Should be a full house at the Toronto Fire Academy (895 Eastern) tonight (Thursday, February 18), 6:30 to 9 pm, when Transit City unveils its plans for a car house, a storage and maintenance facility for light rail vehicles, proposed for 9 hectares on the southeast corner of Leslie and Lake Shore.[rssbreak]
Chief among local concerns: the huge berm of contaminated soil dumped on the site back during expansion of the Ashbridges Bay sewage treatment plant.
Then there’s the question of what will become of the Martin Goodman Trail, which snakes around the area, during the construction phase, which is slated to last two years.
Making matters dodgy for trail users are Ontario Hydro plans to replace power lines along the waterfront trail.
Area Councillor Paula Fletcher is concerned that the car house plans may mess with ongoing efforts to transform Leslie into a “green gateway” from Lake Shore to the Spit, the urban wilderness that also happens to be one of the biggest bird sanctuaries in North America.
Fletcher’s calling for more cycling and pedestrian improvements on Leslie.
The biggest problem, though, may be time. Bombardier is scheduled to deliver six prototypes of the new low-floor streetcars to be stationed at the car house by late 2012.
