Sidewalk Labs, Waterfront Toronto reach deal to go forward on Quayside project
(The Star Toronto Raptors)

Sidewalk Labs and Waterfront Toronto have reached an agreement to continue on with the high-tech Quayside project on the eastern waterfront.The agreement, reached Thursday morning after Waterfront Toronto’s board officially OK’d it, will see significant “realignments� of proposals Sidewalk Labs put forward in its master plan proposal in June.The agreement basically sees Waterfront Toronto wresting control of the project from Sidewalk Labs in several key areas.Among them:The scope of the project will be confined to the 12-acre “beta site� near Queens Quay East and Parliament Street — not the larger IDEA District concept Sidewalk Labs proposed that envisioned the Google sister firm expanding its project into the Port Lands.Sidewalk Labs sought to be the lead developer of the mixed-use project at Quayside. Waterfront Toronto says should the master plan go forward, Waterfront Toronto will lead a public procurement process for a developer to partner with Sidewalk Labs.Sidewalk Labs proposed designing and implementing of infrastructure. Under the new agreement Waterfront Toronto will lead “planning, design and delivery of traditional municipal infrastructure, including parks, promenades, streets and sidewalks, water and sewer (mains).�Sidewalk Labs said it could not see its high-tech district — which will draw thousands of new residents and employees if it gets the go-ahead — being built without a new Light Rail Transit line being built. But Waterfront Toronto says it does not have the jurisdiction over the approval of capital funding for public transit.Sidewalk Labs had proposed a civic data trust that would oversee the collection and storage of data collected by sensors at Quayside. Under the new agreement, Waterfront Toronto will lead all digital governance and privacy related to the Quayside project.Sidewalk Labs proposed a “patent pledge� that it would not assert its digital innovation ...