TORONTO, Ont. – Toronto city councillors are now on summer break until Oct. 12.

Councillors wrapped up the marathon council meeting July 12-13.

Councillors voted in favour of putting up a giant LED billboard on the north side of the Gardiner Expressway near the neighbourhood of Liberty Village.

There was much debate and opposition from some councillors, who argued that the LED billboards are distracting and a traffic safety risk.

The hours that this billboard can be lit up have also been extended later into the night.

Councillors are unable to get through all of the remaining items by 8 p.m., and it was decided that the session would adjourn for the evening and resume Friday morning.

On Wednesday, council committed to a city-wide transit plan, but turned down TTC chair Karen Stintz’s OneCity proposal.

Councillors faced a packed agenda during Wednesday’s meeting. Among the items were: hiking on-street parking rates, extending the parking ticket grace period from five to 10 minutes, Councillor Adam Vaughan’s call for a ban on bullets, an almost two per cent pay increase for non-union staff and shorter speaking times for councillors during debates.

But the most contentious issue on the table was OneCity, which was pitched by Stintz and Councillor Glenn De Baeremaeker in June.

The plan called for long-term property tax increases to fund a $30-billion expansion that would connect all corners of the city with a mixture of transit option.

OneCity didn’t even get onto the floor for a vote, but what council did do was vote to have the city manager come up with a transit expansion plan that can be put up for public consultation by the fall.

Councillor Georgio Mammoliti said that proper consultation is needed.

“So areas like mine, along Finch Avenue, aren’t ignored. So a group of people, a small group of people, take over the the agenda and say tough luck you’re getting an LRT whether you like it or not,” Mammoliti said.

There were several heated exchanges throughout the day, particularly between Mammoliti and Stintz.

“I’m just curious, OneCity is not before us, I’m kind of curious why the city manager is being questioned on a proposal that is not before us,” Stintz said.

Mammoliti retorted “Well where is it? Where is the OneCity? When is it coming?”

In the end, councillors voted 43-1 to integrate transit planning with the city’s official plan process.

Councillor Adam Vaughan said the subway is not a priority any longer.

“It will be studied as part of an over all city network and if its merits promote it to being a top priority, that’s the conversation we’ll have in October.”

More than 200 items were up for debate before council beaks for the summer.