New chief planner Gregg Lintern told a Bay Street audience there “may be evidence that suggests” the Scarborough subway is “not the best way to spend money.”“That can be debated and will continue to be debated,” Lintern said.The comments were made during an onstage discussion with the Globe and Mail’s Marcus Gee on Wednesday morning that followed Lintern’s first major speech as chief planner at the Toronto Region Board of Trade. A veteran city planner, Lintern was tapped for the top job in March.In that new role, Lintern now has oversight of planning for the controversial one-stop Scarborough subway, which would extend the Bloor-Danforth line six kilometres to a new stop at the Scarborough Town Centre. It’s currently estimated to cost $3.35 billion based on very little design work.“My time has been spent, frankly and honestly, on working on what we’re going to do at Scarborough Centre,” Lintern said of the area around the new stop that has seen little growth compared to the city’s other hubs that have been designated for growth. In 2013, council under Rob Ford’s administration scrapped plans to build a fully-funded and already-approved, seven-stop light rail line. Both the subway and LRT options would replace the aging Scarborough RT, which will be torn down. Mayor John Tory, who is facing re-election in October, vowed this week to get the subway built while promising more rapid transit in Scarborough that isn’t yet funded as a result of the subway’s rising costs.There is currently $3.56 billion from three levels of government dedicated to transit in Scarborough. The federal and provincial governments recently announced a combined $9 billion for Toronto transit, which includes the Scarborough subway funds that were earlier committed. The city’s five priority projects competing for those funds total at least $17.4 billion.Lintern said he is focused on remaking Sc ...
|
