Sidewalk wants cut of property taxes and development fees for Quayside project

The Alphabet Inc.-backed entity behind plans to build a high tech community in Toronto is proposing it receive a cut of developer fees and incremental property taxes associated with the project.

Sidewalk Labs has released documents showing that in return for developing the Quayside community, it intends to push for access to money the city would typically collect.

In a bid to get transit built years ahead of schedule, the documents also show that Sidewalk would help finance light rail transit in the area, but allow a public agency to operate it.

Sidewalk also hopes to move Google’s Canadian headquarters to the nearby Villiers Island and says it will build an Ontario factory to supply tall timber for the community’s construction, potentially creating 4,000 new manufacturing, saw mill, logging and transportation jobs.

Sidewalk has previously said it is hoping to find partners to develop the project with, but if the risks and needs associated with the project are too high for partners, it says it will take on developing the community and technologies itself.

The project has been marred in controversy for months with many criticizing Sidewalk and its Quayside partner Waterfront Toronto for a lack of information around the project, not committing to strict enough data collection policies and not addressing questions around the ownership of intellectual property.