NEW: Toronto businesses that will be impacted by the construction of the Ontario Line subway are asking Metrolinx for accountability amid Eglinton Crosstown delays.
The Ontario Line, which will run from Exhibition Place, along Queen Street in the downtown and north along Pape Avenue to the Ontario Science Centre, is the centre piece of a $28.5 billion transit expansion plan for the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area announced in 2019.
“BIAs, local business people, our organization; we're all in support of transit and our ability to get around. Congestion is a big issue and this is one way of dealing with it by bringing people into the downtown for entertainment, for work and everything else. So nobody here’s on a mission to try to stop the project,” Kiru said.
“We are committed to working with each and every business owner to provide support, maintain clear lines of communication and minimize the impacts of construction where possible. This includes supports such as promoting local businesses through shop local campaigns and ensuring store fronts remain visible and easily accessible for customers,” Metrolinx said.
“We truly believe that there should be a comprehensive, built-into-the-cost-of-the-infrastructure-project compensation [package] that should be provided to these businesses and landlords to keep them sustainable,” he said. The Transit Expansion Construction Mitigation Grant Program, announced on Thursday by Mayor John Tory, will provide grants of up to $50,000 to BIAs and other community organizations to “address the unintended effects that transit construction can have on local businesses.”
Kiru says the compensation necessary to keep affected businesses afloat during construction would only account for a small percentage of the project’s total cost. Construction crews tunnelling in the area will have hundreds of years of underground infrastructure to contend with, which could complicate the building process and potentially push back the project’s timeline.
“We're hopeful that because of the construction method used, we'll be able to keep the streets and neighborhood open for business as normal. We're working closely with Metrolinx to hopefully make that happen,” he said.
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