The all-new island neighbourhood coming to Toronto's Port Lands is a crown jewel of the transformative flood protection project that's been reshaping the area for the last seven years. But, a new report is casting doubt on the feasibility of the current plans.

The results of a study on the area's air quality present a potential roadblock to the construction of residential towers on the future Villiers Island, as the nearby Port Lands gas plant apparently shoots too high a concentration of nitrogen oxides high into the air — perfectly acceptable, apparently, unless people are planning to live in units at these heights.

How Toronto's new artificial island will be transformed into a neighbourhood https://t.co/aaA395biSC

— blogTO (@blogTO) January 29, 2024

The assessment says that the high-rise condos currently slated to densify the area with much-needed housing would have to be reduced from their proposed maximums of as many as 50 storeys (162 metres) to, at most, 35 storeys (118 metres).

Levels of harmful pollutants from the factory's smokestacks at the former height are a staggering 700 per cent more than the acceptable limit. And, according to one climate agency exec that spoke with the Star this week, there is no way that the factory could cut its emissions to a reasonable amount and continue operations.

Residents are finding the revelation infuriating given the time, resources and billions of dollars already invested into the current flood projection project. Many have also been eagerly looking forward to the new Villiers precinct, and calling for even more housing within it to meet demand.

SCOOP: emissions from the Portlands gas plant too high for tall towers.

Too bad the public just spent $1.4 billion to prep the area for residential development. #TOpoli #onpoli https://t.co/oWb9bEn7dx pic.twitter.com/DKh4lXW7Gn

— Marco Chown Oved (@MarcoOved) September 11, 2024

The next stage for the island is more in-depth design work that kicked off earlier this summer, with plans for the lands to be habitable by 2031, a timeline that may now be hampered.