It’s not going to be a West Side Story when it comes to the new sidewalks on Egremont Street in Mount Forest.
Despite a design review of the sidewalks, it appears the location is not going to change from the east side, as originally proposed.
Mayor Mike Broomhead told Wellington North council on Monday a public meeting on the project was held recently. He said what was before council was a comparison of the impact of having a sidewalk on the west side opposed to the east.
Looking at the review provided by B.M. Ross and Associates, Broomhead said one of the main concerns is the location of the street.
“Obviously there’s a few people who’d like it on the other side of the road.”
He said the sidewalk design review group considered a number of issues including a how much work is required. Possibly part of the issue is portions of both sides of Egremont Street have sidewalks, whereas after the reconstruction – only one side of the street will have them.
The report stated the current policy of the township is to provide a sidewalk on only one side of local streets unless there are special considerations. The new width of those sidewalks is 1.5 metres.
The report stated the centre line of the roadway is about one metre west of the centreline of the road allowance in order to minimize conflicts with such services as gas, fibre optics, and hydro poles. That will result in a finished boulevard on the east side being about two meters wider on the west side of the road. Because of that extra width, it would ease sidewalk placement.
Putting a sidewalk on the west side would require varied setbacks from the road, including portions where the sidewalk would hug the curbline.
The report added that if the township were to keep the sidewalk at a consistent setback from the road itself, close to two dozen trees would have to be removed – only half that needs to be removed to accommodate the sidewalk on the east side of the road.
The road reconstruction is from Durham Street to Queen Street.
Broomhead said when the original design for the work was done, and council let the contract for it “one of the main things we tried to achieve was not only to address planning issues, but engineering and servicing issues – and the best means for storm water management.”
He believes it was still due diligence of the municipality to hold the information meeting.
Broomhead said the tender had already been called, and the township is preparing for the work to be done. “It’s going to start in the spring, but there is a lot of preparation to be done,” he said.
Other parts of the project, will be done this fall.
Councillor Dan Yake said that after the review, “It certainly looks like the best side of the street, based on the information provided by the engineers … is the east side. “Unfortunately, I know that there are people who won’t be happy about it. On the other hand, there are people that are satisfied.”
Yake added, “This reconstruction project has been on the books for a long time. Here we have the opportunity to get it done for a new street, sidewalks, and curbs. It will be a beautiful asset to the community when it is done.”
Yake also appreciated that council was willing to have BM Ross go back and provide this view for council. “I think the way it is laid out is the best way to go.”
One of the main aspects of the new design deals with the stormwater management.
Councillor Ross Chaulk asked if council should hear directly from Works Superintendent Gary Williamson.
Williamson said it was an information meeting, not a public meeting.
“We just wanted to make people aware of what was happening on the street. As the mayor indicated, the main issue that seemed to come up was the location of the sidewalk. At that time, the people were told we’d have it reviewed by the engineer to show the rationale or reasons written down. I think the report that you have here sets out the majority of things.
Williamson said a sidewalk on the east side allows for a consistent width of boulevard.
“If it was on the west side, it would be staggered in behind trees in places, virtually at the property lines. His other concern were locations where the sidewalk would be virtually at the back of the curb.
“What that means is that in wintertime, when the street gets plowed … you know where the snow is going to end up … on top of the sidewalk.
“This is a secondary street and we don’t have the manpower or equipment to address that sidewalk in time for kids going to school.”
Williamson said his other concern is that it is not always best to have the sidewalk right adjacent to the curb – for safety reasons.
“We try to avoid that where possible, but it is not always possible. I think if you look at the overall project rather than just specific sections, the best sidewalk is on the east side. It was designed this way for a number of reasons.”
“No one thing is going to say its absolutely better on the east side, but you put all the factors together and they indicate the east side seems to be the better location,” he concluded
Council was later questioned why the review was undertaken, if the tender had already been let.
Broomhead said it was an information meeting and considered it similar to meetings held regarding Main Street and Normanby Street, in Mount Forest.
It is something that is relatively new, but Broomhead said when a project is started, people often have questions and that type of meeting addresses them. “It helps people better understand it. Unfortunately, we didn’t have a great attendance.”
He said that council set its policy a number of years back that when similar type of work is done, only one side of the street would have sidewalks.
Broomhead said it made no sense for the sidewalks to switch from one side of the street to another – for both maintenance or for the safety of people walking the street.
Yake added that council was asked to review it, and that it appears to be satisfied with the report.
