Item - 2015.EY9.37

Etobicoke York Community Council recommends that:

As City Councillors for Wards 5 & 6, Etobicoke-Lakeshore, we were extremely pleased to see that Park Lawn is being considered as a location for a potential new GO station in the "New Station Analysis" report recently released by Metrolinx.

We cannot stress enough how inadequate public transit service is in Etobicoke-Lakeshore. Transit in our wards is inefficient, unreliable, and often inaccessible to many users. Both Ward 5 and 6 have been experiencing a period of intense residential growth and there has never been a more critical demand for better transit infrastructure than right now.

By the time construction of residential developments in the Park Lawn and Lake Shore Blvd. W area are complete, there will be approximately 28,000 residents living within a few square kilometres. Much of this density was approved by the Province at the Ontario Municipal Board, with no consideration of the pressures this would place on our municipal infrastructure.

We regularly receive complaints that parking at existing Etobicoke-Lakeshore GO stops is insufficient. Right now residents are travelling from all over Etobicoke-Lakeshore to access the Kipling, Long Branch and Mimico stations. We cannot expect people to leave their cars at home if we do not provide reliable public transit options close to home.

Traffic congestion is already at an all-time high and we anticipate it will continue to deteriorate over the next few years. By investing in a stop at Park Lawn, you will provide thousands of residents the ability to get out of their cars and get where they need to go quickly, while at the same time helping to take the pressure off our already over-burdened infrastructure.