yorkregion.com
August 7, 2008, David Fleischer

Yonge Street subway extension gets imaginations rumbling

Last week, I got to design my own subway.

I was one of dozens of residents who spent a summer night debating the best possible configuration for the planned Yonge Street subway extension.

The workshop was part of getting the public on side early for a project that likely won’t be rolling down the tracks until 2017.

Attendees were divided into four groups and it was interesting to find that, after all the lively discussion, there was a fairly consistent consensus on the three issues we were asked to discuss.

HOW MANY STATIONS?

First, we talked about how many stops the subway needs between its current station at Finch and future stop at Richmond Hill Centre, at Hwy. 7.

There will certainly be a major stop at Steeles Avenue and Toronto staff are pushing for another south of Steeles, at Cummer/Drewry. Even though some of us were wishy-washy on that one, we had another four up for discussion.

Since each station comes with a price tag of $60 million, it was a lot of responsibility.

Pretty much everyone agreed the first York Region stop should be at Clark Avenue.

I happen to live near Yonge and Clark, as does Leor Grebler, who presented our group’s conclusions (Go, Group 2!).

“I’m biased toward that station,” he admitted with a laugh.

I imagine we are both looking forward to the day we can add “walk to subway” to our real estate listings, but it was nice to see even those with less of a vested interest agreed.

“I hope that it will cause a lot more growth in the area,” Mr. Grebler said of his overall hopes for the project.

Growth is what this whole thing is about. Provincial legislation aims to curb sprawl by intensifying older communities and Yonge Street is ripe for the picking.

Clark has the highest density of any of the intersections under discussion, but new development proposals are already set to radically change the face of Yonge Street, particularly near Steeles Avenue and at Hwy. 407.

Nearly everyone was split on if Thornhill’s heritage district would be best served by a station at Centre Street or Royal Orchard Boulevard.

The former location has more transit connections, but limited potential for redevelopment.

The latter has the advantage of pre-existing highrises and the second-highest density of the intersections we considered.

Group 3 hedged its bets, saying more investigation is needed, while Groups 1,2 and 4 agreed Royal Orchard made more sense.

Another tough call was whether or not a stop is needed at Bunker Road, just south of the 407.

The big negative is it is close to the Royal Orchard and Hwy. 7 stops.

On the other hand, it lies right beside the hydro corridor, which is the only place on the line to add parking — 2,000 spaces worth — hopefully saving a lot trips down to Finch.

Richmond Hill resident Gloria Boxen was concerned about paving the lands to create parking for a project aimed at getting people out of their cars.

“Try to minimize the parking by ensuring you’ve got a good overall transit system,” she said.

“Just in the past year, people’s driving habits have changed with the price of gasoline. By the time the subway opens, who knows what the world is going to look like?” she said.

BRIDGE AND TUNNEL CROWD

Another point in Bunker’s favour is that just across the street, industrial Langstaff Road is poised for redevelopment, which could make it home to as many as 30,000 people.

The intersection straddles the borders of Markham, Vaughan and Richmond Hill, making it one of the province’s key growth nodes.

They have directed the region to establish a minimum of 200 people (residents and employees) per hectare in the area, meaning by 2031, the intersection will likely be unrecognizable, and 500 per cent more developed.

The most visible change, when the subway does come north, may be north of Thornhill’s heritage area.

Past Centre Street, Yonge dives into a valley crossing the East Don River, leaving the question of if it is best to tunnel the subway under the river or build a bridge.

There was near unanimous consensus a bridge was the way to go, though the design and size of the span were set for later discussion. Surprisingly, the capital costs of a bridge exceed those of a tunnel, but that is counteracted by the savings in building a shallower subway station.

A stretch more accustomed to gridlock than greenery can be rehabilitated and naturalized, while southern York Region gains a gateway landmark.

A PERFECT ENDING

The choice that most divided attendees was where to place the final subway stop.

The first option was to place it directly on Yonge Street, near the Vishnu Mandir temple.

Another option found it beneath the Silver City parking lot, while a third put it closest to the Viva and GO Stations.

I was among those voting for the latter since it best integrates our transit systems.

Others were concerned about taking the line so far from Yonge, particularly with vast parking lots and wide streets already creating an unfriendly environment for pedestrians.

Groups 2 and 4 each narrowly agreed on placing the station close to the current facilities, while Group 3 just as narrowly voted to keep it on Yonge. Group 1 took the middle choice.

Richmond Hill Mayor Dave Barrow and Viva vice-president Mary Frances Turner seemed impressed with the level of public input.

“Sessions like this really bring to life the work being done,” Mr. Barrow said.

“What a fantastic summary of a lot of hard work,” Ms Turner said.

“We really need to continue to hear from you.”

“It’s been very open,” Mr. Grebler said of the process so far.

“They’re definitely trying to get a lot of public input.”

Some people came out for the first time, while others are following every step of the way.

Group 4’s Mehul Upadhyaya said he was excited about the subway, which will follow the short-term pain of construction with the long-term gain of a new kind of suburbia.

“It’s a fantastic plan. I hope it gets approved because it will help all of York Region,” the Richmond Hill resident said.

Transit links at new stations:

Richmond Hill Centre intercepts 19 bus routes as well as GO trains and a future 407 Transitway.
Royal Orchard Boulevard will link up with 36 busses an hour while a Centre Street station would see 60.
The Steeles Avenue hub is easily the busiest, with 16 routes bringing nearly 140 busses an hour through, eliminating the need for many to proceed to their current end at Finch.
The next subway meeting is Aug. 26 and you can still get involved or offer your own opinions by visiting www.vivayork.com/yss_survey

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