Doug Ford will exempt the new Ontario Place from Toronto noise bylaws
It's been a disheartening week for those who oppose Doug Ford's contentious vision for Ontario Place, with the Premier and Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow signing a new deal for the city that gives the province full control of the waterfront property's future.
In exchange, the city will be able to offload billions in unrelated costs — including for the maintenance of the Don Valley Parkway and Gardiner Expressway — onto the province.
And, as the finer details of the agreement emerge, residents are discovering the full extent of Ford's powers over the site.
So ask yourself this:
— Dale Thompson (@daleethompson) November 28, 2023
Why would Doug Ford ever give up all that in return for Ontario Place? https://t.co/7FYaFS0DIZ
Troubling to advocates is the fact that the province will be able to skirt the environmental and heritage regulations that would apply to such a project, and can also expropriate city-owned portions of the land to redevelop as it pleases.
Then there are some more peculiar items, such as the fact that none of the goings-on at Ontario Place will be subject to city noise bylaws.
While some jokingly wondered how this will apply to the Therme spa, others pointed out that it may be an indication that the province has other undisclosed plans for the space.
It's a possibility that wouldn't be out of the realm of possibilities given that the public only just found out about some aspects of the project, such as its mega parking garage.
Also City of Toronto noise by-laws will no longer apply at Ontario Place. How loud is this spa? https://t.co/eQk2uEeaxq pic.twitter.com/ZOmzOKCtWH
— Tai Huynh (@taimhuynh) November 28, 2023
The office of Ontario Minister of Infrastructure Kinga Surma confirmed to blogTO in a brief statement that the noise exemptions relate to the new Live Nation music venue coming to Ontario Place, but would not comment further on why the province would seek to overrule bylaws when other venues in the city have to abide by them.
But, as others have noted, much of this new deal was about the province formally handing itself the authority over the lands that it already had.
Residents knew months ago, for example, that the concert space and spa were going to be excluded from environmental assessments thanks to a loophole Ford himself created when his leadership omitted private projects from such rules in spring 2021.
Good ol' fashioned corruption
— okay, buddy (@tronnoadam) July 5, 2023
Though this new deal as a whole certainly addresses Toronto's "unprecedented financial crisis," as it was termed in a call for help from other levels of government in September, many are surprised and even disappointed in Chow, who campaigned against the privatization of Ontario Place in her bid for mayor.
