Etobicoke businesses file lawsuit over Bloor Street bike lanes consultation
Province has already passed legislation that could lead to removal of the 5-km stretch of bike lanes
More than 40 Etobicoke businesses have filed a lawsuit against the City of Toronto, its transportation manager and a local councillor over bike lanes they allege were installed on Bloor Street W. without proper consultation.
The group is suing the city for $10 million in damages for "negligence and nuisance" allegedly caused by a five-kilometre bike lane that connects Bloor West Village to the Kingsway neighbourhood. It's also suing Etobicoke-Lakeshore Coun. Amber Morley and Barbara Gray, Toronto's general manager of transportation services, for "misfeasance of public office."
The lawsuit was filed Friday in Ontario's Superior Court of Justice. None of the claims have been tested in court. The city and Coun. Morley both say they have received the claim, but declined to comment as the matter is before the court.
The group, which consists of a variety of businesses, including retailers, restaurants and professional offices, is also seeking an injunction that would require bike lanes to be removed to make way for motor vehicles.
The lawsuit alleges that the Bloor Street W. bike lane extension, put in place between Runnymede and Resurrection roads in 2023 and 2024, has negatively impacted business and caused "run-away traffic congestion issues."
The city's planning, consultation and implementation were "willfully lacking in candour, frankness and impartiality," according to the statement of claim, and failed to meet the duty of care owed to the group of businesses.
"We felt like we were dismissed. It was like they were checking boxes when they met with us," said Sam Pappas, owner of the Crooked Cue, part of the group of businesses that filed the lawsuit.
The group alleges the defendants "manipulated the public consultation process to minimize opposition and exaggerate support" for the bike lane extension by, among other things, "stacking" public meetings with cycling advocates and failing to conduct door-to-door consultations with local businesses.
The statement of claim alleges that Coun. Morley gave preferential treatment to advocacy group CycleTO over the voices of local businesses, and deliberately misrepresented and overstated the nature and extent of consultations on the project.
It also alleges that Gray, the city's transportation manager, was being unlawfully lobbied by CycleTO during consultations, and that she deliberately misrepresented or ignored study data, bicycle counts and potential impacts related to the bike lanes.
Mayor Olivia Chow told CBC Radio's Metro Morning Wednesday that she's met with the business owners who launched the lawsuit. She said the city is looking at ways to redesign the bike lanes in question so that a motor vehicle lane could be restored without removing cycling infrastructure.
Province already threatening to remove bike lanes
Alison Stewart, CycleTO's director of advocacy and public policy, says CycleTO was surprised by the lawsuit.
Coun. Morley was elected to office in October 2022, after the extension was approved, she says, and the province already introduced a law last year that threatens to remove bike lanes from Bloor Street W. and other parts of the city.
CycleTO filed a constitutional challenge against that law in January.
"It seems unnecessary for these businesses to target [these bike lanes] separately," Stewart said.
She says the city conducted thorough consultations on the project, and just because businesses aren't happy with the bike lanes, it doesn't mean the city failed to do its due diligence. She said complaints from businesses feel premature, as the lane extensions were only completed last year.
"Change takes time," Stewart said.
Business owner says bike lanes are costing sales
The owner of one of the businesses involved in the lawsuit says the lanes have been a "disaster" for her store, saying sales have gone down 20 to 25 per cent since they were installed.
"[Customers] can't park, so they're not going to come. They go home," said Henny Varga, owner of Simply Chic on Bloor Street W.
"If they don't move them, we're losing a lot of retailers," Varga said. "It's not worth it for us to be here."
The lawsuit alleges that the city has failed to properly monitor the impacts of the bike lanes, including how they affect emergency response times, which businesses claim have slowed as a result. The statement of claim says bike lanes have also eroded the character of the neighbourhood, decreased surrounding property values and reduced business and foot traffic in the area.
"The Plaintiffs plead that the foregoing harms were a foreseeable consequence of the Bike Lanes Extension, and that the Defendants nonetheless dogmatically pursued the project," according to the statement of claim.
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With files from Andréane Williams and Greg Ross