A highly anticipated report on the Scarborough subway extension has been delayed for a second time, a development that could add to the cost of the controversial one-stop transit project.

The study of the preferred route of the extension was supposed to be on the agenda for next week’s meeting of Mayor John Tory’s executive committee. The agenda is scheduled to be published Thursday, but a city spokesperson confirmed to the Star that the report won’t be on it.

“TTC and city staff are finalizing analysis in order to bring forward a comprehensive report on the Scarborough Subway Extension later in (the first quarter of 2017) to ensure appropriate consultation and collaboration across city divisions, TTC and the province,” Wynna Brown wrote in an email.

She said she couldn’t say for certain when the report will be ready and didn’t provide any details about why it has been delayed.

But it will include a recommended alignment for the subway extension’s route between Kennedy Station and the Scarborough Town Centre, an updated cost estimate, and advice to council on a procurement strategy.

It will also include an update on the Eglinton East LRT project.

It’s the second time the report has been pushed back; it was originally scheduled to go before the mayor’s executive in December.

“I’m disappointed that it’s delayed. I’m frustrated that it’s delayed. I want us to start building that tunnel a.s.a.p.,” said Councillor Glenn De Baeremaeker (Ward 38 Scarborough Centre), a vocal supporter of the subway extension.

He said he hoped the wait wouldn’t affect the timeline for completing the subway, and was confident that the study will show that the subway extension is the best transit option for Scarborough.

Councillor Josh Matlow (Ward 22 St. Paul’s) disagreed, arguing that council’s approval of the subway stop was driven by politics, not sound transit planning.

Matlow said it’s clear the subway proposal was a lot less far along than its supporters claimed when it went to a vote last summer.

“City staff, the mayor and city council chose to put a square peg into a round hole in Scarborough. It shouldn’t surprise any reasonable person that it’s taking some time for them to now figure out how to do that,” he said.

Council reaffirmed its support for the subway extension in July, rejecting, in a vote of 27-16, a push led by Matlow to revive plans to build a cheaper seven-stop LRT, instead.

The report that went to council at the time estimated the cost of the subway at $3.2 billion, but a footnote in the document said that figure was based on council picking a route for the extension at that meeting.

Council didn’t choose a route at the time because the staff report didn’t recommend one.

Before the vote, TTC CEO Andy Byford told council that for each month the subway project is delayed, its cost will increase by $13 million due to inflation.

In an interview last fall, Byford warned the subway plan was at risk of going overbudget and blowing its 2025 completion deadline unless councillors settled on a route as soon as possible, something they won’t be able to do until staff complete the report.

“The window of opportunity is closing,” Byford said in October.

“We have to pin down the exact alignment and stick to it.”

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It now appears that the earliest council could vote on the subway route will be in March, eight months after the July subway vote.

That’s because the report has to go before the executive committee before it gets to council.

In the heated run up to the July vote, proponents of the subway plan, including Mayor Tory, argued that reverting to the LRT plan would be unwise because it would only lead to more delays and rising costs.

Asked whether the delayed report and potential for inflated costs have led him to reconsider his position, a spokesperson for the mayor’s office wrote in an email: “Work on the Scarborough Subway Extension continues. We’ve confirmed with city staff that the timing of the report will not affect the progress or the cost of the project.

“Mayor John Tory remains committed to building the Scarborough Subway Extension.”

Preliminary work by city planners and the TTC show a subway alignment beneath McCowan Rd. is likely staff’s preferred option. But, after the cost of the 6-km. extension ballooned by $1 billion, planning staff recommended further study, and they have been assessing alternate routes beneath Brimley Rd. and Midland Ave.

After the July vote, staff were asked by a Scarborough community group to study another route that wasn’t contemplated in the initial business case that went to council.

Known as the Big Bend, instead of running straight north beneath McCowan it would have veered east just south of Ellesmere Rd., and then bent west beneath Triton Ave. in order to terminate in a field west of the Scarborough Town Centre.

Although the Big Bend would significantly lengthen the subway tunnel, the Glen Andrew Community Association argued it would be less disruptive to the neighbourhood, and De Baeremaeker as well as Scarborough-Centre Liberal MPP Brad Duguid supported asking staff to study it.

De Baeremaeker said Tuesday the city and TTC have concluded the unsolicited plan is unworkable and won’t be recommending it.

With files from Jennifer Pagliaro

Correction - January 11, 2016:This article was edited from a previous version to update an incorrect photo.

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