Item - 2022.EX34.10

The Executive Committee recommends that:

1. City Council support, in principle, undertaking a further phase of waterfront revitalization that could be enabled through tri-government funding commitments and governance.

2. City Council endorse the following four interconnected priorities to guide a further phase of waterfront revitalization:

- Strategic economic development;

- Truth, justice and reconciliation, including through Indigenous engagement;

- Equity, inclusion and access, including through housing; and

- Climate resilience and sustainability.

3. City Council request that the City Manager and Deputy City Manager, Infrastructure and Development Services report back in the third quarter of 2023 with the results of intergovernmental discussions on a further phase of waterfront revitalization, and as appropriate, an implementation action plan.

4. City Council authorize City Officials to pursue discussions with their Provincial and Federal counterparts on a further phase of waterfront revitalization.

5. City Council request that the City Manager work with the General Manager of Economic Development and Culture, as well as the Chief Executive Officer, CreateTO and the Chief Executive Officer, Waterfront Toronto and Toronto’s creative, climate and life sciences innovation industries, on the next steps for advancing the recommendations in the report titled: Igniting Innovation: A Call to Action for Innovation-led Economic Development on Toronto's Waterfront.

6. City Council request the Deputy City Manager, Infrastructure and Development Services, the Deputy City Manager, Community and Social Services, the Deputy City Manager, Corporate Services and the Chief Executive Officer, Toronto and Region Conservation Authority to actively pursue support for waterfront projects in the Western and Eastern Waterfronts with other orders of government, including the potential leveraging of existing and future government funding programs, coordinated through a Wider Waterfront Coordination Table.

7. City Council request that the Director, Waterfront Secretariat, working with the Director, Indigenous Affairs Office, undertake further engagement with:

a. Indigenous rights holders and urban Indigenous communities on advancing the City of Toronto Reconciliation Action Plan 2022-2032 in relation to the implementation of the next phase of waterfront revitalization; and

b. the public and stakeholders on the implementation of the next phase of waterfront revitalization.

Context and Introduction

More than 20 years ago, the City, Province and Federal government jointly embarked on a project to make Toronto's waterfront a place of local, provincial and national pride. Together, the governments developed a vision for the future, wrote an action plan to realize the vision, and created an organization, Waterfront Toronto, to implement the vision, focused on the Central Waterfront, officially referred to as the Designated Waterfront Area (Attachment 1, Figure 3). Two major phases of tri-government investment, initiated in 2001 and 2016, have catalyzed public and private action. Broad public consultation has informed the designs of forward-thinking plans and projects. Today, the waterfront has been transformed; it continues to change daily through construction on the ground, through the development of new plans for the future, and as city life takes root across transformed neighbourhoods.

Toronto today is very different from the city in 2000 when City Council approved the original waterfront vision, Our Toronto Waterfront (Fung Report). In the context of a changing city and the progress of revitalization and flood protection on the waterfront, new areas are opening up to become the next candidates for transformation. It is therefore the right time to consider what the next phase looks like and how it will be funded.

With that in mind, in 2021, Council directed staff to reflect on the history of revitalization and renew the waterfront vision for the next generation. City staff have initiated a broad process of public consultation, stakeholder engagement and Indigenous engagement that will continue through 2022 and beyond. The first step has been to articulate four interconnected priorities that focus on the societal challenges that matter most today and to outline shared public objectives that should guide investments and project planning, design and implementation along the waterfront. The four priorities are:

- Strategic economic development;

- Truth, justice and reconciliation, including through Indigenous engagement;

- Equity, inclusion and access, including through housing; and,

- Climate resilience and sustainability.

These priorities will inform the continued transformation of Toronto's Designated Waterfront Area and assist in better coordinating investments across the Western and Eastern Waterfronts, from Etobicoke to Scarborough. A further description of the Western and Eastern Waterfronts can be found in the Comments section below and Attachment 1.

The City implements waterfront revitalization in a number of ways:

- Through the tri-government partnership and Waterfront Toronto, the corporation established by the three governments;

- Through the work of City Divisions, Corporations, and Agencies, as well as arm’s length bodies, such as CreateTO, Exhibition Place, the TTC, the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority, etc.;

- By collaborating with Provincial Ministries and Federal Departments on various initiatives (i.e., transit initiatives, the Ontario Place Redevelopment, the Rouge National Urban Park, etc.), as well as their agencies (Infrastructure Ontario, Metrolinx, PortsToronto, etc.); and,

- By working with institutions, non-profits and community organizations (Harbourfront Centre, The Bentway, the Waterfront BIA, etc.).

This Report

This report outlines the next steps for City officials in advancing intergovernmental discussions on a renewed vision and priorities for a further phase of waterfront revitalization.

This report addresses City Council direction, provided on November 9, 2021 (EX 27.6) for staff to: "Report to Executive Committee in the first quarter of 2022 with the results of the public consultation and stakeholder engagement process on a next phase of waterfront revitalization and a renewed waterfront vision that sets a path forward for what Toronto will achieve along its 43-kilometre waterfront, from Etobicoke to Scarborough, including anticipated economic development, reconciliation, social, equity and environmental outcomes."

This report:

- Details the results of public consultation and stakeholder engagement, as well as the Indigenous engagement that is in progress (Attachment 2);

- Provides a renewed vision for the next phase of waterfront revitalization (Comments section);

- Describes a call to action for innovation-led economic development on the waterfront (Attachment 3);

- Summarizes the status of discussions with Provincial and Federal staff on a further phase of waterfront revitalization;

- Outlines revitalization opportunities in the Designated Waterfront Area (Central Waterfront) and the Western and Eastern Waterfronts;

- Discusses implementation and governance in the Designated Waterfront Area (Central Waterfront) and the Western and Eastern Waterfronts; and,

- Outlines the next steps, culminating in a further staff report in Q3 of 2023.

From Vision to Projects to Community Life

The emerging vision is outlined in the Comments section of this report. The vision reflects the results of the initial phase of public consultation and stakeholder engagement.

A related document on strategic economic development opportunities, Igniting Innovation: A Call to Action for Innovation-led Economic Development on Toronto’s Waterfront (Attachment 3), has been drafted with the assistance of a volunteer panel of expert advisers. Facilitated by KPMG, the volunteer panel advised City staff on opportunities to advance innovation as a strategic economic development component of the renewed vision.

Villiers Island represents the next opportunity for continued waterfront revitalization in the Designated Waterfront Area, and to create a new sustainable and complete community. Investments in infrastructure will advance the renewed vision’s priorities and City policy objectives, such as affordable housing, by increasing the value of land owned by the City and CreateTO (the City’s strategic real estate entity) and leveraging private sector investment.

Next phase projects could also include projects that complete waterfront revitalization in precincts already under development (such as the East Bayfront and Keating West), other areas in the Port Lands that connect to Villiers Island (e.g. McCleary District, Basin Media Hub), as well as projects in the Western and Eastern Waterfronts. Ultimately, realizing these opportunities will require a program of public investments similar to those made in previous phases of revitalization.

There is strong public interest in Toronto's Western and Eastern Waterfronts. City Divisions, Agencies and Corporations share this strong interest, demonstrated by their work on projects involving parks, natural heritage, active transportation, shoreline stabilization/resilience and connections to the city's river valleys and ravines.

Staff of the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority and City Divisions have successfully leveraged programs to advance waterfront projects along the wider waterfront, including through intergovernmental funding programs. However, a coordinated governance model is needed in the Western and Eastern Waterfronts, outside of the Designated Waterfront Area, where the Waterfront Toronto model has worked well.

Specifically, a Wider Waterfront Coordination Table will help organize projects and package them for funding, facilitate information-sharing and timely decision-making, coordinate design and delivery, promote input on project phasing and advancement, and build momentum for Provincial and Federal partnerships. The City’s Waterfront Secretariat and the Toronto and Region Conversation Authority will co-chair this Table. Additional Table membership will include a range of City Divisions and City and external Agencies. The Deputy City Manager, Infrastructure and Development Services will be the City's sponsoring/executive lead of this initiative, which is described further in the Comments section of this report.

A number of Provincial and Federal funding programs are well suited for the types of projects in the Western and Eastern Waterfronts typical of City Divisions and Agencies (parks, natural heritage, transit, active transportation and resilience). A key role for the Wider Waterfront Coordination Table will be to maintain, coordinate and prioritize projects for consideration by the Provincial and Federal governments to further the potential commitment to revitalization through relevant existing or new funding programs.

Towards a Next Phase

The City, Waterfront Toronto, CreateTO and the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority will engage Provincial and Federal governments to explore options for funding an ambitious program for the next phase of waterfront revitalization projects. All orders of government face challenging economic pressures; however, waterfront revitalization has delivered significant economic, social and environmental benefits and could continue to do so well into the future. The benefits of waterfront revitalization go beyond leveraging and maximizing available investments, offering an opportunity to coordinate, align and effectively deliver on the priorities of all three orders of government.

Staff of the City, the Ontario Ministry of Infrastructure and Infrastructure Canada have been engaged in preliminary discussions on the next phase of waterfront revitalization. Further intergovernmental discussions are required to determine the scope of work and available funding. As they are interrelated, officials at the three orders of governments are also exploring options for extending Waterfront Toronto’s 25 year mandate, which will otherwise expire in 2028.

City staff will continue these discussions with a view to reporting back to City Council in Q3 2023 with an update regarding Provincial and Federal interest. City staff will also report back with an implementation action plan, to be developed by the City, working with CreateTO and Waterfront Toronto, as well as the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority. City staff will, working with the City’s Indigenous Affairs Office and the Provincial and Federal governments, engage Indigenous rights holders, including Treaty and Territorial Partners, and urban Indigenous communities on waterfront issues on a proactive and comprehensive basis.