Port Lands Planning Initiatives
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Attachment 1: Section 2 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 ER 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.