‘It's crazy’ to cancel proposed Kirby GO station: Vaughan Coun. Marilyn Iafrate

However, for others such as former councillor Peter Meffe, Kirby station is a waste of taxpayer money

Yorkreigon.com
December 17, 2018
Dina Al-Shibeeb

Given the city's crippling traffic congestion, projected population boom and a provincial plan to expand infrastructure development, Vaughan Coun. Marilyn Iafrate says “it’s crazy” not to move forward with the Kirby GO station.

“The work has already been done,” explained Iafrate, for whom building of the station has been a key priority since 2011.

Iafrate, who represents Ward 1, the north area made up of Maple and Kleinburg, recalled how a memorandum of understanding (MOU) was signed in 2014 between the two major landowners there.

“The agreement was they would move forward and upfront the cost of the GO station,” said Iafrate, who was at the meeting when the MOU was signed.

The councillor can’t disclose the names of the two major landowners as she didn’t receive a copy of the MOU.

Iafrate made the comments after the Ministry of Transportation told York Region Media Group Dec. 7 it’s in the process of reviewing plans for the proposed GO station.

The ministry’s statement comes following a fiery report Dec. 5 from Auditor General Bonnie Lysyk, which put the future of the proposed Kirby GO train station in jeopardy.

In that report, Lysyk said plans to build the Kirby GO train station, as well as the Lawrence East GO train station in Toronto, were given the green light despite a previous analysis by Metrolinx, the provincial transit agency, showing how costs and “disadvantages” of these two would-be stations outweighed their benefits.

Lysyk issued her report after Premier Doug Ford vowed to reduce the province’s $15-billion deficit.

But for Iafrate, all of this doesn’t justify the much-needed station especially since the MOU between the two landowners made it “palatable” to Metrolinx despite its initial findings.

“Metrolinx has always known that, and they have a copy of that, and that’s why we made it palatable, more palatable to Metrolinx, because these landowners would come up with the money in advance.”

She added: “I don‘t know if Metrolinx ever bothered to consider the fact that the developers were willing to upfront the costs of the GO station.”

“The feel I’ve gotten is that Metrolinx always wanted to fund this themselves, and they weren’t reaching out to the developers.”

The councillor explained: “We worked really hard; I worked extremely hard to bring those parties together, and have this memorandum signed.”

Population boom

The councillor also rebuffed Metrolinx's initial findings that the station wasn't warranted, saying the population within a 10-kilometere radius of the proposed station is expected to be 70,000 in the upcoming 13 years especially that “there is a large massive residential development in that block.”

The Kirby GO station area is located within the northeast corner of Block 27 in Vaughan.

The block, bounded by Jane Street to the west, Keele Street to the east, Teston Road to the south, and Kirby Road to the north, has an area of about 400 hectares, and is primarily rural.

Block 27 was identified as one of two new community areas expected to be urbanized, according to Vaughan's Official Plan.

Within 10 kilometres of the the proposed station, the expected population is “66,000 people, and within four to six kilometers there will be about 48,000, and within two kilometers, about 27,000.

“The numbers don’t lie. In this case, the numbers support the station,” she said.

“These numbers justify the station, and if those numbers don’t justify the Kirby station, I have to say that there are a lot of stations north of Maple should be shut down because they don't have the population that Kirby does.”

Area is low density, ‘rural area’

Countering Iafrate’s argument is former Maple and Kleinburg councillor Peter Meffe, who doesn’t wish to run for office.

Meffe, who was defeated in the 2010 municipal election by Iafrate, a community activist at the time, rejects the proposed Kirby GO station altogether.

He described the proposal as “absolute waste of transit dollars and will not advance usage or efficiencies.”

Without factoring in the proposed high-density development project, Meffe said the area in Maple is a low density rural area and “farmland."

“Our community roads are at a standstill in part because we spend recklessly on the wrong things like a $123-million GO station in a rural area!” Meffe wrote in an email to York Region Media Group.

He added: “My sole interest is to not spend taxpayers money recklessly but instead to provide better transit services both locally and inter-regionally for our communities in Maple/Vaughan and King corridor!”

Meffe believes improving local and regional routes is a much better option.

He said the focus should be in improving GO service on the Barrie Line, which is in the works.

‘I can’t in good conscious’

With the proposed Block 27, which will herald a population boom, Iafrate also said that she can’t in “good conscience” support such development without the support and backing by an “efficient and fast transit.”

“We are talking about affordable housing, we are talking about needing more units, here is an area where we can build this and can intensify the area within around the GO station and have them affordable housing, but we can’t do this without the station. “

There is already “traffic and gridlock,” she said.

The councillor also rejected the argument the proposed GO station will cause any delays, she said, maybe it’s two minutes max.

Iafrate also proposed an express train like the ones in Europe and a far more sophisticated schedule to better serve the community.

The councillor also said there is support in the community for the station.

“In 2014, I handed out a 1,000 flyers at Maple, Rutherford and King GO stations, asking for support for the Kirby station. We had 500 sign up the petition from a 1,000 flyers we handed out. I thought this is darn good.”

Opposition voices

To counter her argument, Meffe said: “This proposed station was originally ruled out because it will slow what is supposed to be an inter-regional transit system that isn’t meant to be a city stop at every intersection!”

Meffe also said the initial report said the proposed station “will add more upstream vehicles to take to the road due to increased travel time.”

He added: “There is very little population existing at this proposed stop with lower density proposed, plus there would be 4 stations within approx 10 km which is ridiculous in an inter-regional system.”