CITY CLERK

POLICY AND FINANCE COMMITTEE

REPORT No. 3

For Consideration by

The Council of the City of Toronto

on July 27, 28, 29 and 30, 1999

1 Spadina LRT Barriers Ward 24 (Downtown)

City of Toronto

REPORT No. 3

OF THE POLICY AND FINANCE COMMITTEE

(from its meeting on June 24, 1999,

submitted by Mayor Mel Lastman, Chair)

As Considered by

The Council of the City of Toronto

on July 27, 28, 29 and 30, 1999

Spadina LRT Barriers

Ward 24 (Downtown)

(City Council on July 27, 28, 29 and 30, 1999, adopted the following recommendations:

"It is recommended that:

(1) the following recommendation of the Planning and Transportation Committee embodied in the communication dated July 20, 1999, from the City Clerk, be adopted:

'That the funding for the installation of permanent barriers on Spadina Avenue to be erected upon the removal of the temporary barriers by December 1, 1999, be provided by the Toronto Transit Commission.'; and

(2) in order to begin design and contract preparation for the Spadina Barrier immediately, staff be authorized to retain urban design and engineering design consultants directly, without going through a Request for Proposals procurement process, at a cost not to exceed $150,000.00.")

(City Council on July 6, 7 and 8, 1999, deferred consideration of this Clause to the next regular meeting of City Council to be held on July 27, 1999, and the Chair, Toronto Transit Commission, the Interim Chief General Manager, Toronto Transit Commission, the Chair, Planning and Transportation Committee and the Commissioner of Works and Emergency Services were requested to submit a joint report thereon directly to Council.)

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(Clause No. 5 of Report No. 1 of the Policy and Finance Committee)

The Policy and Finance Committee reports having requested the Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer to submit a report directly to Council, for its meeting scheduled to be held on July 6, 1999, respecting the funding required for the construction of the permanent barriers on Spadina Avenue.

The Policy and Finance Committee submits the following communication (June 23, 1999) from Councillor Olivia Chow, City Councillor, Downtown:

Recommendation:

It is recommended that the funding of $1 - $1.5 million required to construct permanent barriers on Spadina Avenue be found from the under-expenditure of TTC 1999-2000 Capital Budget.

Background:

During the budget deliberation in the spring, the Budget Committee referred the funding required to construct permanent barriers on Spadina Avenue to the June meeting of the Budget Committee. The instruction during that time was to find the funds from within the TTC budget (from under-expenditure).

Council approved the construction of permanent barriers on Spadina Avenue in the spring of this year. Unfortunately, the TTC made a decision that since it is a transportation issue, the City's Transportation Department should fund the project. The Transportation Department decided that since the barriers will be constructed to assist streetcars, TTC should pay for them. As a result, even though the design of these barriers was done a year ago, no funding was put aside for them!

In approving these permanent barriers, Council also said that the temporary ones on Spadina should be removed by December 1, 1999.

Without a decision on where the funds would come from, these permanent barriers will not be built this year. Cars will continue to cause accidents by hitting TTC streetcars until mid-2000, the next budget cycle.

(City Council on July 27, 28, 29 and 30, 1999, had before it, during consideration of the foregoing Clause, the following report (July 2, 1999) from the Interim General Secretary, Toronto Transit Commission:

At its meeting on Wednesday, June 30, 1999, the Commission considered the attached report entitled, "510 Spadina: Update on Barriers."

(1) The Commission received the above report for information, noting that:

(a) City Transportation Services staff are arranging for the installation of temporary bollards at the remaining unsignalized openings on Spadina Avenue, except for Baldwin Street, and this work was planned to begin the week of June 28;

(b) City Council, at its meeting on May 11 and 12, 1999, requested that the temporary bollards be replaced with a permanent barrier by December 1, 1999; and

(c) Staff of TTC, City Transportation Services, and City Planning, have been unable to identify and source of funding for the construction of permanent barriers in 1999 and have concluded that, even if such funds were available, it would be practically infeasible to design and construct the barriers by December 1, 1999, particularly considering the requirements for public consultation on this matter. For these reasons, staff from these organizations are of the consensus position that design work, public consultation, and selection of a final design, should proceed immediately so that thsi project can be included in the City's capital budget for 2000; and

(2) Forward this report to Councillors Olivia Chow and Kyle Rae, the Toronto Transportation Services Department, and the Toronto Urban Planning and Development Department.

The Commission also approved the following:

(1) That the Toronto Transit Commission reaffirm the necessity for such barriers on Spadina Avenue.

(2) That the Toronto Transit Commission reaffirm its position that, if the City is unable to resolve the design issues surrounding a permanent barrier by December 1, 1999, it would be unacceptable and not in the public's interest for the temporary barriers to be removed.

(3) That the City Solicitor be requested to report on any liability attracted by the City should the barriers be removed.

The foregoing is forwarded to City of Toronto Council for review and consideration.

(A copy of the Toronto Transit Commission Report No. 16 dated June 30, 1999, entitled "510 Spadina: Update on Barriers", is on file in the office of the City Clerk.)

(City Council also had before it, during consideration of the foregoing Clause, the following communication (July 20, 1999) from the City Clerk forwarding the recommendation of the Planning and Transportation Committee from its meeting held on July 12, 1999:

Recommendation:

That the funding for the installation of permanent barriers on Spadina Avenue to be erected upon the removal of the temporary barriers by December 1, 1999, be provided by the Toronto Transit Commission.

The Committee reports, for the information of Council, having received the following two reports:

- (June 16, 1999) from the Commissioner of Urban Planning and Development Services; and

- (July 12, 1999) from Vincent Rodo, Interim Chief General Manager, Toronto Transit Commission.

Background:

At its meeting on July 12, 1999, the Planning and Transportation Committee gave consideration to a report (June 16, 1999) from the Commissioner of Urban Planning and Development Services responding to Urban Environment and Development Committee's recommendation No. 4 combined in Clause No. 19 of Report No. 5 of Urban Environment and Development Committee, which was adopted by City Council at its meeting held on April 13, 14 and 15, 1999, requesting that the newly established staff working group report to the July, 1999 Committee meeting, and recommending that this report be received for information.

The Committee also had before it a communication (July 12, 1999) from Vincent Rodo, Interim Chief General Manager, Toronto Transit Commission advising that as a result of a meeting held on July 7, 1999 to discuss the construction and funding of the permanent barriers on Spadina Avenue, it was agreed that the funding of these barriers, in an estimated amount of $1.5 million, be shown as a "below the line" item in the TTC's 2000-2004 Capital Program, which will be before the City for approval in the Fall.

(Report dated June 16, 1999 addressed to the

Planning and Transportation Committee from the

Commissioner of Urban Planning and Development Services.)

Purpose:

To respond to Urban Environment and Development Committee recommendation No 4 ( Report No. 5) as adopted by the Council of the City of Toronto at its meeting held on April 13, 14 and 15, 1999, which reads as follows:

"A staff working group be established, led by the Chief Planner, to consider:

(a) design issues;

(b) bicycle lanes;

(c) TTC needs;

(d) cost requirements options;

(e) what can be achieved in the short term;

and that this working group report to the July 1999 meeting of the Urban Environment and Development Committee."

Source of Funds:

A request for funds for further streetscape improvements associated with modifications to existing barriers adjacent to the TTC right-of-way along the '501 route' on Spadina Avenue will be reported separately as part of the regular budget process.

Recommendations:

That this report be received for information.

Background:

For background information, the report from the Commissioner of Urban Planning and Development Services of March 29, 1999 is attached.

Comments:

In response to Council's request, a staff working group led by the Chief Planner consisting of representatives of Urban Planning and Development Services, Works and Emergency Services and the TTC has been established. This group reviewed the status of the specific issues raised, and reports as follows:

(a) Design Issues

The major design issue concerns the appearance of the bollards that were installed as a temporary barrier along Spadina Avenue over the past year to prevent vehicular turns across the TTC tracks. Approximately one year ago the TTC also retained services of a landscape architectural consultant to investigate different design solutions for permanent barriers on Spadina Avenue. That work showed some interesting solutions, mainly focussing on raised medians, instead of directly buried bollards where the space permits. This design direction should be further developed and evaluated from technical, operational, urban design and a community's point of view.

(b) Bicycle Lane Issues

Works and Emergency Services will be testing an edge line treatment this summer to address the issue of improved cycling safety on Spadina Avenue. The evaluation of this test section will assess the effectiveness of providing an edge line at 0.9 metres from the curb and, if effective, be extended along the entire length of Spadina Avenue. Works and Emergency Services does not anticipate that either the curb or median will need to be modified in order to enhance cycling conditions.

(c) TTC Needs

The TTC representative on the working group advised that, with the exception of the Baldwin Street intersection where further study is required, the TTC's safety concerns have been alleviated as a result of the installation of bollards along both sides of the streetcar right-of-way.

(d) Cost Requirement Options

Although the landscape architect retained by the TTC identified possible design concepts for incorporation into the Spadina Streetscape improvements, the concepts were preliminary and can not be used to develop accurate construction cost estimates. The development of a detailed cost estimate will require that additional work be carried out, to take into consideration the specific functional requirements and the space restrictions which exist within the area of the proposed improvements. In addition, the adoption of an ultimate Streetscape proposal will be subject to input received from the public consultation process.

It is not possible to identify cost options without developing a range of design options which can be priced. Despite the fact that the design work completed to date is inadequate for developing a detailed cost estimate, the Technical Services Division anticipates that Streetscaping improvements meeting the functional design requirements of both TTC and the City could be implemented for the $1-1.5 million previously estimated by the TTC.

(e) What can be achieved in the short term

It was concluded that the most expedient way to proceed with the next stage of design development will be to extend the services of the TTC's consultant, who has completed a significant portion of preliminary work already. This would allow the City's departments and the public to comment on this design direction.

Once a more detailed cost estimate is developed the funding could be secured through a special authorization in 1999, or it could be included in the 2000 capital budget request.

Conclusion:

This report provides the information on the issues that the staff working group was requested to address. It is important, however, to emphasize the serious functional limitations which will constrain the amount of urban design and landscape enhancement that can be achieved. In most areas of the street, the extent of pedestrian amenity and greening cannot be increased within the present roadway configuration.

Contact Name:

Alka Lukatela

Program Coordinator

Civic Improvement, Urban Design

Tel: 416-392-1131

Fax: 416-392-1744

Email: alukatel@toronto.ca)

(Copies of the attachments referred to in the foregoing report are on file in the office of the City Clerk.)

(City Council also had before it, during consideration of the foregoing Clause, the following report (July 22, 1999) from the Interim General Secretary, Toronto Transit Commission:

At its meeting on Wednesday, July 21, 1999, the Commission considered the attached report entitled, "510 Spadina: Status Of Permanent Barriers".

The Commission adopted the recommendations embodied in the above report, as listed below:

"It is recommended that the Commission:

(1) note that it would be in the best long-term interests of the City of Toronto to not proceed with construction of the barriers at this time but rather, to instruct City staff to first develop a cohesive, integrated design for the barriers which would be compatible with, and complementary to, the Spadina Avenue streetscape and which would help to make Spadina into a showcase "grand avenue"; this would result in the barriers being built in the spring/summer of 2000, rather than this fall;

(2) alternatively, subject to additional funding, authorize staff to begin construction of median islands, for completion this fall, at those locations where the width of Spadina Avenue allows such islands to be built, with the remainder of the barriers to be built as soon as City Planning and Urban Development Services and Transportation Services staff, in consultation with the Spadina community, have approved an acceptable design;

(3) with regard to the funding of the project:

(a) acknowledge that if the work proceeds in 1999 and the TTC is required to fund the work from cash flow slippages, that sufficient slippages in the approved 1999 cash flow of the TTC's capital program may not occur and that in this case the City will need to provide additional funding through slippages in various other City program areas;

(b) acknowledge that staff will not be reducing the overall scope of any project to accommodate the cost of the Spadina Barriers and that if slippages occur they will be a result of the usual types of delays associated with a large capital program and not due to a planned delay in any one project;

(c) acknowledge that while the increase in cash flow might be accommodated through slippages in other projects that cash flow slippages will not result in the estimated final cost of any one project being reduced and therefore additional funds will need to be made available in the 2000 budget to compensate for the use of cash flow underexpenditures for the Spadina Barriers and the unspecified reduction already contained in the TTC's approved Program; and

(d) regardless of which year the work occurs in and whether cash flow slippages will allow the work to be accommodated in 1999 request the City to approve an increase of TTC's "below the line" 1999-2003 Capital Budget of $1.5 million in overall expenditures;

(4) forward this report, by means of a Notice of Motion, directly to Council for consideration at its meeting of July 27, 1999, owing to the urgency of this matter; and

(5) forward this report to Councillors Chow and Rae, and City Urban Planning and Development Services, Transportation Services, and Technical Services for their information."

The foregoing is forwarded to City of Toronto Council for consideration and approval of Recommendation No. (3)(d) contained in the staff report in conjunction with Report No. 3, Clause No. 1 of The Policy and Finance Committee which will be before Council at its meeting on July 27, 28 and 29, 1999.

(Toronto Transit Commission Report No. 25,

dated July 21, 1999, entitled

"510 Spadina: Status of Permanent Barriers")

Recommendations:

It is recommended that the Commission:

(3) with regard to the funding of the project:

(4) forward this report, by means of a Notice of Motion, directly to Council for consideration at its meeting of July 27, 1999, owing to the urgency of this matter; and

(5) forward this report to Councillors Chow and Rae, and City Urban Planning and Development Services, Transportation Services, and Technical Services for their information.

Funding:

There are insufficient funds in the TTC's approved 1999-2003 Capital Program for the estimated $1.5 million cost of constructing permanent barriers on Spadina Avenue.

Background:

At its meeting on May 11, 1999, City Council approved that:

(a) temporary barriers be installed on Spadina Avenue to comply with the recommendations of the Toronto Transit Commission and they be removed upon the installation of the permanent barriers by December 1, 1999;

(b) the community be invited, with regard to streetscape, to comment on the design of the barriers;

(c) the streetscape design barriers be prepared at the same time as the design of the lanes or edge lines for bicycles; and

(d) the issue of the funding of permanent barriers be reported to the Budget Committee, in June, 1999, as directed by the Budget Committee during its budget deliberations.

On Wednesday, July 7, 1999, a meeting was held to discuss the construction and funding of the permanent barriers on Spadina Avenue. At that meeting, it was confirmed that neither the TTC, nor any City department, has any provision in their approved budgets for the estimated $1.5 million cost of the permanent barriers.

At that meeting, in order to resolve an impasse, TTC said that they would include the project in their 2000-2004 Capital submission. TTC staff explained, and believed that there was acceptance of the position, that funding of the permanent barriers, in that amount, would be shown as a "below the line" item in the TTC's 2000 - 2004 Capital Program, and that such funding would, therefore, be provided by the City as a separate, earmarked funding package, in addition to, and completely independent of, the TTC's capital program.

At that meeting, TTC staff also explained that, no matter which City department or agency might be charged with the responsibility of constructing these barriers, in order to do a good job which the community and City will be proud of in the long term, a proper design exercise should be undertaken this summer and fall so that a thoughtful, well-designed barrier could be constructed next spring/summer.

At its meeting of July 12, 1999, the Planning and Transportation Committee considered this matter and the attached letter from Vincent Rodo, Interim Chief General Manager, which summarized these TTC positions with respect to funding, timing and urban design. The minutes of that meeting were not available at the time of writing this report, but it is believed that Planning and Transportation Committee, in essence, received Mr. Rodo's correspondence, re-affirmed Council's original directive that permanent barriers be installed by December 1, 1999, and recommended that the costs of these barriers be borne by the TTC.

Discussion:

In considering the issue of the construction of permanent barriers on Spadina, there are two main areas of discussion, firstly the timing and planning issues related to attempting to plan, undertake public consultation and construct the barriers during the remaining 5 months of 1999. The second independent issue is where funding for the project will come from.

Planning and Construction Issues:

Assuming that the funding issue could be resolved, it is TTC staff's opinion that major changes to one of the City's few "grand avenues" should not be unduly hurried. While staff agree that the permanent barriers should be built in a timely way, we believe that, in the long term, both the community and the City will be the winners if City Planning and

Urban Development Services staff are given an opportunity to prepare a thoughtful, cohesive, integrated design for the barriers, which will truly complement and enhance the Spadina Avenue streetscape. Such an approach would result in the barriers being built next spring/summer, rather than this fall.

It is important to note that, at this time, City staff have not approved any design for permanent barriers on Spadina Avenue and have rejected, for safety reasons, the design prepared by the landscape architect consultant which the TTC hired.

If Council decides to provide the necessary funding, and wishes construction to proceed this fall, then TTC staff propose to begin with construction of median islands at those locations where the street is wide enough to allow such treatment, as illustrated in Exhibit 1, attached. These islands would be similar in appearance to the streetcar islands which have already been built for each of the stops on the 510 Spadina route. TTC staff believe that this type of treatment, when enhanced with the planting of trees by the City, would be widely accepted by the community as an acceptable and pleasing type of barrier. Of course, installation of even this type of barrier is subject to design approval by the City Departments.

For the remainder of the street, where the road width is too narrow to allow median islands, it is proposed that City Planning and Urban Development Services and Transportation Services staff approve a treatment design which is acceptable to both themselves and the community. This could proceed while construction of the median islands is underway, and might still allow completion of all the permanent barriers by December. This approach, however, could result in a lack of a cohesive design between the median islands and whatever design were to be selected for the remainder of the street.

Funding Issues:

The Planning and Transportation Committee is suggesting that underexpenditures on other projects within the TTC's capital program be used to fund this project. While acknowledging that the Commission, not the Planning and Transportation Committee, has the authority to direct staff in the management of its Capital program, this suggestion is not a solution to the funding of the project.

Each TTC project has two key estimated values. The first estimate is the overall cost of the project, better known as the Estimated Final Cost; the second estimate is the annual cash flow, or in other words the amount of money that will be spent each year.

While sufficient cash flow slippages may be identified in any one year to "fund " the Spadina Barriers project, there will need to be an increase in the following years to compensate for the use of the funds on a project other than was intended. Otherwise another higher priority project will need to be cancelled.

By way of example, while a delay in the tunnelling of the Sheppard Subway may result in cash flow slippages, the funding is still required in the next year to complete the tunnel. The slippage in cash flow did not remove the need to complete the tunnel. Therefore, in terms of the Estimated Final Cost of all of TTC's projects, more money needs to be added to the Capital Program when a new project is added.

Currently TTC's 1999 cash flow is estimated to be $17.4 million over the budgeted cash flow. The cash flow is monitored on a monthly basis as part of the Chief General Manager's report along with various other key financial indicators. It is still early in the construction season and weather delays, labour disputes, material delays, or adjustments for construction holdbacks may result in some level of underexpenditures. Given that Council, in approving the TTC's capital budget approved a $2.1 million unspecified reduction in the 1999 cash flow, in order to accommodate the Spadina Barriers and the unspecified reduction, the TTC's total cash flow slippages would need to total $3.6 million in 1999. While this level of underexpenditure is not outside the realm of possibility, TTC is not planning for or in fact taking any action to ensure that such slippages will occur.

As far as the make up of the TTC's cash flow budget in 1999 is concerned, the majority of the expenditures are fully committed and are based on signed contracts or labour force commitments which have specific cash flow requirements. The T1 order and the Sheppard Subway project, both of which involve signed contracts with very specific payment schedules, account for 67 per cent of the program alone.

Summary:

There are two major issues related to the construction of permanent barriers on Spadina. First and foremost is the need to ensure that a major initiative such as this one, which will have a dramatic effect on the community, is undertaken in a planned and reasonable fashion. The second issue is how to fund the project. It is reasonable to assume that within the City's overall Capital Program that sufficient cash flow slippages will occur to meet the cash flow requirements of the projects in 1999 and 2000. However, meeting the cash flow requirements through cash flow slippages in other projects does not reduce the need to fund the remaining portions of the other projects. Therefore, if TTC is to be responsible for this project an additional $1.5M needs to be added "below the line".

Justification

The Commission should request the City to provide the required additional $1.5 million funding for the permanent barriers because the TTC has no money to build these barriers. The Commission should also encourage the City to take the time to design an attractive barrier, which will enhance the appearance of Spadina Avenue, rather than to hurry and install something which the City may regret.)

(Copies of the attachements to the foregoing report are on file in the office of the City Clerk.)

Respectfully submitted,

MEL LASTMAN

Chair

Toronto, June 24, 1999

(Report No. 3 of The Policy and Finance Committee, including additions thereto, was adopted, as amended, by City Council on July 27, 28, 29 and 30, 1999.)