Toronto Mayor John Tory has announced $5 million in funding to complete studies that will provide details on the costs and risks associated with a plan to provide flood protection for the Port Lands and re-routing the Don River.
The due diligence studies are part of an approximately $975-million waterfront proposal.
"I believe that this next stage is going to be transformational for the city," Tory told reporters on Tuesday.
The studies are being undertaken by Waterfront Toronto ahead of the anticipated 2017 start date for the project, which the city cannot pay for on its own. Both the provincial and federal governments want to ensure the nearly $1-billion project doesn't have any hidden cost that may send it over budget before pitching in.
"We're looking at procurement, we're looking at technical and environmental issues," Minister of Finance Joe Oliver, who was also at the announcement, told reporters. "(These are) precisely the sort of things that should be done for the project that may total $1 billion."
The planned changes for the area include creating new parks, developing "resilient" urban infrastructure that will eliminate the risk of flooding, re-routing the Don River to the middle of the Port Lands between the Ship and Keating Channels, and creating a new community called Villiers Island.
"It's going to take essentially underused land and transform it into a valuable living asset for the city," Tory said. "For a growing city like Toronto, the ability to take a large strategic area of land and have the opportunity to plan it … I think is something very exciting for the people of Toronto."
The first phase of the due diligence work is expected to be completed in November.
If the Waterfront project is approved, it will take approximately seven years to complete.
With a report from CTV Toronto’s Heather Wright.
Map of existing and future flood protection areas, including the Port Lands and adjacent areas that are currently not flood protected.
Overhead view of Don Mouth Naturalization and Port Lands Flood Protection Project.
