Community Air - History

History

Opposition to the island airport goes back to the 1930s, when a plan to build a tunnel to the islands for a new airport was shut down after a federal election. The Toronto mayor at the time was a Toronto Islands resident and opponent of the project. After his death, Toronto City Council revived the airport project, without the tunnel, to be Toronto's main airport. This airport has remained in use since 1939, serving mainly general aviation. An airport at Malton, Ontario instead became Toronto's main airport and is today's Pearson Airport.

A plan was raised in the 1970s to add scheduled passenger service at the island airport by federal politicians. At the time, Toronto was a two-tier government. The City of Toronto was part of Metropolitan Toronto. Local opposition appeared to the plan to add planes to the airport. The City of Toronto opposed the plan, while Metro Toronto voted in favour. A compromise was reached in 1983 allowing only STOL type planes to use the airport with jets banned, and no runway expansion allowed.

In the 1990s, plans were revived to expand the airport, and Toronto City Council, now an amalgamated city government voted in favour of building a bridge, although the plan never progressed beyond a plan on paper. However in 1999, the Toronto Port Authority was formed, a new agency tasked with managing the airport and Toronto harbour. The agency took on a pro-airport expansion position and started pushing the airport expansion idea publicly. The agency expressed the opinion, backed by a 2001 consultant's study, that the airport could not survive as is, and had to expand or shut down. The TPA proposed the expansion of the airport for its economic benefit to the city.

Also during the 1990s, the city had taken an interest in waterfront revitalization, with several studies proposing the takeover of harbour and airport functions and the conversion of disused or under-used port lands for other uses. The consensus of revitalization studies was the removal of the Gardiner Expressway in the downtown area, greening of the lakefront and harbourfront, and a closure or reduction in the island airport.

Opposition to the island airport was formalized into the Community AIR (Airport Impact Review) volunteer association in 2001, headed by the late activist and former councillor Allan Sparrow. It was formed by local residents to oppose expansion on the grounds of increased air and noise pollution, safety concerns and that the increase in air traffic will hamper recent government initiatives to rejuvenate the Toronto waterfront. In July 2001, at a news conference held with representatives of the Sierra Club, the David Suzuki Foundation and the Toronto Environmental Alliance, the group proposed converting the 200 acres (81 ha) airport to parkland. Community Air's aims were and are supported by the City councillors of the area, including a churlish Adam Vaughan.

Even with the Community Air's support of the cancellation of the fixed-bridge to the Island Airport (as a result of the election of David Miller as mayor), the issue of a link to the mainland continued to be discussed. In July 2010, a new proposal for a tunnel to the island was raised by the Toronto Port Authority. The revised designs for the tunnel specifically circumvented any need for local council approval. Community Air was not be able to block the construction which began in the Summer of 2012.