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Council approves redesign of busy downtown Yonge St. for pedestrians

Thestar.com
Feb. 4, 2021
Jennifer Pagliaro

For the first time in more than 100 years, city council has signed off on a possible redesign for one of the city’s most iconic stretches of road.

Yonge St. between Carlton and Queen Sts -- heavily favoured by pedestrians -- is proposed to see car lanes reduced to just two and widened sidewalk space with bike lanes between College and Gerrard Sts, added seating, planting and gates to allow for road closures in pedestrian “priority zones” in several blocks.

Despite criticism about the impact on drivers and local businesses, council voted 21-5 to approve the concept, which will now be evaluated and refined.

Coun. Kristyn Wong-Tam, who represents the area, said the vote was a long time coming, thanking staff for their ongoing work.

Coun. Mike Layton, a neighbouring councillor, agreed.

“It’s hard to get past folks that just want to stand for the status quo,” he said, noting other cities have already made similar shifts in transportation. “I came here to make a change in the city and a change in my community and this is part of it.”

A city staff report explained that in pre-pandemic times, the sidewalks on Yonge St. in that area consistently see more than 100,000 daily pedestrians with crowding especially in areas around Yonge-Dundas Square.

Though upwards of three quarters of people using the street are pedestrians, only 25 per cent is dedicated to moving them around. The new design aims to change that, while considering safety measures under the city’s Vision Zero plan.

At the same time, car trips in the area have decreased, a city study found.

Council’s vote Wednesday was to approve the design to submit to the province for standard environmental assessment. The final plan will still be subject to further consultation. Construction is not scheduled to begin until at least after 2023.

Not everyone is happy with the plan as currently proposed.

In a Jan. 8 letter, Cadillac Fairview, which owns and operates the Eaton Centre, said they objected “in the strongest possible terms” to a plan they said would be an “effective closure of the street to vehicles.”

They opposed bike lanes and protected pedestrian zones.

Local businesses like Salad King, a popular Thai restaurant, said in a Nov. 13 letter the changes could cost them between $60,000 to $80,000 a year due to shifting deliveries to the permitted hours.

The city staff report says that daytime driving access would be maintained to all parking garages, loading docks, driveways and rear lanes and that overnight driving would be opened to all sections of Yonge St. for deliveries and other access.

The design plan passed easily with the support of Mayor John Tory.

But two of the mayor’s deputies opposed the plan largely based on concern for drivers.

Coun. Stephen Holyday, a staunch representative of suburban commuters who often opposes cycling and other transportation projects that limit car access, called possible pedestrian priority zones as a “labrinyth” and accused downtown councillors of potentially using this redesign as a way to further restrict cars.

“If it isn’t broke, don’t fix it,” Holyday said, questioning why any change was needed at all.

Deputy Mayor Denzil Minnan-Wong -- who is the official deputy mayor, others are just symbolic appointments -- also cited the concerns by Cadillac Fairview as a reason not to proceed. “I agree with them.”

“The downtown belongs to everybody, to all Torontonians,” he said. “We are making it worse to drive in this city. It’s about balance and we don’t have that balance anymore.”

Speaking after them, Parkdale-High Park councillor Coun. Gord Perks said his only worry is that the success of Yonge will be even greater than the redesign of Roncesvalles Ave. in his ward, which the New York Times once gave a rave review.

“Don’t get fussed of the noisy death rattle of Auto-saurus,” he said.

The council meeting will resume Feb. 5.