major work happening on our waterfront.
Vacant Home Tax
After the serious issues earlier this year with the Vacant Home Tax, City Council directed staff to do an extensive redesign of the program.
The deadline for declarations has also been extended to April 30th. Beginning November 1st, you can submit your online declaration for 2024 here.
Traffic Congestion Management
The city approved a number of measures to continue tackling traffic congestion.
These included increased and escalating fees for developers that occupy a lane of traffic for construction, increased fines for motorists who block intersections and improving the coordination of major and minor construction projects.
The sheer number of major construction projects in our city and our neighbourhood creates some inherent issues. The city has implemented an Eastern Waterfront construction hub, limited lane reduction impacts on the Eastern Avenue bridge and is working to minimize the impact of Metrolinx construction, despite it being a provincial agency.
The increase in fees for lane occupations by private developers will help incentivize them to not ask for extensions and help pay for congestion-related costs like traffic agents.
See a full list of actions approved at Council this week here.
Public Electric Vehicle Charging Plan
Also up for debate was the city's updated plan for the expansion of public EV charging across Toronto.
Led by the city's Environment & Climate division, this plan will bring together all public charging assets, including on-street in permit parking areas, off-street in Green P parking lots and electrifying city-owned vehicles to make sure we’re maximizing our investment by using a data driven approach.
As we've rolled out more public charging options, I have always made sure to push for residential charging options. Yet this week, some of my council colleagues didn't realize that many places in the old City of Toronto don't have access to laneway or front yard parking, relying instead on overnight on-street permit parking.
I pushed Toronto Hydro and the city's Transportation division when the program was first piloted and they added in some on-street charging options in residential areas, including on Alton, Mountjoy and Fulton and other locations.
These on-street chargers in permit parking areas are among the most used public locations. I will continue to push for more EV charging options on our residential streets.
Learn more about the city's public EV plan here.
Student Nutrition
Student nutrition has been close to Mayor Chow's heart for many years.
With the announcement of recent federal funding for student nutrition, staff will report in November outlining how we can rapidly expand the program, initially to the 21 schools eligible for the program that lack the funding to implement it.
Getting Ready for Electric Ferries
With the purchase of two new electric ferries, upgrades to the Jack Layton Ferry Terminal are needed including charging infrastructure and remodeled entrances to accommodate the larger ferries.
The new ferries will have a much larger passenger capacity and will be a modern, beautiful addition to our waterfront.
I have worked closely with Deputy Mayor Malik to set up a governance structure to ensure required upgrades to the ferry docks are not delayed and, crucially, completed in advance of the delivery of the new ferries.
Expertise from across the city, including waterfront construction experts, will help move this project forward.
Pickleball
Council adopted my motion for city Parks staff to look at where dedicated pickleball facilities could be sited in different areas of the city to provide some year round options for this fast growing sport.
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