Villiers Island: Difference between revisions
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Villiers Island is an island being built in Toronto's Portlands.[1] It is a 54 acres (22 hectares) parcel, bounded by what is now the Keating Channel, and a new channel.[2]
The Island is located on a portion of the marsh once known as "Ashbridge's Bay", which had been the original natural mouth of the Don River. The entire Portlands had been a marsh, enclosed by the same large sandbar that formed the Toronto Islands.
By the turn of the twentieth century the marsh had become polluted, and the city filled it with landfill, and devoted it to industrial purposes.[3] Some of the early 20th century landfill was also polluted, contaminated with heavy metals or toxic chemicals. The industrial enterprises were also polluting, including acres of petroleum tank farms and berms of road salt.
The city had also canalized and straightened the lower reach of the Don River, so it flowed straight for 5 kilometres from Bloor/Danforth to what is now Lake Shore Boulevard, where it made a right hand turn and ran a kilometre west in what was called the Keating Channel.[3]
Early in the 21st Century suggestions were made that attempts should be made to "naturalize" the mouth of the Don.[3] A second channel will be excavated. The second channel will have natural curves, and will have more natural banks, with natural plants that could provide habitat for migrating birds and wildlife. The second channel will empty into Toronto Harbour at what is now the Polson slip.
The Keating Channel had mooring for multiple freighters. Plans for Villiers Island included added more natural looking curves on the Keating Channel's southern bank.
Plans show a greenbelt, and parkland, surrounding the developed center of the Island.
References
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"INDEX TO AUTHORITY MEETING #8/14 Friday, October 31, 2014" (PDF). Toronto Region Conservation Authority. 2014-10-31. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2018-07-05.
On July 8th, thestar.com story, "Big Ideas: A new island to anchor the Port Lands" talks about Villiers Island, a project by TWRC, which aims to turn 54 acres of the Port Lands into a new lakefront area, complete with public art and streets lined with retail and mixed use residential properties. If the plan overcomes a long list of hurdles - including garnering at least $800 million in funding and an environmental assessment - the island will be created when TRCA rebuilds the mouth of the Don River. The move is part of a plan to protect Riverdale and the Port Lands from flooding.
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Tim Alamenciak (2014-07-08). "Big Ideas: A new island to anchor the Port Lands". Toronto Star. Retrieved 2018-07-05.
Villiers Island, a project by Waterfront Toronto, aims to turn 54 acres of the Port Lands into a new lakefront gem, complete with public art and streets lined with retail and mixed-use residential properties
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"Don Mouth Naturalization and Port Lands Flood Protection Project". Toronto and Region Conservation Authority. 2008. Archived from the original on December 11, 2007. Retrieved 2009-04-29.
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