Item - 2014.EX38.4

City Council on February 19 and 20, 2014, adopted the following:

1.         City Council authorize the City of Toronto to enter into the Memorandum of Agreement providing for the transfer of City-owned lands, (set out in Schedule "C" to the Memorandum of Agreement), to Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada as represented by the Minister of the Environment for the purposes of the Parks Canada Agency ("Parks Canada"), substantially in the form of Attachment 1 to the report (January 21, 2014) from the Deputy City Manager, Cluster B, conditional upon:

a.         Parks Canada, the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (TRCA) and the City of Toronto entering into an agreement to allow for TRCA-owned lands which have been identified for future transportation infrastructure by the City of Toronto (approximately as described in Attachment 4 to the report (January 21, 2014) from the Deputy City Manager, Cluster B) to be transferred to the City of Toronto; and

b.         Parks Canada, the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority, the Toronto Zoo and the City of Toronto entering into an agreement to collaborate per Council direction EX34.7 and to provide that TRCA-owned lands located in the vicinity of the Toronto Zoo will not be transferred to Parks Canada until the boundaries of the lands for use by the Toronto Zoo have been confirmed in a Tripartite Agreement among the City of Toronto, the Board of Management of the Toronto Zoo and Toronto and Region Conservation Authority.

2.         City Council authorize the City of Toronto to enter into any agreements required by the Memorandum of Agreement, prior to the transfer of any City-owned lands to Parks Canada, including agreement(s) identifying the municipal services to be provided to the Rouge National Urban Park (RNUP) by the City together with the form and amount of compensation to be provided for such services.

3.         City Council direct the City Clerk to notify the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority that the City of Toronto requests the transfer to the City of TRCA-owned lands identified for future transportation infrastructure (approximately as described in Attachment 4 to the report (January 21, 2014) from the Deputy City Manager, Cluster B) for nominal consideration.

4.         City Council authorize the City of Toronto to enter into any agreements with the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority, and any other parties as may be necessary, to acquire the lands identified for future transportation infrastructure, for nominal consideration, on such terms and conditions as deemed appropriate by the Chief Corporate Officer in consultation with the General Manager of Transportation Services, and in a form acceptable to the City Solicitor.

5.         City Council authorize an increase of $222,000 to the 2014 Capital Budget for Transportation Services, fully funded from the Land Acquisition Reserve Fund (XR1012), for the release of the registered provincial interest in the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority owned lands identified for future transportation infrastructure, due diligence, provincial land transfer tax and registration fees.

6.         City Council authorize the City of Toronto to enter into such agreements or documents necessary to give effect to Council's decision on terms and conditions deemed satisfactory (including deletions, additions, and revisions) by the appropriate officials, and in a form acceptable to the City Solicitor.

7.         City Council authorize the City Solicitor to proceed with the steps necessary to complete the transactions authorized by the report (January 21, 2014) from the Deputy City Manager, Cluster B, including amending closing, due diligence and/or waiver dates and providing waivers and notices, on such terms as deemed appropriate.

8.         City Council request the Deputy City Manager, Cluster B, to report back to the Parks and Environment Committee prior to any transfer of City owned lands on the proposed draft Rouge Park Management Plan to address its consistency with City Council's November 29, 2012 decision, and the environmental policies of longstanding Rouge Park Plans (1994 and 2001); the Rouge Natural Heritage Action Plan (2008); Provincial Greenbelt (2005) and the Oak Ridges Moraine Conservation Plans (2002) and remedial action plans, watershed plans, and Great Lakes Water Quality Agreements, to improve water quality in the Rouge Watershed along Toronto's Lake Ontario shoreline.

9.         City Council request the Deputy City Manager, Cluster B, to report back on the feasibility of an educational facility and/or wildlife rehabilitation centre for Rouge National Urban Park.

10.       City Council direct the City Clerk to forward a copy of the report (January 21, 2014) from the Deputy City Manager, Cluster B, to Parks Canada, the Province of Ontario (Ministry of Infrastructure), the Region of York, the Region of Durham, the City of Markham, the City of Pickering and the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority.

11.       City Council congratulate Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his government for committing to create a National Park in the Rouge Valley area, for recognizing the extraordinary ecological wealth found within the Rouge Park and for contributing $140 million towards establishing the Rouge National Park.

12.       City Council request the Deputy Mayor to send a letter of congratulations and thanks to the Prime Minister for the Rouge Valley National Park initiative.

13.       City Council welcome the Federal government and Parks Canada commitment to having a visible presence within the largest urban centre in Canada.

14.       City Council request the Federal government include in any vision of the national park, the existing park vision, which states that:

The Rouge National Urban Park will be a special place of outstanding natural features and diverse cultural heritage in an urban-rural setting, protected and flourishing as an ecosystem in perpetuity. Human activities will exist in harmony with the natural values of the Park. The Park will be a sanctuary for nature and the human spirit.

15.       City Council request the Federal government to respect conservation science, good planning principles and long-term park ecological health and visitor potential, by including the 100+ km2 public land assembly within the Rouge and Duffins Creek watersheds as part of the Rouge National Urban Park study area, and to immediately include in the Rouge National Park an additional 6,000 acres of federally owned lands contained within the designated Greenbelt and Oak Ridges Moraine areas.

16.       City Council request the Federal government and Parks Canada to ensure restoration of a large mixed-wood and Carolinian forest habitat system linking Lake Ontario to the Oak Ridges Moraine with public parkland and trails.

17.       City Council support the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority decision to permit the Toronto Wildlife Centre to locate within the Rouge National Park and request the Federal government to consider contributing to the construction of the centre from the $140 million pool of project funding set aside for Rouge National Park.

18.       City Council support maintaining the following roads as two-lane rural roads and request the Deputy City Manager, Cluster B, to report back on the feasibility of creating a multi-use trail along these roads as well as any Official Plan Amendments that may be necessary to support maintaining the following roads as two lane rural roads:

-           Pickering Town Line

-           Meadowvale Road

-           Plug Hat Road

-            Beare Road

-           Old Finch Avenue

-           Finch Avenue Diversion

-            Twyn Rivers Drive