Governments take next steps to study Toronto Port Lands development

TORONTO—Five million dollars has been announced by the federal, provincial and city governments, along with Waterfront Toronto, to complete the due diligence work needed for more certainty on the costs and risks associated with the proposal to naturalize the Don River.

The studies will take a look at flood protection on the Port Lands and surrounding area, as well as examine the economic development potential, including the First Gulf/Unilever site, ultimately addressing the challenge of transforming the underused Port Lands into a long-term asset.

The Port Lands is a 400-hectare parcel of downtown waterfront land. About 290 hectares (715 acres) in the area — including parts of South Riverdale, Leslieville and the First Gulf/Unilever development site at the eastern base of the Don River — are at risk of flooding from the Don River watershed and cannot be developed until they are flood protected, a release explains.

Flood protection for the Port Lands would be the second phase of flood protection on the whole, the first being the West Don Lands, which are the current site of the Pan Am Athletes’ Village.

That flood protection infrastructure now protects 210 hectares of eastern downtown Toronto, including the West Don Lands, parts of the Financial District and the South Core.

The Port Lands flood protection proposal is the largest and "most complex" project proposed in the second phase of Toronto’s waterfront revitalization, also known as Waterfront 2.0, states Waterfront Toronto. It is also "one of the most complex urban flood protection projects in Canada," the release reads.

Recently, Toronto City Council adopted a staff report that included a "Call to Action" to governments to commit to funding this second phase of the revitalization. The estimated cost of this project, states Waterfront Toronto, is $975 million. The work could include:

— rerouting the Don River to the middle of the Port Lands between the Ship channel and the Keating Channel;

— remediating the area’s contaminated soil;

— creating new parks, wetlands and resilient urban infrastructure that will remove the flooding risk; and

— unlocking a vast area for revitalization and development, including the creation of a new community called Villiers Island.

The first phase of the due diligence work is scheduled to be complete by November. It will enable government funding of the project "by providing confirmation of the cost of the project, strategies to mitigate the risks associated with the project, and an implementation strategy," the release explains.

The Port Lands flood protection environmental assessment already received Ministry of the Environment approval after extensive stakeholder engagement and public consultation over the past decade. This additional due diligence work will include soil and groundwater management strategies that would detail project risks and identify appropriate mitigation measures.

The results will be provided to governments this fall, along with an implementation strategy.

"The project would take approximately seven years to complete and would be ready to start by 2017," states the release.

Waterfront Toronto states that an independent study conducted by PwC in 2014 estimates that spending on design and construction on the project will generate $3.6 billion in value to the Canadian economy and $346 million in tax revenues to all levels of government.