TORONTO

Just when you thought the city didn’t have enough transit plans up for debate.

Deputy Mayor Norm Kelly is talking with his council colleagues about the “Kelly Compromise” for the city’s subway saga ahead of next month’s subway debate.

“I think I’m reasonably well-informed and I think that the Kelly Compromise is worth looking at it,” Kelly said Friday.

“I think this could be a win-win for the (Scarborough) Town Centre and the people that reside in north Scarborough.”

Kelly wants to accept the province’s plan to build the Scarborough subway along the Scarborough RT alignment, shift the $660 million in federal cash for the subway project up to Sheppard where he would use that cash and the money for the Sheppard LRT to extend the Sheppard subway down to the Scarborough Town Centre.

If the stars align on those two subway plans, Kelly would then take the money the city had planned to raise from a tax hike for the Scarborough subway and spend it on a downtown relief line.

“The Sheppard subway line as originally proposed ran east along Sheppard Ave. and as it passes Kennedy Rd. it goes down on a 45 (degree angle) to the Scarborough Town Centre,” Kelly said.

“That’s why the provincial line going up the old SRT line works because it brings the subway into the Town Centre, the hub of Toronto’s east end as proposed by the official plan of the city.”

Kelly’s plan would likely have a rough ride at city council — councillors voted to lock in the Sheppard LRT last year rather than push ahead to extend the Sheppard subway.

Earlier this week, the TTC voted to reaffirm its support for the three other LRT lines in the works including the Sheppard LRT.

But Mayor Rob Ford has floated the idea about reviving the Sheppard subway debate in the wake of federal funds flowing for the Scarborough subway.

Kelly shrugged off the suggestion it was too late to put another transit plan on the table.

“No, never, never too late,” he said. “It’s democracy at work.

“The mayor is open to anything that works. He’s committed to subways in Scarborough. The way it is outlined now it would be a one-two step, get this done and then fight this in the 2014 elections for the Sheppard line.”