Concerns re: Ontario Line removing all trees and installing walls

Reference Number
112
Text

To Whom it Concerns, 

The Federal government is being asked to contribute 40% of the funding for the Ontario Line project. We are asking as a community that will be severely impacted from having the size of our rail corridor doubled from 3 tracks to 6 tracks above ground, that the Federal Government undertake an Impact Assessment to ensure to all Canadians that this project, in all communities along its planned route, meet the Federal Infrastructure goals of "ensuring high level standards are applied and the impacts from the projects create ‘an economically vibrant, strategically planned, sustainable and inclusive communities.’ We know this is not what is happening in our community with the Ontario Line and with the provinces' drastic alterations to the Environmental Assessment process which allows the province to advance, and study only one plan, without undertaking investigations of alternatives or necessary and extensive community consultations to inform its planning. They are about to begin building their Early Works on this project without having a completed and reviewed Environmental Impact Assessment. We have grave concerns over the rail safety issues of the doubling of the tracks through our densely populated residential neighbourhood. The Federal government is responsible for safety oversight on the provincial Go rail network under the The Railway Safety Act. We are asking that the Federal government to oversee the provinces plans particularly on our section of corridor, called, ‘The Joint Corridor,” to ensure our community safety, where 6 lanes of mixed use trains will be running less than 10 metre setback to our homes, our playgounds and our parks. The Federal Government should support the City of Toronto, who  has asked Metrolinx for:

1. An analysis of the crashworthiness of the proposed OL technology;

2. Verification from TSB of the safety of their planning, and;

3. The geometry of rail safety distances of these mixed trains within the same corridor;Metrolinx did not answer any of these questions.

We must have federal oversight over Metrolinx rail planning to ensure not only our community’s safety, but the safety of communities all along the planned route, particularly the above-grade sections such as ours. Lastly, the Federal Government should support the City of Toronto Motions on the Ontario Line:1.

18. City Council reiterate its support for a below ground subway in the segment of the former Relief Line from Pape to the Don Yards and the length of the Ontario line from Eglinton Eastthrough the Flemingdon Community, and that Metrolinx, the Ontario Provincial Government and the Federal Government be formally advised of City Council's decision.”

19. City Council direct the Deputy City Manager, Infrastructure and Development Services to engage with Metrolinx through the next stages of detailed design and the Transit Project Assessment Process to mitigate the potential local impacts of the four new transit lines, withparticular focus on the above ground sections of the Ontario Line and to ensure City staff are involved in reviewing and informing plans for:

a. safety, including City safety standards;

b. noise and vibration;

c. proximity of tracks to buildings and houses;

d. construction impacts and constructability;

e. impacts to local services and amenities including parks and community centres;

f. station location and integration with local communities;

g. accessibility; and

h. business impacts.

20. City Council direct the Deputy City Manager, Infrastructure and Development Services to request Metrolinx to mitigate the impacts described in Part 19 above and to consider options for constructing further portions of the Ontario Line underground, where local impacts cannot be reasonably managed.

21. City Council direct the Deputy City Manager, Infrastructure and Development Services to immediately study the impact on road operations of the significant expansion of the rail bridges at Eastern Avenue, Queen Street East, Dundas Street East, Logan Avenue, Carlaw Avenue and Gerrard Street in order to safely service 6 new tracks and railbed, and the required rebuild of the Lake Shore Bridge as part of the Gardiner take down; and that this information be forwarded to Metrolinx to be considered in their amended Transit Project Assessment Process.

22. City Council request the Deputy City Manager, Infrastructure and Development Services to formally inform Metrolinx of the City's safety standard requirements to operate passenger rail in a shared track bed with heavy rail.

23. City Council request CreateTO to determine the impact on future development opportunities and land value if the underground portals of the Ontario Line are built on the Riverdale Plaza site.27. City Council direct the Deputy City Manager, Infrastructure and Development Services to engage with Metrolinx to ensure robust community consultations with communities throughwhich the new lines will be constructed.Good transit planning should help communities like ours thrive and grow, and not destroy them. TheFederal government should not invest in this project until it is assured that the former be the outcome for all our communities.

Thank you in advance for taking the concerns of the residents who will be mostly affected by this bad planning into concern. 

Paul Mark

Submitted by
Paul Mark
Phase
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Public Notice
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  • Date Submitted
    2021-03-01 - 12:30 PM
    Date modified: