Toronto city council unanimously voted to begin discussions with the Toronto Port Authority (TPA) and Transport Canada to possibly amend the Tripartite Agreement in order to potentially move forward on the Toronto island airport expansion.
The decision was made during city council’s meeting on April 1, following a full day of discussion. The proposed expansion of the Billy Bishop Airport has been a contentious issue since last year, when Porter Airlines first announced its conditional purchase of Bombardier CS100 passenger jets and requested that the city permit the construction of an extended runway.
While council has authorized the deputy city manager to begin the process of discussing the terms of a new Tripartite Agreement, it sent a clear message that it has not decided whether or not to support the expansion of the airport, or the use of jets.
Among the recommendations adopted by city council is the authorization for the commencement of an airport master plan. Deputy city manager John Livey said that while most airports across Canada have a master plan, Billy Bishop is one of the few that does not.
Master plans are key in major development projects. Jennifer Keesmaat, the city’s chief planner, said that for the redevelopment of Union Station, the creation of a master plan was the turning point that clarified the agreement between a number of stakeholders involved in the project.
City staff said that negotiations with TPA and Transport Canada are framed by specific requirements including airport passenger volume and flight slot caps. Staff proposed putting in place a phased framework of passenger caps and flight caps to manage the growth of the airport.
One of the concerns about the proposed airport expansion is how it functions into the Waterfront Toronto plan, which has seen major development of the city’s former industrial waterfront.
“The central waterfront has a number of valuable uses,” said John Livey, adding that the expansion of the island airport is more complex than just giving people the ability to fly elsewhere; it will also impact the neighbouring lands.
Through the negotiations with the TPA and Transport Canada, the implementation of a number of measures will be proposed, including airport noise monitoring systems, a review of deicing and chemical management programs and implementation of air quality monitoring.
While the airport already has some monitors in place, Livey said that many of these indicators are inadequate, including its air quality and soil quality monitoring. Even if council eventually decides to block the expansion of the airport, the addition of these monitoring systems to the airport master plan will be beneficial for the city, he said.
Negotiations will also include talks about implementing better ground transportation strategies around the airport. This includes looking at the operations of taxis, the enhancement of the shuttle service and traffic monitoring for the Eireann Quay. Several councillors expressed concern about the current state of congestion around the airport.
Councillor Sarah Doucette said that even now, with the airport at its current level, it is hard to get people down one street and into the airport. “Where are people going to park?” she asked. “What are we going to do when 4 million people are trying to get in that one door?”
Under the guidelines passed by council, the deputy city manager said that there will be phased conditions that the Toronto Port Authority would have to meet in order to move forward with expansion.
Phase one includes incremental caps, commencement of the airport master plan and implementation of measures related to traffic, air quality and noise. Phase two includes raising caps, revising Official Plan guidelines for the airport and the completion of an environmental assessment. Phase three caps have not yet been determined, but it requires agreement on funding for traffic and community infrastructure improvements.
The conditions of phase one will have to be met before changes to the Tripartite Agreement can be made. Phase three would be based on community impacts and experiences of the first two phases, as well as transportation capacity for the area.
Councillor Pam McConnell said that she thinks these additional studies will give council the information needed to decide if they should hit the “go button or the no button” on airport expansion. She noted that right now, “there are more questions than answers.”
Leah Wong is the online editor of Canadian Property Management.
