Port Lands Planning Framework Figure 6: External Placemaking Factors

SECTION 2 THE BIG PICTURE The Port Lands, jutting into Lake Ontario, is strategically located in close proximity to downtown Toronto at the convergence of existing and planned transportation systems. It is a significant city-building opportunity. SECTION 2

2.1 EXTERNAL PLACEMAKING FACTORS Toronto is transforming and growing Gardiner Expressway and the like no other city in North America. Keating Channel Precinct: We are in an exciting time of change The rebuilding of the Gardiner with many significant infrastructure Expressway removes the existing and development projects in the on and off ramps east of the Don works that will advance a progressive River, eliminating a significant barrier city-building agenda. Urban renewal between the Port Lands and the and redevelopment in the Port Lands broader city. The new ramps and will, in part, be defined by a number configuration of the Gardiner west of of external factors that inform the Don River shift the location of the placemaking in the Port Lands. expressway to the north and away from the Keating Channel.

This move supports the city-building potential of the Keating Channel Precinct – a planned mixed-use waterfront community that will evolve as a gateway to a revitalized Port Lands. It will also enable unencumbered access to a future water’s edge promenade, and create better conditions for future high-quality open space and pedestrian-friendly environments. The precinct plan for the Keating Channel Precinct lands west of Cherry Street will be revisited as per Council direction in the context of the preferred plan for the Gardiner.

17 Port Lands Planning Framework Figure 6: External Placemaking Factors

Relief Line Gardiner East

Smart Track/RER External Precincts

Waterfront Transit Reset

Port Lands Planning Framework 18 SECTION THE BIG PICTURE - 2.1 - EXTERNAL PLACEMAKING FACTORS

4.1.1 A Regeneration Area with Enhanced Direction 2 Higher Order Transit The planning for waterfront transit Infrastructure and the Unilever to date has largely been undertaken Precinct: in a piecemeal fashion. As such, the The City Planning Division has City of Toronto, with the Toronto been advancing the development Transit Commission and Waterfront of a City-wide transit network that Toronto, are currently completing a includes many new higher-order comprehensive review of waterfront transit corridors. A number of these transit initiatives from Long Branch in planned corridors are located within the west to Woodbine Avenue in the close proximity to the Port Lands. A east. A key objective of this initiative new transit hub is proposed in the is to advance an overall vision and vicinity of the existing GO rail corridor, plan for a continuous waterfront consisting of a Smart Track/Regional streetcar line in a dedicated right- Express Rail stop and a Relief Line of-way in the context of current and subway station. These new higher- emerging transit initiatives in the city. order transit lines will not only provide The work advanced as part of the much needed relief to the Yonge Lower Don Lands Infrastructure EA and Subway line, but will also support the the Port Lands and South of Eastern redevelopment of the Unilever Precinct Transportation and Servicing Master into a major new satellite office Plan is informing this initiative. destination supported by retail and services in a compact urban form. It was assumed as part of the Framework process that in time the The prospect of a major new office dedicated transit corridor would be destination is an exciting one. It has constructed to connect to the Port the potential to attract new, well- Lands. Interim measures, such as paid jobs for Torontonians and enable buses in dedicated lanes and rights-of- our economy to flourish. Creating way, may be implemented to provide synergies between the Unilever a higher level of transit service into Precinct and the Port Lands is a the Port Lands until such a time as key consideration in planning and streetcar service is extended eastward coordinating infrastructure investment or southward. The current work being between the Port Lands and South of undertaken as part of Waterfront Transit Eastern areas. Reset will have substantial benefit for the Port Lands, including the potential Waterfront Transit Reset: for comprehensively funding and Transit to the Port Lands is vital constructing a key transit priority route to achieve the overall vision in this into the Port Lands. Framework. The Central Waterfront Secondary Plan (CWSP) calls for early implementation of higher order transit in order to encourage transit-oriented travel patterns for new waterfront residents and employees. The Plan identifies a new waterfront transit network across the Central Waterfront from Exhibition Place to the Port Lands.

19 Port Lands Planning Framework 2.2 THE PORT LANDS AT A GLANCE

Revitalization and redevelopment to the shoreline and marsh began of the Port Lands is one chapter in with a series of breakwaters being a much larger story — one that has constructed. The Keating Channel was unfolded over centuries and will constructed along the northern edge continue to evolve for years to come. of the marsh in the late 1890s. There have been a series of successive waves of development that have But it was in 1912 that the transformation contributed to the legacy present of the marsh got underway in today in the Port Lands. earnest with the Toronto Harbour Commissioners’ plan to create a massive Late 19th and Early 20th new industrial district with waterfront Centuries parks. The lake-filling to create most The Port Lands area entirely comprises of the Port Lands and the initial Ship lands that were created in Lake Channel and Turning Basin began in 1916 Ontario and Ashbridge’s Bay Marsh. and was complete by the 1920s. Cousins The Don River originally emptied Quay was created through additional into Ashbridge’s Bay Marsh before lake-filling activities in the 1930s. Initially, entering the Inner Harbour. Starting the Port Lands was envisioned to be a in the 1870s, man-made interventions gateway to shipping for Toronto, but

The Port Lands: An Evolving Shoreline

Toronto Shoreline 1886 Toronto Shoreline 1920s Toronto Shoreline 1960 Toronto Shoreline Today Toronto Shoreline 2025

Port Lands Planning Framework 20 SECTION THE BIG PICTURE - 2.2 - THE PORT LANDS AT A GLANCE

2 Toronto never gained a stronghold on the Hearn Generating Station and this industry like other Canadian cities. associated hydro-electric infrastructure, as well as the Commissioners Mid 1900s Incinerator. These buildings ushered Starting in the 1950s, a second wave in an era of the Port Lands providing of development began with three important civic uses to serve the important events - construction of the broader city. Leslie Spit, construction of iconic civic infrastructure and the opening of the The opening of the St. Lawrence St. Lawrence Seaway. Seaway in the late 1950s brought with it a renewed hope that Toronto could Since initial work began on the Spit, become a port city. A new marine dredged material from the Keating terminal was constructed on Cousins Channel and Outer Harbour and Quay, and there was a further expansion surplus fill from development sites of the Ship Channel with the excavation within Toronto have contributed to and construction of the Leslie Street further expansion of the Spit. Slip. Once again, these aspirations for the industrial district waned and In the early 1950s, construction began the Port Lands entered an era of little on iconic civic infrastructure with change in the 1980s and 1990s.

Innocon Pinewood Toronto Studios Toronto Hydro Service Centre Ships moored in the Port Lands

Leslie Street Greening Cherry Street Villiers Street Unwin Avenue

21 Port Lands Planning Framework Figure 7: The Port Lands at a Glance

CA R LAW AVENUE

STREET MISSIONERS COM D O N RO ADWA

Y CHANNEL ING KEAT

L CH NE ERRY AN CH S TR E ET SHIP

INN

HAR

B OUR

R BOU

OUTER HAR

Heritage Buildings + Structures Hydro Infrastructure

Active Port Uses Pinewood Secure Perimeter

Ports Toronto Film + Film Related

Active Port Edge Existing Parks + Open Spaces

Unilever Precint Unilever Precinct Area of Influence

Port Lands Planning Framework 22 SECTION THE BIG PICTURE - 2.2 - THE PORT LANDS AT A GLANCE

2 Late 1900s to the present detailed planning for the Central With the Port Lands and other areas Waterfront, including the Port Lands. along the Central Waterfront being largely seen as underutilized in the Planning for the naturalized river valley 1990s, plans started to be developed began in 2004 with the preparation to transform the waterfront with mixed of a terms of reference associated recreational, cultural, commercial and with the Don Mouth Naturalization residential uses and to reconnect the Don of the Port Lands Flood Protection River with the Outer Harbour. In 1990, Project Environmental Assessment the Royal Commission of the Future of (DMNP EA). The 2007 International the Toronto Waterfront (the Crombie Design Competition for the Lower Commission) issued its Watershed Interim Don Lands produced a bold and Report, which recommended green compelling concept for the Lower Don industries and parkland be established in Lands with the re-naturalized river as the Port Lands. Shortly thereafter, a plan a central feature. The DMNP EA for the by the Task Force to Bring Back the Don naturalized river valley and associated was issued, the centerpiece of which was flood protection infrastructure was the re-naturalization and reconnection of completed and approved in 2015. the Don River. Equally important in the evolution of Further planning work ensued through the Port Lands was the development the 1990s and early 2000s with a of production studio infrastructure in number of plans being developed the area. The most notable was the for the Port Lands and broader Film Port development, now Pinewood waterfront. The most notable was the Toronto Studios, which opened in Making Waves Plan in 2001, adopted 2008. This significant studio complex, as the Central Waterfront Secondary along with other studios and related Plan by City Council in 2003, which support services in the Port Lands, emphasized transforming and re- contribute to the city’s impressive energizing the entire waterfront into inventory of production space and one of the great waterfronts of the the ever-growing creative sector that world through a series of “big moves”. enable the city to compete with other This Plan ushered in a wave of more global cities for productions.

Cherry Beach Sports Fields McCleary Park

23 Port Lands Planning Framework 2.3 DEFINING FACTORS

There are a number of key defining Active ribbons of waterways (Figure factors that informed and guided the 11) will move throughout the Port development of this Framework. Lands. The naturalized mouth of the Don, Keating Channel, Inner Harbour The Port Lands is part of a larger and the Ship Channel offer unique and regeneration effort (Figure 9) along diverse waterside opportunities within Toronto’s waterfront. Its transformation the Port Lands – an experience not will build on more than a decade of afforded elsewhere in the city. waterfront planning and renewal. While the Port Lands is a large, underutilized The Port Lands is situated on the resource in our city, it is not a blank fringe of regional and urban mobility slate. It is telling that in 2016 there routes (Figure 12), including the were 5,500 people working in the Port Gardiner Expressway, Don Valley Lands. The Port Lands’ regeneration Parkway and Martin Goodman Trail. needs to infuse new uses and activity, New higher order transit stations and while celebrating active industry, for the waterfront streetcar will add to its next incarnation as a distinct and the area’s complement of mobility memorable city district. routes. Within the Port Lands, a series of new vehicular, pedestrian, cycling, The Port Lands is situated at the and transit routes are possible that convergence of a hard urban edge build upon and improve the area’s and a wilderness reprieve (Figure existing infrastructure and connect 10). To the north is the city edge of to the regional and urban mobility Toronto and to the south is the natural routes. There is also the opportunity landscape of Tommy Thomson Park, to take advantage of the Port Lands Lake Ontario and the Toronto Islands. waterways for ferry and boat access as The Port Lands transformation will a new movement corridor to and from bridge the divide between the urban Toronto’s downtown. and natural landscapes, and restore the Port Lands geological roots as the mouth of the Don River.

Port Lands Planning Framework 24 SECTION THE BIG PICTURE - 2.3 - DEFINING FACTORS

2 The Port Lands’ rich and diverse infrastructure that powers downtown history (Figure 13) as the shipping Toronto, and it is home to numerous gateway and industrial hub for Toronto film production studios (Figure 14) is foundational and character defining. and other media industries. Maintaining The adaptive reuse and integration and supporting these industries has of the Port Lands’ various heritage been an important consideration resources will contribute to the City’s in the planning for the Port Lands. growth and evolution, and help define New development will need to occur what is unique and distinctive about in a harmonious way to ensure the the Port Lands. continued economic growth of the Port Lands and viability of existing Port Lastly, the Port Lands has a confluence and Industrial uses that will remain, of active port and shipping activities while also allowing for continued that serve the city, substantial hydro revitalization of the waterfront.

Figure 8: Port Lands Key Statistics

25 Port Lands Planning Framework Figure 9: Part of a Large Regeneration Effort Figure 10: Where Urban Meets Natural

Figure 11: The New Mouth of the Don and the Ship Channel Figure 12: Key Mobility Routes

Figure 13: Character Defining Heritage Resources Figure 14: Port, Power and Production

Port Lands Planning Framework 26 SECTION THE BIG PICTURE - 2.3 - DEFINING FACTORS

2 Land Ownership municipally owned lands are either on Figure 15 shows the land ownership in short-term leases or are vacant lands. the Port Lands. The largest landowner in the Port Lands is the City of Toronto The second largest landowners are the through the Toronto Port Lands Province of Ontario and the Federal Company. Some of the City-owned Government. There are also a number lands in Polson Quay, the Film Studio of privately held parcels scattered District and East Port are subject throughout. Waterfront Toronto owns to long-term leases. The remaining two parcels in Villiers Island.

Figure 15: Land Ownership

King St. E. Eastern Ave.

DVP Cherry St. St. Cherry

Lake Shore Boulevard E. Carlaw Ave.

Leslie St.

Don Roadway

Queens Quay E.

Commissioners St.

Cherry St.

Unwin Ave

Federally Owned Land Long-term Options to Lease Provincially Owned Land Waterfront Toronto Owned Land Municipally Owned Land Privately Owned Land Long-term Leases

27 Port Lands Planning Framework Regeneration and Renewal To provide additional context, sites Potential with redevelopment potential are also Figure 16 identifies sites with buildings identified in the South of Eastern area. anticipated to remain in the long- This area, and how it will evolve over term and sites assumed to have the coming decades, will help shape redevelopment or renewal potential, development in the Port Lands. It is providing a starting point for areas desirable to create synergies between where revitalization or infill development the two areas. to foster employment growth may occur.

Figure 16: Regeneration and Renewal Potential