Readers may remember that the Humber cycle and pedestrian trail has a gap around the junction of Weston Road and St Phillips. The trail ends because the Humber’s banks are occupied by private property – mainly the Weston Golf and Country Club.
The gap in the trail forces able-bodied cyclists to lug their bikes up a huge flight of stairs and deters a huge number of others who are daunted by the danger of Weston Road and the physical exertion required to push a bike up several stories.
After more than two decades of study and consultation, a solution was found out of several options that would allow the trail to continue its way alongside the Humber without encountering stairs or traffic. The solution involved a couple of bridges and some fencing where the golf club borders the river. After the final hurdle of an environmental assessment by the city and TRCA, the project was given the green light. Ominously, somewhere in the documents was the fact that the Weston Golf and Country Club was concerned about the safety of pedestrians and cyclists during flood events. Some of the great unwashed might find themselves in the Humber after a rainstorm. Think of the liability.
The WGCC is a popular club with a waiting list to get in. They have a decades-old arrangement with the city to defer a (confidential) percentage of their property taxes as long as they operate as a golf course. The club has powerful members who may or may not have the ear of Premier Ford who lives nearby.
Enter a pantomime villain in the shape of David Piccini, Ontario’s 34 year-old Environment Minister. Piccini has likely been told to kill the project and may well have done so. Piccini insists that the environmental assessment done by the city and TRCA is somehow inadequate. He has demanded a do-over, effectively stalling the project. In response, the city has commenced a Notice of Application for a Judicial Review in Divisional Court and is challenging the Province’s order for further study on the Mid Humber Gap Trail.
The hearing is scheduled for November 15, 2023.
I guess we’ll find out about the power of a publicly subsidized golf course and how easily due process in a democracy can be perverted – or we might be pleasantly surprised at the judiciary acting in the public interest.
Toronto’s new mayor may have something to say about this.
Friends of Raymore Park 