Toronto residents will need Metrolinx approval for home improvements near subway projects
People who live next to planned Toronto-area subway projects could need permission from provincial transit agency Metrolinx for such home improvements as addition of a backyard deck or swimming pool. The Toronto Star reports that a law passed last year by the Ontario government requires landowners to get a permit from Metrolinx for any project involving building or altering a structure within 30 meters of “transit corridor lands.” This includes any project involving excavation or drainage, as well as building or altering a structure; the permit from Metrolinx would be in addition to any required by the city. The government says the permit process is necessary to ensure subway projects aren’t delayed by conflicts with private construction, and to prevent homeowners from making improvements which might have then have to be changed. Four priority projects, covering about 40 kilometers (25 miles) of lines, are covered by the law, meaning thousands of property owners are affected; Metrolinx plans to send out notices to about 2,400 affected properties near two of the projects next month.
Amazon outbids SEPTA for site planned for light rail facility
The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority appears to have been outbid by Amazon for a property SEPTA hoped to use to build a new light rail facility. Public radio station WHYY reports Amazon has proposed a 140,000-square-foot logistics center at the Southwest Philadelphia location, site of a former General Electric plant, that SEPTA said it would spend $5.7 million to purchase last year. A SEPTA official said the agency is “back to the drawing board” in a search for the light rail facility. SEPTA could instead upgrade its existing trolley barn about two blocks away, although that facility is surrounded by other developments that would make expansion a challenge.
New York City Transit to restore full service on C, F subway lines
New York City Transit will restore full service on its C and F subway lines, restoring cuts made early in the COVID-19 pandemic and addressing service changes that were the subject of a lawsuit by a transit employees’ union. amNY.com reports acting NYCT President Sarah Feinberg made the announcement during a Tuesday morning webinar, but said it would take several weeks to make the change. Service on the F line, between 179th Street in Queens and Stillwell Avenue in Coney Island, will be restored first, with the C train, from 186th Street in Manhattan to Euclid Avene in Brooklyn, to follow. The Transport Workers Union Local 100 had recently announced a suit over the reduced service on the two lines, saying it was acting to make sure the cuts did not become permanent. [see “Digest: Former LIRR worker charged …,” Trains News Wire, March 19, 2021].
