Item - 2024.MM20.24

City Council on July 24 and 25, 2024, adopted the following:

1. City Council request the City Manager, in coordination with the General Manager, Toronto Water, the Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer and the Executive Director, Environment and Climate, to report to City Council no later than the fourth quarter of 2024 on:

a. existing private property stormwater mitigation and adaptation programs offered by the City and their uptake;

b. an assessment of stormwater mitigation and adaptation programs previously offered for private property by the City that have been discontinued;

c. new or discontinued stormwater mitigation and adaptation programs for private property that could be established in the short-term; 

d. new or discontinued stormwater mitigation and adaptation programs for private property that will require additional review and planning prior to implementation; and

e. public input into what programs and incentives would provide the most benefit to residential property owners to decrease impermeable surfaces and mitigate runoff.

2. City Council request the Executive Director, Environment and Climate, in collaboration with relevant Divisions, to include in the forthcoming planned resiliency report recommendations for the City of Toronto to lead by example and increase green infrastructure in boulevards, streets, parking lots, and opportunities to include green infrastructure in large-scale flood mitigation projects in their design as previously directed by City Council.

3. City Council request the Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer, in consultation with the General Manager, Toronto Water and the Executive Director, Environment and Climate, through the planned consultations referenced in Item 2024.IE15.4, to assess and consult on opportunities to reduce stormwater run-off from non-residential properties whose impermeable surfaces drive up flooding, stormwater costs, beach closures, and water pollution and report back to the Executive Committee and City Council in the fourth quarter of 2024 with the findings of that consultation. 

4. City Council request the Deputy City Manager, Infrastructure Services, the General Manager, Transportation Services, the General Manager, Toronto Water, and the Executive Director, Toronto Emergency Management to hold debrief sessions and exercises with Toronto and Region Conservation Authority to explore opportunities/measures to reduce flood risk and minimize flood impacts in known Flood Vulnerable Areas across the City of Toronto, including the Lower Don River/Don Valley Parkway and other areas that were severely impacted by the July 16, 2024 flood event by riverine flooding, with such assessment to include, but not be limited to:

a. improved flood forecasting and monitoring systems (monitoring equipment, flood models, risk mapping);

b. flood detection and emergency operations alert and management systems (flood sensors, signals, automatic gates);

c. flood outreach (enhanced public awareness), flood remedial capital works (flood control structures); and

d. stormwater management (green infrastructure).

5. City Council request the Deputy City Manager, Infrastructure Services to work with the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority to explore opportunities/measures to repair and mitigate erosion damage to City of Toronto and Toronto and Region Conservation Authority infrastructure in accordance with existing policies and prioritize any new erosion sites identified from the July 16, 2024 flood event with approved erosion control projects being designed and/or constructed, and the prioritization of the new work take into consideration existing priority lists and any required emergency works for 2024 and 2025, along with associated costs for any in-year 2024 emergency work and costs for 2025 capital and operating budgets, including a review of resources and capacity and opportunities to seek funding from other orders of government and report back with recommendations to the Infrastructure and Environment Committee in the fourth quarter of 2024.

6. City Council direct the City Manager to take all available steps to ensure that all newly constructed buildings adhere to the most recent version of the Toronto Green Standards, in order to reduce future flood risks. 
 

7. City Council direct the General Manager, Toronto Water to report back to the Executive Committee and City Council in the fourth quarter of 2024 on what additional resources Toronto Water would require to meaningfully reduce basement flooding across Toronto, and how those resources should be funded. 

8. City Council request the Toronto Transit Commission Board to request the Chief Executive Officer, Toronto Transit Commission, to immediately explore proven options in use by comparable transit systems including New York’s Metropolitan Transit Authority, to secure station stairwells, air vents and drains against stormwater damage. 

9. City Council request the Toronto District School Board to urgently co-operate with the City of Toronto to execute the necessary property agreements to allow the commencement of the critically needed Mid-Town Toronto Storm Sewer Relief project, to eliminate the widespread basement flooding experienced during the increasing number of significant storm events.

10. City Council request the Mayor to consider accelerating the basement flooding protection program in the next City budget.