The Eglinton East Light Rail Transit (LRT) is bringing much needed transit to Scarborough. The LRT will connect people and places on Eglinton Avenue, Kingston Road and Morningside Avenue. Over the past 10 years, Scarborough's transit network has continuously been re-envisioned, re-announced and re-vamped. Residents have been continuously consulted resulting in confusion. The City of Toronto retained Dillon to lead the consultation and engagement strategy for the Eglinton East LRT.
Recognizing that communities and individuals engage in various ways, our approach incorporates communication and engagement experiences that respond to the diverse needs in the community. Our engagement strategy is designed to cut through the complexities and confusion that have become typical of transit talk in Scarborough. The renewed approach connects with residents by providing forums for participation that allow for greater and more meaningful feedback and input. Traditional consultation methods such as community meetings are important to include in consultation processes, however, they alone will not invite input from all individuals and may not result in a holistic and equitable understanding of public opinion.
Key components of our engagement approach include:
- Engaging diversity to achieve equity and build capacity - We are working with community leaders and engaging them to become part of the facilitation team for the project through capacity building opportunities, such as engagement workshops that include facilitation and engagement training.
- Learning from the future - This project includes a youth Transit Jam workshop which will use interactive and tactile materials to get youth involved in planning for and around transit.
- Making it fun - Consultation is about getting people to give their precious time and ideas. We are designing community meetings in a market-style format allowing people to float through fun and interactive activities.
The input collected through consultation will be used by the City’s technical consultant to design intersection improvements and other elements of the LRT. It will provide a foundation for a future planning exercise to confirm the vision and anticipated land use changes at the LRT stations and along the corridor.