City staff recommend moving ahead on SmartTrack stations despite financing uncertainty
The justification for a proposed SmartTrack station at Lawrence East is still under review by Metrolinx and an updated financing plan has yet to be presented to council.

Thestar.com
Jennifer Pagliaro
Nov. 21, 2017

A new report asks council to push ahead with six proposed GO stations as part of Mayor John Tory’s “SmartTrack” plan, despite one of the stations still being under review by the province.

A report from city staff released Tuesday recommends council support the station concepts for the six SmartTrack stations that will operate as GO stations on the GO network, for which the city will pay the construction and incremental operating costs.

It also recommends a 10-stop LRT along Eglinton Ave. West.

The financing plan for the stations remains unclear. An update on that plan requested by council in 2016 is still missing, and is expected to be a year late. Earlier estimates pegged construction costs at $3.7 billion.

Executive committee members will consider the new staff report Nov. 28.

“Since taking office, we haven’t wasted any time getting on with getting SmartTrack built,” Tory said in an emailed statement Tuesday. “SmartTrack was developed from a simple fact: there are major rail corridors that run through the City of Toronto that are not being used to help our residents move around. SmartTrack will give commuters one more option for getting around the city.”

During the 2014 campaign, Tory pitched a 22-stop heavy rail service using primarily existing GO rail lines at a TTC fare, saying it could be built in seven years and would include 13 new stops.

Since his election, the plan’s heavy-rail spur out to the Mississauga Airport Corporate Centre has been scaled down into the Eglinton West LRT proposal, and the number of new “SmartTrack” stops has decreased to six.

And though Tory’s statement on Tuesday promises commuters will be able to access SmartTrack stations “for a TTC fare,” that hasn’t been decided. The province and city are still negotiating fare integration between GO and the TTC.

Tory originally said his plan could be funded without charging taxpayers through what’s called tax increment financing -- essentially borrowing money against what the city would collect from future development near the new stations to pay for them now.

Some experts warn it’s a risky venture on this scale that would rob the city of cash needed for other tax-funded services.

The city also submitted the SmartTrack proposal for federal transit funding earmarked for Toronto. The federal government has agreed to pay up to 40 per cent of the cost of new transit projects, and is asking Ontario to pick up at least one-third. Negotiations between Queen’s Park and Ottawa are ongoing and no final agreement has been reached.

Though a financing update was requested for the third quarter of 2017, staff confirmed in the report Tuesday that update would not be available until the second quarter of 2018. Cost estimates for the Eglinton West LRT won’t be available until next term, in 2019.

That financing update will be provided at the same time that council is asked to approve construction of the “SmartTrack stations,” giving council limited time to scrutinize the financing plan.

“At the end of the day this project rises or falls on the business case, and getting the numbers is really important in determining whether there is a value-for-money in this project,” said Councillor Joe Mihevc, who originally requested the update. “The sooner we get that information the better.”

The Star earlier reported that analysis provided to Metrolinx recommended the $23-million Lawrence East station not be built for the next 10 years. The Metrolinx board, under pressure from the ministry of transportation, approved that station anyway.

After the Star’s reporting, Metrolinx launched a review of Lawrence and another station, Kirby, which is not part of the SmartTrack plan. The review is not yet complete.

Deputy city manager John Livey wrote a four-page letter to Metrolinx’s chief planning officer, Leslie Woo, advocating for the Lawrence East station, which he described as “an integral piece to the Scarborough Transit Network Plan.”

The letter, dated Oct. 26, outlines where the city believes the initial Metrolinx study underestimated potential future ridership and development.

Complicating matters is whether the existing Scarborough RT line would have to be decommissioned to allow for the new SmartTrack stop. If so, that could leave Scarborough commuters on the bus while they wait for a subway extension to the Scarborough Town Centre to be built.

Constraints in the corridor were earlier said to prevent both a SmartTrack station and the existing Lawrence SRT station from existing at the same time.

The new report says construction will be co-ordinated to “ensure Line 3 (SRT) remains in operation until the Line 2 extension from Kennedy Station to Scarborough Centre is built.”