Condo dweller Maureen Dunn has a message for her Don Valley West MPP, Premier Kathleen Wynne: Put Leslie back on the Eglinton-Scarborough Crosstown LRT.
The stop is being eliminated as part of a change to the LRT construction plan. Disappointed condo-dwellers at Leslie and Eglinton and, nearby Leaside are vowing to fight the decision by Metrolinx.
Theirs is among the first major community complaints to surface as Metrolinx proceeds over the next eight years with construction of the $6.7 billion provincially funded LRT.
The provincial transportation agency has a team dedicated to community information and feedback. But some city officials say the dispute is exactly what they feared when Toronto and the TTC
signed a master agreement giving Metrolinx the final say on the project.
In Dunn’s 400-unit building, 300 residents have signed a petition, asking to have the Leslie stop reinstated. So far, it’s made no difference.
Under the new construction plan Metrolinx wants to lengthen the LRT tunnel. Stopping at Leslie would mean building another underground station — at a cost of $80 to $100 million — in a location expected to attract relatively few riders.
The change, which has to be approved by the province, is a disappointment to residents like Dunn. Some bought their homes believing they would be steps from a transit stop.
“I’d have been really happy to jump on that LRT that avoids the traffic,” said Dunn, who drives but would prefer to take transit when she goes downtown to the opera. The bus trip takes too long because it gets snarled in traffic, she said.
Originally the Crosstown was supposed to run mostly underground from Black Creek Dr. in the west to about Laird Dr. in the east. Leslie would have been a relatively inexpensive surface stop, costing about $3 million.
But in December, Metrolinx announced it was looking at
a new route to avoid issues with traffic, contaminated soil and the construction of a residential development near Brentcliffe Rd.
Metrolinx’s alternative — tunneling farther east to Don Mills Rd. — meant eliminating the stops at Leslie and Ferrand Dr.
Last month, to the relief of residents of Flemingdon and Thorncliffe Park, it announced it had restored the Ferrand surface stop.
But not Leslie.
“It would be the lowest ridership and most expensive station on the line,” said Jamie Robinson of community relations and communications for the Toronto Transit Project at Metrolinx.
Apart from the condos and a car dealership, the Leslie intersection is dominated by parkland. “When you look at the city’s official plan, there really is no substantial increase in residential development or ridership,” said Robinson.
Geoff Kettel, of the Leaside Property Owners’ Association, says the station could enhance park access. “(It) would actually serve the Don Valley Trail. The city wants to increase access to its trails for walking, biking and commuting. It would have been ideally situated to provide access to the Serena Gundy Park. To say there’s nobody living there might discount some potential usage,” he said.
The issue is precisely what Councillor Gord Perks (Ward 14, Parkdale-High Park) said he feared when the city signed over control of the new line to Metrolinx, an unelected body.
“The city can raise the issue, but at the end of the day they just provide advice. The province is required to hear our objection. They’re simply not required to implement it,” he said.
“The purpose of transit isn’t just to generate ridership. It’s to create a transit lifestyle in more neighbourhoods,” said Perks.
Residents haven’t given up. “There may be some time for sober second thoughts. Why couldn’t there be a viaduct across the valley so the LRT would pop out at the original place and go underground at Don Mills? It would allow the opportunity for a Leslie station either now or at some time in the future,” said Kettel.
Metrolinx doesn’t expect all the residents will change their mind, despite Metrolinx’s reinstatement of Ferrand and its extension of community consultations in the east end, said Robinson.
There is still time, he said, for people to speak with their city councillors and participate in the provincial environmental assessment process, he said, adding that Metrolinx doesn’t anticipate that any more stops will be eliminated.
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