KEVIN MCGRAN
TRANSPORTATION REPORTER

It's not built. It's not designed. It's not even officially proposed. And already there's considerable organized opposition to the idea of a TTC streetcar right-of-way running along St. Clair West.

While the city holds another public meeting tonight on what to do on St. Clair, businesses along the six-lane street are prepared for the worst.

A group called Save Our St. Clair, led by resident Margaret Smith, has a petition with 3,000 names against any proposal that gives the streetcar lanes unto itself, and they've organized a rally Saturday to march against the plan.

"Don't get us wrong. We're not against public transit," Smith said in an interview yesterday. "All we're saying is we share the street. Let's have improvements that help everyone. We think we can improve public transit in a less costly way.

"This is not just a transit corridor. It is my neighbourhood."

Smith and members of the area's business improvement associations fear handing over two of St. Clair's six lanes to streetcars, with curbs to keep out other vehicles, will further congest traffic. Delivery trucks won't be able to reach stores. Customers won't find parking. Drivers will pour into residential streets looking for shortcuts.

"These businesses are just going to be in the dumpers," said Smith.

More than 150 people, some wearing buttons reading "No Right of Way Barrier," packed the Holy Rosary parish hall near St. Clair Ave. W. and Bathurst St. last night for the third public meeting on the issue.

"It's making radical changes when minor change is what's needed," said Howard Katz, who has lived in the area about 25 years.

He and others on hand heard descriptions of several options for the street, including exclusive transit lanes. City officials said surveys conducted along Spadina Ave. showed most businesses believed that road's streetcar line, which opened in 1997, had improved or did not affect their businesses.

`This is not just a transit corridor. It is my neighbourhood.'
Margaret Smith, Save Our St. Clair

Some residents agreed the area would be helped with a streetcar right-of-way. "It will move more people more efficiently along St. Clair with less air pollution, less noise, and fewer traffic accidents," said Sarah Climenhaga, a member of a community group called St. Clair Right-of-Way Initiative for Public Transit.

The pothole-filled street and its rotting streetcar rails are due for major repairs at the same time, so the street is going to get dug up. Work will begin this summer on major intersections, although most of the $25 million worth of improvements will take place in 2005. The TTC and the city figured this was a cost-effective time to pursue part of the city's new official plan that calls for dedicated rights-of-way to make transit more efficient and desirable.

"I think we should go on a separate right-of-way," TTC chair Howard Moscoe said before last night's meeting. "My long-term view of this is that this transit line will go all the way out to Mississauga. The establishment of the St. Clair streetcar on a separate right-of-way will in fact spark the main street revival that St. Clair needs."

The St. Clair streetcar serves 32,000 passengers a day. It takes about 30 minutes to travel the length between Yonge and Keele streets. But it can take much longer in rush hour when cars in front of streetcars block the lanes by trying to turn left. With its own lane and its own traffic signals — like on Spadina and Queen's Quay — the trip could be reduced to about 25 minutes, with no rush-hour hassles.

Some say the savings would be even less, about a minute for the typical rider, and not worth the disruption to business. The TTC argues efficiency would save it money, allowing it to serve the same number of passengers with fewer vehicles, and that the long-term effect of reliable rapid transit will help it grow.

Moscoe said the city would replace all the on-street parking with Green P off-street parking. But the businesses don't want to lose storefront parking spots because it would "prevent discretionary drivers, those people who shop on St. Clair, from coming here," said Jeff Gillan, chair of the Corso Italia Business Improvement Association.

Gillan is among those who have long suspected the fix was in because the TTC had been quite vociferous in wanting the dedicated right-of-way.

"This is the biggest sham of all time," said Gillan. "They decided their position and they've been defending it throughout.

"They are trying to deal with a rush-hour problem with a 24-hour-a-day, seven-days-a-week solution that will add to traffic congestion."

City officials say the process has been fair, but it will ultimately be up to politicians on council to decide.

With files from Neco Cockburn