King-Victoria Transit Hub

[Spokes]

Ugh why can't we just have the original concepts? Loved those.

[KevinL]

Ugh why can't we just have the original concepts?  Loved those.

Because 1) they were just that, concepts; an ideal to aspire to; and 2) anything like them would need a single contractor for both station and towers, which we now know can't be reasonably procured.

That said, I'm still very disappointed with the region for not clearly laying out how a second contractor can integrate towers into this plan, and at least approach those concepts.

[westwardloo]

Not sure if anyone went to the open house at regional hq to showcase the project. Just got back from it. A few take away.

- there will be a pedestrian bridge and connection to the other side of king to serve the southbound lrt. Apparently not in the scope because it is not part of the property line so they can't show it. 

- they can not cover the tracks apparently because metrolinx own them not the region. Not sure why they are not working with metrolinx on this.

- Duke will be closed, but will most likely have pedestrian link under tracks to serve the neighborhood.

- the future development will push the bus terminal against the tracks with an entrance off Duke street. With the development on the parking lot and old factory hiding the buses. Theb the other bus terminal will become a public square. Which I liked. 

- concept a will be designed to be extended into future development of office/retail/residential

- seem to be open to large towers built adjacent to the hub at parking lot/ old factory.

- they want to move quickly on this. Construction start date is spring 2021 completion summer 2022.

-2 platforms will be built with a third bypass track.

Still not happy about the scale. But If they are going to push ahead I will accept concept A. I think a private development will occur pretty quick beside the transit hub. Will become a very desirable place to live with 2 way all day go and the lrt.

[panamaniac]

Not sure if anyone went to the open house at regional hq to showcase the project. Just got back from it. A few take away.

- there will be a pedestrian bridge and connection to the other side of king to serve the southbound lrt. Apparently not in the scope because it is not part of the property line so they can't show it. 

- they can not cover the tracks apparently because metrolinx own them not the region. Not sure why they are not working with metrolinx on this.

- Duke will be closed, but will most likely have pedestrian link under tracks to serve the neighborhood.

- the future development will push the bus terminal against the tracks with an entrance off Duke street. With the development on the parking lot and old factory hiding the buses. Theb the other bus terminal will become a public square. Which I liked. 

- concept a will be designed to be extended into future development of office/retail/residential

- seem to be open to large towers built adjacent to the hub at parking lot/ old factory.

- they want to move quickly on this. Construction start date is spring 2021 completion summer 2022.

-2 platforms will be built with a third bypass track.

Still not happy about the scale. But If they are going to push ahead I will accept concept A. I think a private development will occur pretty quick beside the transit hub. Will become a very desirable place to live with 2 way all day go and the lrt.

Is that just a "concept"?  It would be stunning news if that were to happen.

[westwardloo]

Is that just a "concept"?  It would be stunning news if that were to happen.

Well obviously it is all just a "concept". But Concept A transit building would be built to extend into the future development so they would have to move the bus terminal.

[danbrotherston]

Not sure if anyone went to the open house at regional hq to showcase the project. Just got back from it. A few take away.

- there will be a pedestrian bridge and connection to the other side of king to serve the southbound lrt. Apparently not in the scope because it is not part of the property line so they can't show it. 

- they can not cover the tracks apparently because metrolinx own them not the region. Not sure why they are not working with metrolinx on this.

- Duke will be closed, but will most likely have pedestrian link under tracks to serve the neighborhood.

- the future development will push the bus terminal against the tracks with an entrance off Duke street. With the development on the parking lot and old factory hiding the buses. Theb the other bus terminal will become a public square. Which I liked. 

- concept a will be designed to be extended into future development of office/retail/residential

- seem to be open to large towers built adjacent to the hub at parking lot/ old factory.

- they want to move quickly on this. Construction start date is spring 2021 completion summer 2022.

-2 platforms will be built with a third bypass track.

Still not happy about the scale. But If they are going to push ahead I will accept concept A. I think a private development will occur pretty quick beside the transit hub. Will become a very desirable place to live with 2 way all day go and the lrt.

Thanks for the info, I wasn't able to go due to other committments. Ugh, they've done an absolutely trash job of this public consultation.  Not one of those pieces of information was available in their online consultation...and those are absolute key info.  They also don't have a lot of trust with me right now, they don't have the planned underpass at Waterloo St, frankly, if this stuff isn't in writing, I don't trust them on this. Yeah, it sure seems like they're pushing their own plan, and public consultations are just going through the motions.

[westwardloo]

Thanks for the info, I wasn't able to go due to other committments. Ugh, they've done an absolutely trash job of this public consultation.  Not one of those pieces of information was available in their online consultation...and those are absolute key info.  They also don't have a lot of trust with me right now, they don't have the planned underpass at Waterloo St, frankly, if this stuff isn't in writing, I don't trust them on this. Yeah, it sure seems like they're pushing their own plan, and public consultations are just going through the motions.

Yeah I mentioned to them that they need to be a better job distributing information. They said its still early in the process.  I also asked if the boards will be available online. They told me they already were, but when they should me where it was the same images they released 2 weeks ago. They info boards included a different 3d Sketch of the future development and "interior" sketches.

In regards to waterloo st. The sketch show a walkway. which will also have access to the second platform and go towards the google office/ the nieghbourhood.

[danbrotherston]

Thanks for the info, I wasn't able to go due to other committments. Ugh, they've done an absolutely trash job of this public consultation.  Not one of those pieces of information was available in their online consultation...and those are absolute key info.  They also don't have a lot of trust with me right now, they don't have the planned underpass at Waterloo St, frankly, if this stuff isn't in writing, I don't trust them on this. Yeah, it sure seems like they're pushing their own plan, and public consultations are just going through the motions.

Yeah I mentioned to them that they need to be a better job distributing information. They said its still early in the process.  I also asked if the boards will be available online. They told me they already were, but when they should me where it was the same images they released 2 weeks ago. They info boards included a different 3d Sketch of the future development and "interior" sketches.

In regards to waterloo st. The sketch show a walkway. which will also have access to the second platform and go towards the google office/ the nieghbourhood.

Yeah, AFAIK they aren't, they've only released the two concepts.

Yup, the sketch definitely does show a walkway, however we have been told that an underpass at that location is entirely impossible several times. So either one of those things is a lie, or they haven't even done the most basic of checking whether things are feasible or not.

[taylortbb]

Unfortunately I didn't take a picture of the board with the interior renders, but here's the external (as uploaded) and their conceptual future site. I was strongly assured that the right edge of the building is designed for future extension by whatever office/residential components gets build overtop of the bus loop. They also seemed quite certain there would be a pedestrian tunnel, though they said they were unsure about whether it would be right at Waterloo St or more from the middle of the building.

   

[danbrotherston]

Unfortunately I didn't take a picture of the board with the interior renders, but here's the external (as uploaded) and their conceptual future site. I was strongly assured that the right edge of the building is designed for future extension by whatever office/residential components gets build overtop of the bus loop. They also seemed quite certain there would be a pedestrian tunnel, though they said they were unsure about whether it would be right at Waterloo St or more from the middle of the building.

Like honestly, if they have this content, why wasn't it presented online.

Also, that cartoon doesn't make any sense, the bus loop is gone in the "future" plans, not, hidden, there is no break in the boulevard, is the plan for the bus loop to be gone?

I'll say it again, these seem very rushed, and very amateurish.

[taylortbb]

Like honestly, if they have this content, why wasn't it presented online.

Also, that cartoon doesn't make any sense, the bus loop is gone in the "future" plans, not, hidden, there is no break in the boulevard, is the plan for the bus loop to be gone?

No idea why it's not online. I've emailed and asked for it to be.

For the bus loop, there's a laneway behind the buildings from Duke St that you can barely see in the corner of the pictures. It's intended that would be the bus access, building service, etc.

[ijmorlan]

Unfortunately I didn't take a picture of the board with the interior renders, but here's the external (as uploaded) and their conceptual future site. I was strongly assured that the right edge of the building is designed for future extension by whatever office/residential components gets build overtop of the bus loop. They also seemed quite certain there would be a pedestrian tunnel, though they said they were unsure about whether it would be right at Waterloo St or more from the middle of the building.

Like honestly, if they have this content, why wasn't it presented online.

Also, that cartoon doesn't make any sense, the bus loop is gone in the "future" plans, not, hidden, there is no break in the boulevard, is the plan for the bus loop to be gone?

I'll say it again, these seem very rushed, and very amateurish.

Somebody else suggested that the bus loop would move so its entrance was off Duke St.

That being said, I agree, very amateurish. I’ll bet I could go into KCI or even an elementary school and find student projects executed with more care and thought.

Also somebody else mentioned that a bridge over King St. is “out of scope” because it’s outside the property line or something. What a load of drivel. I don’t care if it’s not on the property; it clearly has to be part of this project, conceptually, even if it is staged for later construction. Also, the previous plans led us to believe that the bridge they built over King St. included platform space and that those platforms would connect to the other side of King St. What happened to that?

[danbrotherston]

Like honestly, if they have this content, why wasn't it presented online.

Also, that cartoon doesn't make any sense, the bus loop is gone in the "future" plans, not, hidden, there is no break in the boulevard, is the plan for the bus loop to be gone?

No idea why it's not online. I've emailed and asked for it to be.

For the bus loop, there's a laneway behind the buildings from Duke St that you can barely see in the corner of the pictures. It's intended that would be the bus access, building service, etc.

Thanks for asking, and thanks for clarifying.

I'm still not understanding. In addition to being inconvenient (now buses must make more turns, and drive farther), the bus loop isn't in the picture, a pedestrian .... I wanna say, random paved space ... has replaced it, is it under the building?

While I think it is possible, I doubt the engineers would accept it as meeting their standards to fit a two lane bus access down this alley, when Metrolinx also wants space for a third platform: https://www.google.ca/maps/@43.4545983,-...384!8i8192

[ijmorlan]

Oh, and yeah, “Metrolinx owns the tracks” is just an excuse. The correct approach is to say “we’re hoping to put a roof over the tracks; we’re starting discussions with Metrolinx on that topic”.

If Metrolinx is any good, they already want a roof, they just haven’t built it because they want to make sure it’s in the right place and because budgets don’t allow for every good project to be built all at once.

[westwardloo]

Thanks for asking, and thanks for clarifying.

I'm still not understanding. In addition to being inconvenient (now buses must make more turns, and drive farther), the bus loop isn't in the picture, a pedestrian .... I wanna say, random paved space ... has replaced it, is it under the building?

While I think it is possible, I doubt the engineers would accept it as meeting their standards to fit a two lane bus access down this alley, when Metrolinx also wants space for a third platform:  https://www.google.ca/maps/@43.4545983,-...384!8i8192

I don't see it as a huge inconvenience. Maybe an extra 20 seconds for buses traveling east on Victoria to turn onto duke then into the bus hub. I will take that any day to hide the buses behind future development. The bus loop that is initially being built will be replace with the building being extended into the future development and the rest will be landscaping/ public square.

There appears to be a lot of room between the old factory and the rail tracks more than enough for 2 lanes of buses. The third track will be built to the north of the existing tracks towards the google building. 

I encourage everyone to fill out the engageWR survey to give the region your opinion. I have already filled it out twice, once before the info night and one after.

I do feel like the region should already be working with metrolinx on this. So I don't see why they can't build a barn over the rails.