TheBulletin.ca Journal of Downtown Toronto
Harrison Lowman –
Plans to move forward with Don River mouth and port lands redevelopment are being stonewalled by industrial companies that remain entrenched in the once-thriving manufacturing district, according to some local residents.
During a public consultation in Eastern Ave.’s Toronto Fire Academy on July 24, citizens expressed concerns about the Lafarge cement company’s repeated commitment to remain in the area during future revitalization efforts.
“In my mind it’s sort of like the clear glass of water and someone drops a drop of ink and it just sort of clouds the whole jar,” says Jack Brannigan, a retired chemical engineer living in the Bloor and Mt. Pleasant area. “The way it sits right now, Lafarge has no plans in moving and so maybe 20 years down the road when the naturalized mouth of the Don is fait accompli, it will still be sitting there on the edge. And it just doesn’t seem to be compatible.”
Representatives from Waterfront Toronto (WT), the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (TRCA), and the city met with concerned citizens to address the final details of two environmental assessment (EA) projects within the Don Mouth and Lower Don Lands region.
Discussions were buttressed by a speech by WT COO David Kusturin.
The Don Mouth naturalization and port lands flood protection project environmental assessment deals with plans to alter the existing mouth of the Don River into “a more naturalized river outlet” while eliminating the chance of flooding to areas to its east and south. The completed project would form over 30 hectares of “high quality habitat” (including terrestrial and wetland) out of land currently contaminated by infilling and dumping.
“We’re left with a legacy of dirty contaminants in soils, and this project will be creating a whole new river valley system. Complete with new river channels, wetlands, meadows, forests along the valley’s edges,” says TRCA special projects manager Ken Dion. “So we’re actually re-creating sort of a natural system which currently doesn’t exist in the area.”
Additionally, the revised river is expected to transport Hurricane Hazel–sized flood waters. According to Dion, the flood prevention projects being discussed would not have reduced the recent flooding of the Don Valley Parkway.
The current plan follows a decision by the city to revisit the Port Lands development process in 2011. In 2012, the proposal stretched into a 30-year $1.9 billion project that will be implemented in four phases rather than all at once, apparently saving on time and cost. Each phase will expand the flood-protected area and add infrastructure like additional bridges or a flood protection landform.
While WT anticipates that the environmental assessment will be fully approved by the middle of 2014, the final phase cannot be completed until Lafarge vacates the area.
“The final naturalization of the mouth of the Don would occur in the future once the Lafarge Cement operation, that occurs in the Polson Slip, is relocated. We don’t know when that may be,” says Kusturin. “Currently Lafarge operates a facility there and intends to continue to operate that facility for the foreseeable future. Sometime in the future when Lafarge deems that it can operate this facility elsewhere more economically and looks to divest themselves of this property, the naturalization of the south side of the mouth of the river can occur.”
WT is not holding its breath. According to Kusturin, the cement company just recently invested heavily in updating their plant and adding a research and development facility. They own their land on Polson St., and have been there for over 80 years.
Last September, Lafarge Canada Inc. sent a letter to the mayor and WT president John Campbell, criticizing the project for overlooking the company’s intentions to stay in the area. The cement firm described the plan as one that would reduce their road and water access.
Kusturin says that landowners in the area have established a landowners’ group and have been holding meetings.
According to Brannigan, much of the responsibility to ensure the project’s success falls on the shoulders of WT. He asked why the organization isn’t pushing harder to encourage the company to pack their bags.
“It always puzzled me as to why relocating that plant has been a problem,” he says. “I always wondered why Lafarge couldn’t be encouraged to move its facilities from that Polson area down to the turning basin.”
Kusturin says they don’t have money to buy out the industrial company, but he describes the future of the area as one that strays away from its industrial manufacturing roots.
“It’s just a matter of evolving from what was formerly heavy industry to maybe something that’s more compatible with working in living neighbourhoods,” says Scarborough resident and recent Ryerson urban planner graduate Mark Jacobs.
