Quayside

Study Area

Quayside is a 12-acre area in the East Bayfront located at the foot of Parliament Street and Queens Quay Boulevard East, south of the Gardiner Expressway. Quayside is a prime development site, largely owned by Waterfront Toronto. The area also includes lands owned by the City of Toronto (1.5 acres), Ports Toronto and private landowners. The site consists of three development blocks with the following primary addresses: Quayside (259-291 Lake Shore Blvd. E., 200 Queens Quay W., 2 Small St.), Parliament Development Lands (307 Lake Shore Blvd. E, 3-15 Parliament St.) and 333 Lake Shore Blvd. E.

Background

Waterfront Toronto was established in 2001 by the governments of Canada, Ontario and Toronto to oversee the renewal of Toronto’s waterfront. Waterfront Toronto has the mandate to implement revitalization projects in the Designated Waterfront Area (DWA).

In 2017, Waterfront Toronto selected Sidewalk Labs as an “Innovation and Funding Partner” to develop a development vision and implementation strategies for Quayside. On July 31, 2018, Waterfront Toronto’s board approved a Plan Development Agreement (PDA) with Sidewalk Labs defining and governing the relationship between the two organizations in the development of a Master Innovation and Development Plan (MIDP) for Quayside.

In January of 2018, the Deputy City Manager submitted a staff report to Executive Committee describing the MIDP process and the City’s role.

In June of 2019, the Deputy City Manager submitted a staff report to Executive Committee to provide an update on the Quayside project. The update describes Waterfront Toronto’s decision-making process for the MIDP, a proposed work plan for the City’s review of the MIDP, as well as progress on a City-wide digital infrastructure policy framework and governance model, to be used in reviewing the MIDP.

In January 2020, the Chief Technology Officer, Technology Services Division submitted a Digital Infrastructure Plan – Update staff report to the Executive Committee. The report provided an update on the work that has been done to develop a Digital Infrastructure Plan (DIP) for the City of Toronto. The DIP will serve as an evaluation tool for external proposals with digital elements, such as those related to Quayside.

Specifically, the report included:

• Initial results from public and stakeholder consultations initiated in November 2019 regarding Working Principles for digital infrastructure; and
• A two-year work plan to develop the DIP.

The recommendations (as amended) were unanimously adopted by Council on January 29th, 2020. The next report is anticipated in early 2021.

City of Toronto Role

The City of Toronto is not a party to the Plan Development Agreement (PDA) between Waterfront Toronto and Sidewalk Labs.

City staff provide preliminary comments on work in progress with the goal of:

• Encouraging proposals that are consistent with applicable City policies and regulations.
• Preparing to receive and formally evaluate Waterfront Toronto’s proposals.

The City of Toronto’s involvement in this project is managed by the Waterfront Secretariat, part of the City Planning Division. The Waterfront Secretariat leads the Toronto Waterfront Revitalization Initiative on behalf of the City, working with federal and provincial partners and Waterfront Toronto to ensure the right structures, agreements, and supports are in place to advance revitalization in the Designated Waterfront Area.

The roles and responsibilities of the City, Waterfront Toronto and the Toronto Economic Development Corporation (TEDCO, now CreateTO) in revitalizing the East Bayfront and the Port Lands are defined in a Memorandum of Understanding approved by City Council in 2006.

In addition to the City of Toronto’s authority on policy and regulatory matters, the City owns 1.5 acres of land within the Quayside site. Any use of City-owned lands will require Council approval, including approval of a Business and Implementation Plan.

Project Status and Review Process

In June 2019, Sidewalk Labs submitted their Draft Master Innovation Development Plan (MIDP) to Waterfront Toronto for review. It included specific proposals related to sustainability, buildings, public realm, mobility, economic development, housing affordability, social infrastructure, and digital infrastructure and data governance.

Feedback from public consultations in July 2019 and from the Waterfront Toronto Board identified several “threshold issues” that would need to be resolved between Waterfront Toronto and Sidewalk Labs if the MIDP was going to be evaluated. On October 31, 2019,Waterfront Toronto and Sidewalk Labs resolved the threshold issues and agreed on distinct roles for the parties.

Since that time, Waterfront Toronto has undertaken a technical evaluation of Sidewalk Labs’ proposals and are holding public and stakeholder consultations.

On May 20, 2020, Waterfront Toronto’s Board will decide whether to move forward with this proposal and partner with Sidewalk Labs and, if so, how.

Should Waterfront Toronto’s Board decide to move forward with Quayside, the City’s review and evaluation of the proposal would proceed as per the work plan presented to the Executive Committee in June 2019 (EX 6.1), including:

• Consultation with relevant City Divisions and Agencies
• Consultation with other orders of government
• A City-led public consultation process
• A report back to the Executive Committee

As described in the June 2019 report (EX 6.1), City staff would assess the proposals in the MIDP as per the following:

• City divisions and agencies would review Waterfront Toronto’s MIDP evaluation, analysis and conclusions;
• Staff would determine which proposals align with existing City policy frameworks and identify the formal regulatory approval processes required. The MIDP evaluation would include a preliminary assessment of the desirability of individual proposals; and
• Where proposals diverge from existing City policies and processes, staff would identify the proposals which warrant further examination and provide recommendations on next steps, including, for proposals that the City wishes to pursue further, resource requirements

The following criteria would be used to evaluate the MIDP:

• Alignment with City plans, policies and guidelines;
• Alignment with procurement policies and best practices;
• Alignment with good governance best practices;
• Feasibility and desirability of business case proposals;
• Innovation in the achievement of City goals;
• Potential for community benefits; and
• Alignment with existing and emerging government digital infrastructure and data governance policies.

 

Digital Technologies, Data and Privacy

The solutions proposed by Sidewalk Labs include several that use emerging technologies. Waterfront Toronto refers to these solutions as being “digitally enabled” and defines such as solutions as: “Digitally enabled solutions collect, process, and/or use data about the physical environment around them to improve urban interaction.”

As noted above, Toronto is developing a comprehensive Digital Infrastructure Plan (DIP) that will serve as an evaluation tool for external proposals with digital elements, such as those related to Quayside.

In January, 2020, City Council direct the City Manager to ensure that any proposal submitted to the City prior to such time as the Digital Infrastructure Plan has been adopted by City Council must be in compliance with all five of the Digital Infrastructure Plan Working Principles, in addition to all existing policies, standards, and processes, as a condition of approval of the proposal.

The five Working Principles are:

1. Equity and Inclusion
2. A Well-run City
3. Social, Economic and Environmental Benefits
4. Privacy and Security
5. Democracy and Transparency

For more information on the Digital Infrastructure Plan, visit the City’s Connected Communities page.

Public Consultation

City of Toronto-led Consultations

In December of 2019 the City of Toronto held public consultation sessions to collect feedback on the Digital Infrastructure Plan.

Additional consultations on both the Digital Infrastructure Plan and the Quayside project are anticipated in 2020.

Waterfront Toronto and Sidewalk Labs Consultations

Waterfront Toronto is currently engaged in consultations to inform their planning.
Details on these events are available on their website.

Information and Reports

Council Considerations and Decisions

EX12.2 Digital Infrastructure Plan – Update – January 2020
EX6.1 Quayside – Update – June 2019
EX30.9 Sidewalk Toronto – January 2018

MM3.2 Data Governance and Smart Cities – February 2019

Staff Reports

Digital Infrastructure Plan Update Report – January 2020
Quayside Update – Report for Action – June 2019
Sidewalk Toronto – Report for Action – January 2018

Applicable Planning Policy

Central Waterfront Secondary Plan

East Bayfront Precinct Plan

East Bayfront – West Precinct Zoning By-law No. 1049-2006

Keating Channel Precinct Plan

Keating Channel Precinct West Zoning By-law No. 1174-2010

City of Toronto Official Plan

TOCore: Planning Downtown and Downtown Plan

City of Toronto built form and development guidelines (Complete Streets Guidelines, City-wide Tall Building Design Guidelines, Toronto Green Standard, etc.)

Port Lands Planning Framework

Waterfront Sanitary Servicing Master Plan

Waterfront Transit Reset

Related Initiatives

Automated Vehicles Strategy

Open Data Master Plan

Gardiner Expressway and Lake Shore Boulevard East Reconfiguration Environmental Assessment (EA) and Integrated Urban Design Study

Growing Up: Planning for Children in New Vertical Communities

Open Door Affordable Housing Program

TransformTO: Climate Action for a Healthy, Equitable and Prosperous Toronto

 

Waterfront Toronto / Sidewalk Labs Documents

Open Letter on Threshold Issue Resolution from Waterfront Toronto’s Board Chair – October 31, 2019
Plan Development Agreement – July 31, 2018, renewed September 2019,
Amended December 2019 and January 2020.

Waterfront Toronto Request For Proposals No. 2017-13

For development concepts, presentation materials and consultation documents produced by Waterfront Toronto and Sidewalk Labs, please refer to the websites of these organizations