After identifying key issues to be addressed in a Community Benefits Agreement, TCBN prepared a draft legal agreement and submitted it in December 2013 for discussion with Metrolinx. The main obstacle facing this approach was that Metrolinx and Infrastructure Ontario determined that the contractual relationship on delivery of the Crosstown was between Metrolinx and ProjectCo (the company that would be selected to deliver the Eglinton Crosstown project).

Further negotiation resulted in the Metrolinx Community Benefits Framework, which set out in an agreement the expectations, roles and relationships necessary to achieve community benefits through the Eglinton Crosstown Project. By the time it was signed in April 2014, the agreement was extended to the three Toronto Transit Improvement Projects: Eglinton Crosstown, Finch West and Sheppard East LRT lines.