Item - 2025.EX24.5

The Executive Committee recommends that:

1. City Council direct the City Manager, in consultation with the Director, Waterfront Secretariat, to request permission from the Federal Government for the City and the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority to access the Western Beaches breakwaters in order to complete a condition assessment investigation and related work.

2. City Council direct the City Manager, in consultation with the Director, Waterfront Secretariat, to request permission from the Provincial Government for the City and the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority to access the water-lots surrounding the Western Beaches breakwaters in order to complete a condition assessment investigation and related work.

Western Beaches Breakwaters Action Plan

3. City Council direct the Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning, the General Manager, Parks and Recreation and the Executive Director, Corporate Real Estate Management to work with CreateTO and the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority to implement the Western Beaches breakwaters action plan as outlined in the report (June 3, 2025) from the Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning, the Acting General Manager, Parks and Recreation and the Executive Director, Corporate Real Estate Management, including consultation with Waterfront Toronto and PortsToronto.

4. City Council direct the Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning, the General Manager, Parks and Recreation, and the Executive Director, Corporate Real Estate Management to work with CreateTO and the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority to report back to the Executive Committee in the third quarter of 2025, on the status of the Western Beaches breakwaters action plan, including funding requirements.  

5. City Council request the Federal Government enter into discussions with the City Manager on the Western Beaches breakwaters and related issues described in the report (June 3, 2025) from the Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning, the Acting General Manager, Parks and Recreation and the Executive Director, Corporate Real Estate Management, including but not limited to their ownership, rehabilitation funding and coordinated investment.

Broader Issue of Dock Walls and Breakwaters

6. City Council request the Board of Directors of CreateTO to direct the Chief Executive Officer, CreateTO to act as the executive lead to coordinate the management of City-owned dock walls.

7. City Council direct the Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning, the General Manager, Parks and Recreation and the Executive Director, Corporate Real Estate Management to work with CreateTO on a report to the Executive Committee by the end of the first quarter of 2026 with a work program, including project resource requirements, to address the dock wall needs on Toronto's waterfront, and to ensure appropriate consultation with the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority, Waterfront Toronto and PortsToronto.

This report provides a response to City Council's direction for staff to report to the June 17 Executive Committee with an action plan for the execution of critical repairs to the Western Beaches breakwaters and dock walls. This report focuses on the Western Beaches breakwaters due to critical conditions that require immediate attention. Breakwaters are different from dock walls. Breakwaters sit in the lake away from the land, running parallel to the shore and protecting the shoreline from wave action. Dock walls are waterfront retaining walls that secure the shoreline and protect land from water and flooding. Dock walls in the Western Beaches are also in need of repair but will be dealt with in a separate report, targeted for the first quarter of 2026, on the required work to address the broad range of dock walls across the Central Waterfront and Port Lands, the Western Beaches and elsewhere. As such, this report focuses primarily on the breakwaters with supplementary information on the broader dock walls work. Attachment 1 to this staff report includes photos of the Western Beaches breakwaters.   

Western Beaches Breakwaters Location and Condition

The Western Beaches breakwaters extend approximately 4.4 kilometres from Palace Pier Court at the mouth of the Humber River, to Ontario Place. Breakwaters sit in water lots, away from the edge of the land and act as a buffer against waves, currents and storm surges to protect natural and humanmade shorelines. The Western Beaches breakwaters also create a protected flat-water marine area for recreational and competitive boating (rowing, kayaking, paddleboarding, dragon boating, canoeing, etc.), mooring and swimming activities. Attachment 2 to this staff report includes two figures showing the location, extent, conditions and preliminary ownership information for the Western Beaches breakwaters and dock walls. All mapping information is preliminary and requires verification, particularly regarding complicated ownership conditions.

Based on the best available evidence, the Western Beaches breakwaters were originally constructed by the Federal government and its Federal agencies in the 1920’s. Apart from a 600 metre section that was rebuilt for the International Dragon Boat Federation World Championships in 2006, most of the Western Beaches breakwaters are over 100 years old and are at risk of critical failure. In some locations, pieces have fallen into the lake (in 1990, 2006 and 2011) and either received critical maintenance repair by City teams and the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority or have been left in a deteriorating condition. Historically, rehabilitation of the complete structure has not proceeded due to concerns about cost, questions about ownership and the responsibility of other governments, and investigations regarding water quality and the effects of the breakwaters. These concerns remain relevant today. However, if action is further delayed, these structures could fail, resulting in vulnerabilities and damage to the shoreline, impacts to marine activities and impacts to water quality.

Ownership

Ownership review and discussions with the other levels of government are required to address the deteriorating conditions and eliminate the risk of collapse or critical failure. This report requests that the federal government enter into discussions with the City Manager to address ownership and other related matters. The ownership issue is complex because the City's best available evidence is that the structures were built by the Federal government and its agencies within what is now widely understood to be Provincially owned portions of Lake Ontario. Previous City staff reporting in 2004 and in 2006 identified that approximately 2.5 kilometres of the breakwaters are still under Federal ownership. The 2006 staff report also identifies approximately 1.7 kilometres of the breakwater structures (extending west from Ontario Place to a point opposite the Toronto Sailing and Canoe Club), were owned by and were the responsibility of the City of Toronto. Due to changes in ownership and responsibility with respect to certain areas since that time, the estimated City-owned section is now approximately 1.5 kilometres. Discussions between City staff and Federal and Provincial partners in 2004 and 2006 did not resolve the ownership and responsibility concerns.  

Western Beaches Breakwaters Action Plan

City staff, in consultation with CreateTO and the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority, have prepared the Western Beaches breakwaters action plan to address the short- and long-term needs of the breakwaters. This work will provide updated information to guide discussions with Federal and Provincial partners related to ownership, responsibilities and investments.

The action plan for the Western Beaches breakwaters includes:

1. Ownership and responsibilities review – to be supported by Legal Services staff and inform discussions with other governments to confirm ownership and maintenance responsibilities, secure funding and mobilize action;

2. Condition assessment update – breakwaters were last assessed in 2017 by Riggs Engineering (retained by the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority); a condition assessment update will be completed in Summer 2025 by Toronto and Region Conservation Authority as part of the Western Beaches Public Realm study. The update will analyze underwater and above water imaging of breakwater structures and comment on conditions and changes since 2017;

3. Identification of priorities – based on updated condition information, the project team will assess and comment on potential risk areas and identify priority sites for rehabilitation. This will include identification of critical failure risks and need for action;

4. Actioning urgent priority sites - if, during the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority conditions assessment update, sites are identified at risk of imminent failure, City staff will work with Toronto and Region Conservation Authority to respond with immediate action required in 2025. Funding will be utilized from existing budgets. If additional funding is required, a request to Council will be accelerated;

5. Rehabilitation options - short- and long-term options to address conditions will be identified. This will include consideration of water quality impacts and be informed by input from the Western Beaches Public Realm study, including public and stakeholder consultation feedback;  

6. Preliminary cost estimates – order of magnitude costing will be completed for short- and long-term repair options. This will identify investments required for different breakwater remediation categories to inform inter-governmental discussions; and

7. Recommendations for implementation – City staff, in consultation with CreateTO and  theToronto and Region Conservation Authority, will identify next steps for implementation, including roles and responsibilities of other governments, as well as phasing, resourcing and related cash flow requirements.

A progress report will be provided to City Council in the third quarter of 2025 with an update on the action plan implementation, including preliminary findings, recommendations and future year budget requirements.

Broader Dock Walls and Breakwaters Rehabilitation Needs

In parallel with work on the Western Beaches breakwaters, City staff from the Waterfront Secretariat, Parks and Recreation, Corporate Real Estate Management and Legal Services are working with CreateTO, Waterfront Toronto and PortsToronto to advance work needed on dock walls and breakwaters across the Central Waterfront and Western Beaches, including in the Port Lands. There are approximately 23 kilometres of dock walls across the Central Waterfront, Port Lands and Western Beaches. Attachment 3 includes preliminary mapping of dock walls and breakwaters in the Central Waterfront. These assets are critical to our waterfront. In addition to what's shown on the maps and noted above, there are approximately 8.7 kilometres of dock walls across the Toronto Islands, and approximately 20 kilometres of dock walls across the Scarborough and Etobicoke Waterfront.

Most of the dock walls are between 70 and 112 years old. It is estimated that approximately 70-75 percent of the dock walls are owned by the City of Toronto and the City of Toronto Economic Development Corporation (carrying on business as Toronto Port Lands Company (TPLC)), a wholly corporation of the City managed by CreateTO. More than 70 percent have not had major repairs since original construction. The scale of dock wall work needed across the waterfront requires a coordinated strategy to determine priorities and identify funding opportunities, with input from all levels of government.

To advance the dock walls work, City staff recommend that CreateTO act as a coordinating body on behalf of the City to manage these assets. This recommendation extends to the dock walls in the Central Waterfront and the Western Beaches. CreateTO already manages most of the dock walls in the Port Lands. The experience that CreateTO has with dock wall management and capital delivery is critical to advance City interests on this matter and will advance the dock wall work with consistent leadership and a consistent approach to capital planning and state of good repair (SOGR) work.

City staff, working with CreateTO and Waterfront Toronto, will report to City Council by the end of the first quarter of 2026 with an update on an overall work program for dock wall management and rehabilitation.