Sidewalk Labs delivers master plan for Quayside smart-city project to Waterfront Toronto

Thestar.com
June 18, 2019
Donovan Vincent

Google sister firm Sidewalk Labs has released its long-awaited master plan for the controversial smart city district it wants to build on Toronto’s waterfront.

Sidewalk Labs’ Master Innovation and Development Plan (MIDP), a document said to be more than 1,000 pages, was delivered Monday morning by the Manhattan-based urban innovation firm to Waterfront Toronto, a tri-government agency that has partnered with Sidewalk on the high tech proposal.

Waterfront Toronto said it will make the plan available to the public in a week.

Sidewalk Labs wants to build a “beta site” on a 12-acre plot of land at Parliament St. and Queens Quay called Quayside. It would consist of a mixed-use development --primarily of residential units --and feature video cameras and sensors that would collect “urban data,” which is data accessible in public places.

The goal of Quayside is to make urban life more efficient, Sidewalk says.

But critics have slammed the project, saying the data collection will threaten the privacy of people who live in and move through the neighbourhood.

Sidewalk Labs’ master plan must first be approved by Waterfront Toronto and likely other levels of government before any construction can begin.

In a statement Monday, Stephen Diamond, chairman of the board of directors for Waterfront Toronto, said the agency intends to follow a “public process” once it has a chance to pore over the master plan.

“Along with you (the public), Waterfront Toronto’s board, staff and independent consultants will review Sidewalk Labs’ proposed plan to determine under which conditions, if any, (the Sidewalk Labs master plan) could work for Toronto,” Diamond said in a statement.

Diamond went on to say Waterfront Toronto plans to give the public access to the master plan one week after receiving it, followed by public consultations, the first round of which would be held within four weeks of receiving the document.

“All feedback received will be rigorously documented and shared publicly,” Diamond said.

“We know that a number of concerns and cautions have been raised about this project and that there are many voices that want to be heard and considered,” Diamond said.

“It is Waterfront Toronto’s responsibility to act in the public interest. We take this responsibility extremely seriously and we know that you are relying on us to fulfil it. We are committed to working with all of you to do exactly that,” Diamond added.

A Sidewalk Labs spokesperson says the firm hopes the master plan will lead to the building of “something extraordinary” on the waterfront.

“Over the past year and a half, Sidewalk Labs has been hard at work developing a plan for a new neighbourhood along Toronto’s waterfront that will combine cutting-edge technology and forward-thinking urban design to make housing cheaper, streets safer and commutes faster,” Sidewalk Labs spokesperson Keerthana Rang said in a statement.

“This plan is the result of consultation with more than 20,000 Torontonians. We are proud to reach such a significant milestone in this project and we are honoured to have the opportunity to present our vision of how the public and private sectors can work together to do something extraordinary on the waterfront, which we hope will set a new global standard for city-building,” Rang said.