As Toronto’s new chief planner in 2012, Jennifer Keesmaat made a priority of plans to tranform north Yonge St. from a car-centric “highway” into a vibrant pedestrian destination.Keesmaat, who left the city post last fall, is “flabbergasted” Mayor John Tory and his council allies appear keen to gut a long-fostered revitalization plan that would remove two lanes of traffic and add protected bike lanes between between Sheppard and Finch Aves. to the spine that is Yonge.“This is really about the kind of city we’re creating. It’s about much, much more than bike lanes,” Keesmaat, who now teaches at the University of Toronto, said in an interview Thursday.“It’s also about the revitalization of our suburbs. Are we going to reinforce this idea that they are just places that you get through on your way to somewhere else, or are we going to start creating a critical mass of activity and animation and economic activity, so you don’t need to go downtown to be in a great environment?”City staff and John Filion, the Willowdale councillor, are recommending the “Transform Yonge” plan to add, in addition to bike lanes, extra-wide sidewalks, better pedestrian crossings, a landscaped centre median and other improvements to what is now a condo-lined, narrow-sidewalked corridor.Going to council next week, however, is a counter-proposal from Tory’s executive committee to keep the current six lanes of vehicle traffic, install bike lanes on nearby Beecroft Rd., and do as much street beautification as possible with sidewalks widened where possible.Moving bike lanes to a sidestreet will add $20 million to the $51 million cost, city staff say. Councillor David Shiner, who devised the new plan, says the surcharge could be cut to $9 million through measures that include replacing protected bike lanes in three sections with “sharrows,” or painted markings to remind motorists to share th ...
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