Campbell leaves Waterfront legacy in his wake

Nice guys do finish first; John Campbell is one of them. The retiring president and CEO of Waterfront Toronto — unfailingly polite, always reasonable and often even charming — leaves a legacy that very few in this city can match.

Through three prime ministers, four premiers and an equal number of mayors, Campbell has presided over the transformation of huge swaths of this city’s post-industrial lakeside landscape. More impressive, he has delivered excellence in the process. The new waterfront, which remains 20 or more years away from completion, has set refreshingly high standards for planning, architecture, environmentalism, engagement and infrastructure.

That’s why the new waterfront is vastly superior to what Toronto is used to. Perhaps that’s also why so many want a piece of the action. Not that Campbell would ever say as much, but he has had to fend off onslaughts from players as diverse as David Miller and Doug Ford, John Tory and Denzil MinnanWong. With their absurd schemes, grasping political tactics and bottomless ignorance, they have managed to slow progress, but not stop it. Mercifully, their time is short; they come and go, leaving barely a trace.

On the other hand, Campbell and Waterfront Toronto have stuck it out since the early 2000s, organizing dozens of global design competitions, convening hundreds of public meetings and co-coordinating billions of dollars worth of redevelopment. Most remarkable, they did this without making enemies of the people who count: Torontonians themselves.

That became clear recently when no fewer than six waterfront ratepayers groups and the local Business Improvement Association sponsored an evening send-off for Campbell. As one guest noted: “That pretty well covers the neighbourhood.”

Community groups like these, don’t forget, are more accustomed to fighting organizations like WT, no matter how nice the guy at the top. Yet the NIMBY forces, as strong on the waterfront as anywhere in Toronto, have been an ally, not the obstacle many expected.

Lawyer and West Don Lands cochairwoman Cindy Wilkey called the relationship between residents and the corporation “productive and respectful.” She also speaks of how Waterfront Toronto “made the vision we had a reality and at a level of excellence we couldn’t have dreamed of.”

“The transformation we see on the waterfront is nothing short of astonishing,” prominent planner Ken Greenberg told the crowd of several hundred. “Most important is the emphasis on building neighbourhoods, not just buildings.”

Ulla Colgrass, of the York Quay Neighbourhood Association, put it simply: “We weren’t NIMBYs,” she declared. “But we plan to continue to fight off any development that threatens the waterfront.”

Though WT’s decision to start with the public realm confused conventional thinkers, it made the critical difference. Facilities such as Sugar Beach, the Wave Decks and Sherbourne and Corktown Commons actually changed how people see the waterfront; for the first time in decades, the potential was visible.

“What I’m most proud of,” Camp- bell says, “is public participation. I feel like the leader of an orchestra. Everything in my career led to this. When I started, everyone was cynical. Not now.”

Given the precariousness of WT, some worry it will fall victim to a coup of some sort, or simply run out of money and dissolve. Though Campbell agrees nothing on the waterfront is carved in stone, he believes the agency can withstand the pressures. This month, it was finally given the power to borrow money, something it was long denied. At the same time, the momentum of more than a decade’s work will be hard to stop.

“We’re through the first tranche of funding,” — $1.5 billion — “now we’re working on the second round,” Campbell explains. “I’m optimistic.” Christopher Hume can be reached at chume@thestar.ca