Ontario Line LIVE: East – September 23, 2021

There is viable underground route proposed between Gerrard and Eastern - based on the approved (but cancelled) Relief Line. Why is there no comparison of cost, construction impact and health impacts? The Metrolinx above ground proposal has huge impacts on people living/working here - especially people in apartments above the proposed noise wall. The 2019 "business case" for Ontario Line does not include your proposed widening/rebuilding 6 bridges and raising the entire track bed by 1+ metre. It appears that the proposed alignment above ground is being driven by developers (No-frills, Carlaw Dundas, East Harbour) and NOT by an evaluation of impacts. Why no detailed study of underground?

Running tracks beside the GO has led to many complaints, and also constrains potential future GO expansion, or inclusion of GO platforms.
Follow a route from downtown more similar to the Relief Line route. Have the station at Broadview roughly between the Relief and Ontario Line stations proposals. Then continue cut-and-cover along Eastern (or just south of it) right to Pape. Head north on Pape, cut-and-cover to Pape and then to Don Valley.
Linear cut-and-cover with precast tunnel segments takes a matter of months - a small disruption and a moving operation. The stations would be much shallower and likely take half the time of the deep bore stations (~12m deep versus 40m). The line could be quite shallow as it comes out the Don Valley, reducing the grade to cross the Don near Millwood.
Essentially, this satisfies the locals by making the line fully underground. It provides a more reliable fully underground transit line. It adds a Queen station farther into Leslieville. It has reduced grade changes and only one significant curve. It frees up GO corridor for a Gerrard Station.

Why are you refusing to do a side by side cost comparison with your current above ground plan vs. our community Underground plan? The City has asked for it (Motion 31.12] and a provincial order question was logged at Queen's Park asking the same question.

When can the community expect to see some quantitative data about the Ontario Line?

- Indoor noise measurements to ensure the above ground option does not lead to inhospitable living conditions
- Vibration measurements where train frequency is expected to increase 10-fold
- Number of trees which may be cut down to accommodate the above ground OL and its impact on parks and greenspaces

It seems like Metrolinx is deliberately keeping the community in the dark because the impacts of this above ground option are too awful.

You have said at previous consultations that tunnelling would cause as much disruption as the proposed above grade concept. Now that we know the bridges over Eastern, Queen and Gerrard have to be entirely rebuilt higher and wider, that the rail bed has to be raised in elevation, and that tall retaining walls must be built each side of the rail bed, how can this possibly be true?!!

Community members have raised serious concerns with the above ground Ontario Line:
- loss of greenspace and trees (just how many trees will you cut down??)
- elevated levels of noise and vibration in a residential area
- disruption of 24/7 traffic
- years of overnight construction to widen the live rail corridor
- a portal near school
- 8m tall noise wall permanently dividing our community in half (just how high will this noise wall be??)

Has Metrolinx considered public health risks associated with the above ground Ontario Line?

How on earth can this public transit agency justify a plan that prioritizes the interest of Cadillac Fairview over community health and safety?

how will GO track go in between Ontario line tracks from East Harbour to Leslieville

Does expanding the corridor mean closing some intersections to do it

Will the community center be turned into a transit hub and will expansion of the rail take away green space in the park?

City of Toronto passed a motion asking Metrolinx to cost out the Steve Munro underground option. Why is Metrolinx deliberately ignoring the directive from City Council and wishes of host community?

That are not cleaned on a job site make a horrific mess on the road and it's impossible to clean up.
Other advanced countries make trucks clean themselves on a job site so they don't track the mud onto the roads. This is a 10-year construction project we don't want the mess for that long.

WHERE IS THE EARLY WORKS REPORT and WHY ARE YOU HAVING COMMUNITY CONSULTATIONS WHEN NO ONE HAS READ THE ONLY ENVIRONMENTAL REPORT WE WILL TO GIVE FEEDBACK ON GET BEFORE CONSTRUCTION BEGINS NEXT SUMMER? This is another example of your calculated attempt to control community information and feedback on this project.

With the East Harbour station being built will both the Ontario Line and the Go have Screen Protective doors on there platforms and how can one transfer from Go to Ontario Line at this station?

Contrary to Metrolinx' assertions, the tunnel option looks cheaper, less disruptive and better for all concerned, and yet Metrolinx has discarded it without even doing the normal course value engineering of potentially cost-saving alternatives (July 6 Metrolinx letter to Toronto Executive Committee). How does your owner let you get away with this?

As part of the GO RER expansion planning it was announced that Carlaw and Gerrard would have both a GO station and an Ontario Line Subway Station, but now seems is being advertised as only having an Ontario Line Station. What happened to the original plans for a GO station at this location and why was it changed?

Pape / Carlaw is the East End's busiest / densest North South artery with substantial commercial and residential activity. It already has high density and is will densify increasingly with the expected redevelopment of the Riverdale Mall and further redevelopment of Carlaw Ave. Furthermore a GO stop at this location would seamlessly connect with the 506 Streetcar and the 72 Bus, both heavily used routes.

Furthermore is located much more equidistance between current Lakeshore East GO stations (Danforth GO and Union) than East Harbour, which won't see any real density for another decade at earliest.

Finally, if a GO Station is not being built at this location, is Metrolinx committed to an integrated fare system, to ensure easy and affordable transfers between GO and the TTC? If so, can this be rolled out before the completion of the Ontario line and RER expansion?

Please provide the current and future projected number of trains per day for the LSE GO and the Ontario Line over the next decades. What will be the hours of operation for the Ontario Line?

We get so much dust from dirt coming from site construction can we eliminate this.

With the stations at Gerrard, Leslieville and East Harbour being along the GO Corridor, will there be public spaces built below?

how will you fit the Ontario Line above ground ?

What kind of elevators will you use for the Ontario line?

The ones used on the Toronto subway or the ones used on the Eglinton Crosstown?

what kind of typeface should the Ontario line use for wayfinding signage?
ClearviewADA or Swiss721?

Construction Over the Don Valley

Should Leslieville station be named that way or should it be changed to Riverside ?

In Rosedale there's a subway line AND a heavy rail line (with big, long freight trains) running above ground through that neighbourhood.

Will the OL make my Riverdale property as valuable as the homes in Rosedale? If not, why do they have such high property values AND so many trains which aren't in a tunnel?

at East Harbour, how many GO platforms will it take to connect the Stouffville line and the Lakeshore East line to the Ontario line

What type of sound barriers are being installed on above ground parts of the Ontario Line and where. Seeing that there's four sets of tracks, which include three different types of trains (i.e TTC, Go and Via) and the frequency of these trains, there will be tremendous noise and vibrations from the tracks, since it's going to be above ground. Currently with the Go and VIA trains the noise is extremely loud and these do not run as frequently or as late a TTC would.

Please share with the community how metrolinx plans on appeasing our community and keeping it undisturbed by the number of trains running through it daily.

Do you plan to proceed with all the new bridge construction prior to a full environmental assessment?

Why complete silence on the Pape route south of O'Connor? Am I on the wrong call? I've asked repeatedly where the subways will exit underground south of Danforth and no one will answer my question other than to say it's still uncertain. South of Pape school will result in many houses being impacted. What is the answer??

Plans or PREplans? Who decides where such new buildings will be and what they will look like? Will there be the same process around ALL the Ontario Line stations?

Thanks!

Are there plans to extend the line westward?

We've been told (via a letter in the mail) that because we are 30 meters from Pape we require special permission from Metrolinx to do any outdoor repairs or changes to our house. In fact we are more than 30 meters from Pape however it appears that all of our street (Dingwall) has been designated in this way as being above the corridor for building. It says "we are not appropriating your house", which is great news!! Why are houses more than 30 meters away forced to get permission from Metrolinx for any repairs or reno's?

You didn't answer my question from the previous two meetings.
What kind of elevators will you use for the Ontario line?

The ones used on the Toronto subway or the ones used on the Eglinton Crosstown?

Malcolm just said the Ontario Line "performed" better than the proposed relief line. But he gave ABSOLUTELY NO DETAILS on why or how it was measured to have performed better? Very disappointing.

While you very cleverly and disingenuously toss out large numbers in relation to the "additional greenspace" that you say the project will "add" the community, in reality it looks like this is just narrow bands of additional green space along the corridor - nothing that would effectively enhance any use of the area by the community. How wide are any of these anticipated additional green spaces and what effective use do you actually think the community would be able to make of them? How do you see this as mitigating the profoundly negative impact that this project will have on the neighbourhood where the above-ground portion will run?

Hold it. If the future Gerrard GO station on the Stouffville line cannot connect with Gerrard station on the future Ontario line, won't that confuse riders if they're both built?

Pape is so far west to go north. It barely brings transit to new people. Wouldn't it make more sense to continue east further, perhaps going north on Woodbine or Kingston/VicPark, bringing dedicated rail lines to more people? Going north too soon just means you're bringing rail to people who are already along the Eglinton or Danforth lines, minimizing the benefit.

Disruptions during construction phase and ongoing noise from train traffic. Residents along the airport express line going to Pearson experience ongoing noise and shaking in their homes despite the noise minimizing walls. What will Ontario line residents recourse be if currently designed noise minimizers are not sufficient

It’s interesting to me that it appears the train yard only takes out the mosque and Iqbal plaza behind it, but not the Tim Hortons or Pharmacy at the corner, nor the Costco. Considering the demographic of this neighborhood, how and why would this location be considered? What are you doing to help the community relocate these important services within the neighborhood? This is a neighborhood easily accessible for all resident needs by foot, it needs to remain as such.