Google`s vision for Port Lands a no-go with Ontario government, source says
(The Star Religion)

Google’s expansive vision to plan and build communities and transit across Toronto’s east waterfront — in exchange for a cut of property tax and development revenues — is a non-starter, the Ontario government says.At Queen’s Park, a senior government official told the Star’s Robert Benzie that Google sister company Sidewalk Labs’s plans — revealed by the Star’s Marco Chown Oved on Thursday — is a non-starter.“There is no way on God’s green earth that Premier Doug Ford would ever sign off on handing away nearly 500 acres of prime waterfront property to a foreign multinational company that has been unable to reassure citizens their privacy and data would be protected,” confided the high-ranking Progressive Conservative insider.The Ford confidant spoke to the Star on condition of anonymity due to the province’s contractual obligations to negotiate in good faith with Sidewalk Labs.A Sidewalk Labs presentation, prepared for Google last fall, show that Waterfront Toronto’s preferred development partner for the 12-acre Quayside district at Queens Quay and Parliament St. has bigger ambitions, for redevelopment on 350 acres in the Port Lands area — an area almost 30 times larger than Quayside — by financing underground infrastructure and a light rail line.Internal documents obtained by the Star show Sidewalk Labs plans to make the case that it is “entitled to . . . a share in the uptick in land value on the entire geography . . . a share of developer charges and incremental tax revenue on all land.”Read more: Google’s Sidewalk Labs plans massive expansion to waterfront visionAuditor general’s report urges province to ‘reassess’ Quayside projectPrivacy expert steps down from advisory role with Sidewalk LabsThese future revenues, based on the anticipated increase in land value once homes and offices are built on the derelict Port Lands, ...