A staff report tabled Monday said the public money is needed to pay for additional temporary staff, consultants and public consultations, along with research and analysis by the city to review the Master Innovation and Development Plan (MIDP) laid out by Sidewalk Labs for Toronto’s Quayside neighbourhood. The report also indicated that Waterfront Toronto’s board of directors’ vote on the plan, scheduled for September, will likely be delayed by three months or more. (Toronto Star, Globe and Mail)
Talking point: This is just the latest delay for the Quayside project. In April, Waterfront Toronto’s board chair Stephen Diamond told The Logic that he expected the MIDP to be a few months late; it was originally supposed to be delivered to the agency by mid-spring. Sidewalk Labs has since confirmed that the plan will come by the end of spring. But it’s not clear whether the city staff’s analysis will impact the project’s future if it Waterfront Toronto’s board signs off on it. In an interview from May, Toronto Mayor John Tory said that if the agency decides to approve the plan, the city needs to be “supportive.”