A river … runs through it

[Spiel]

A river … runs through it

 

 

June 1st, 2009

Bryn Weese / Toronto Sun

 

 

Neglected for nearly a century, the Lower Don Lands is set for a major — and green — restoration

 

From an industrial wasteland to a well-planned environmentally friendly masterpiece — in 25 years.

 

That’s what Waterfront Toronto is planning for the long-neglected 121 hectares known as the Lower Don Lands, largely a square slab of concrete jutting out into Lake Ontario, between the Keating Channel and the Shipping Channel.

 

It has mangled the Don River’s flow for nearly 100 years into Lake Ontario and was once the Great Lakes’ largest wetland.

 

Waterfront Toronto’s radical redesign of the planning disaster, completed in 1914 when the Don River’s mouth was plugged up and routed through the Keating Channel, calls for major changes to both the natural and man-made landscape.

 

The focal point of the Lower Don Lands development will be a once-again rerouted Don River meandering through a rebuilt wetland surrounded by parks, woodlands and boardwalks.

 

The new river is to cut through the now concrete slab in the lake, and the Keating Channel — which will be kept — will be lined with promenades, waterfront cafes and restaurants, transforming it from an eyesore to a destination and home to 25,000 people.

 

‘CLIMATE POSITIVE’

 

The entire project, which could start as early as 2011 with the re-naturalization of the mouth of the Don River and the construction of Keating Channel neighbourhood, could be completed in roughly 25 years.

 

The Keating Channel neighbourhood — scheduled to be done in about a decade — will include 4,000 mixed income housing units, as well as commercial and retail space in a 25-block span.

 

But what is exciting people about the Lower Don Lands more than the aesthetics, amenities or the prospect of turning the Don River into a river again is that the whole development will be environmentally sustainable.

 

This past month, the Lower Don Lands — the area bounded by the Parliament St. slip, the Don Roadway, a rail corridor just above the shoreline in the north and the Shipping Channel — was given the nod from former U.S. president Bill Clinton as one of 16 “climate positive” developments around the globe.

 

“Here’s the first community that we’re building from the ground up with sustainability in mind,” said John Campbell, CEO of Waterfront Toronto, which is overseeing efforts to revitalize the waterfront.

 

“We should be striving to build a community that actually doesn’t have a footprint, it really has a positive contribution towards the planet.”

 

So far, Waterfront Toronto expects the Lower Don Lands to produce more green energy than it uses, feeding excess power into the energy grid. Plans call for environmentally friendly measures to manage storm and waste water, including storing it to replenish the yet-to-be-built wetlands during dryer months.

 

With the environmental assessment for the project already underway, the re-naturalization of the Don River’s mouth could begin as early as 2011.

 

One caveat: Funding for the project, slated to cost $400 million, has not been secured, according to Campbell.

 

But it’s not just a “nice thing to do,” he said.

 

Instead, its main function is to protect all of the Portlands and the adjacent communities, such as Leslieville, from flooding in the event of severe 100-year storms. If Hurricane Hazel hit today, the water would pile up on Bay St.

 

More than that, Campbell doesn’t see why the new river can’t also be a “beautiful gem.”

 

“Where the river comes into the harbour should be the jewel of the harbour, and it’s anything but that today. It’s where the flotsam and jetsam that float down the river — the old chesterfields and freezers, and dead animals — collect,” he said. “It’s a toilet. It’s terrible.”

 

Ken Greenberg, the project team’s lead designer, said the river will act as a catalyst for the rest of the development.

 

“Once you get the river in, and the parks associated with it, it’s going to be a tremendous magnet to draw the rest of the activity,” he said.

 

Project boosters say it will incorporate the best ideas about how to build sustainable communities.

 

‘EXTREMELY WALKABLE’

 

“Every single individual thing that will be in this plan, you could probably find somewhere,” said Greenberg. “What you won’t find is all these things put together in one place. That is what makes it radical.”

 

As far as what green technologies will be used, Campbell confirmed no decisions have been made beyond a determination to incorporate as many of the newest and best initiatives over the life of the project.

 

The Lower Don Lands is being designed as an “extremely walkable” and bike-friendly community full of amenities where no one is ever more than five minutes away from public transit, according to Greenberg, who added that such planning will greatly reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the community.

 

The buildings will be designed to maximize the amount of interior illumination by sunlight, reducing the demand for artificial lighting.

 

“We’re carrying sustainability to a whole new level,” Greenberg said. “It’s not just about doing individual green buildings, but whole communities.

 

“It’s not one single thing that gets you to a net plus in terms of energy, but the combination can get you there,” he added.

 

Plans for the Lower Don Lands are still just that — plans — and some are skeptical the project will ever be completed.

 

Councillor Denzil Minnan-Wong insists the Lower Don Lands project is just another example of Waterfront Toronto’s ability to spend great swaths of money on big-sky planning, but little on actual bricks and mortar.

 

“There’s no money for it. The three levels of government have given Waterfront Toronto $1.5 billion, and they spend all their money on consultants and studies, and the Lower Don Lands is an example of that,” he said. “They don’t get anything done.”

 

Minnan-Wong admitted Waterfront Toronto has installed some “wave decks” along Queens Quay, but that’s a far cry from what $1.5 billion in public funds should buy, he said.

 

“The Lower Don Lands is a great project if you’re a consultant looking for work,” he added. “But Waterfront Toronto should focus on deliverables, rather than commissioning studies and paying millions and millions to consultants and planners.”

 

And the councillor is not alone in his skepticism of Toronto’s waterfront revitalization, according to George Baird, dean of U of T’s John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design.

 

“We all know that Torontonians are skeptical about the waterfront because there have been so many false starts that people are in a kind of ’show-me’ frame of mind,” said Baird, who advises Waterfront Toronto through its design review panel.

 

“In recent years, Toronto has kind of lagged behind other places in terms of ambition … but Waterfront Toronto is definitely changing all of that,” he insisted.

 

“I do actually think that people are going to be surprised and pleased once these projects start materializing in front of their eyes.”

 

TORONTO ONE OF 16 ON CLINTON’S CLIMATE LIST

 

Toronto’s futuristic Lower Don Lands development is one of 16 projects around the world to win the approval of former U.S. president Bill Clinton’s climate change group.

 

When all 16 large scale mixed-use developments are built, nearly 1 million people in 10 countries on six continents will live or work in the “climate positive” projects. According to the Clinton Climate Initiative, which will provide planning and technological support to the projects, the 16 projects will demonstrate how to build climate positive developments economically, and set new CO2 global emissions standards for the large scale construction of neighbourhoods.

 

The other 15 “climate positive” developments include:

• - Destiny, Fla.: Dubbed “America’s first eco-sustainable city,” it’s a 4,000 hectare project one hour south of Orlando that will produce on-site clean energy, and have its own eco-friendly sewage and water treatment plants.
  
• - Dockside Green, Victoria, B.C.: A 121,000 sq. metre mixed-use development on a former industrial site, it will have a biomass gastrification plant that converts energy from waste wood into hot water and heat.
  
• - Elephant and Castle in London, England: A $3-billion project to be completed by 2014, plans call for the creation of 5,300 homes as well as commercial and retail space in about one sq. km. It is one of two projects in London,
  
• - Panama Pacifico, Panama: The project calls for construction of 20,000 new homes and commercial space on a 1,408- hectare site on a former U.S. Air Force base at the mouth of the Panama Canal and Pacific Ocean.
  
• - Victoria Harbour, Melbourne, Australia: A $2.5-billion project to be completed in 2020, it is one of two climate-positive developments in the city. It is to have 2,000 new apartments and 250,000 sq. metres of commercial space on a 30-hectare site.
  
• - Treasure Island, San Francisco: Initially created in 1936 and 1937 for the Golden Gate Expo, plans call for a largely car-free city with 5,500 housing units and retail space. Powered by a wind farm, with an on-site organic garden and new ferry port.
  
• - Stockholm Royal Seaport, Sweden: A 267-hectare development to be completed by 2025, it incorporates 10,000 apartments and 30,000 offices that will be serviced by public transit.
  

 

Other “climate positive” developments are being built in Seoul, South Korea; Palhoca, Brazil; Johannesburg and Pretoria, South Africa; and Jaupur and Godrej, India.