Objections have been raised to the Morriston Estates subdivision because of road entrance conditions.
Colin Bain recently voiced his objection via a letter to councillors following a public meeting on May 8.
“I object to the current proposal because I fear that it represents a potential danger to the existing community,” wrote Bain. “Since there is only one vehicular entry way to the proposed subdivision, emergency vehicle ingress would become impossible if the entry were to become blocked or impassible. As I outlined in my remarks, when the Currie Drive-Laing Court subdivision was first proposed in the 1980s, the plan featured a single entry way for all vehicles.”
Bain noted the fire chief at the time, the late A. Gerald Slade, opposed the plan on the basis that a single entry way poses additional constraints on emergency vehicles called out if the entry point is blocked or disabled.
At that time, they went back and a new plan contained entry points from/to both Wellington Road 36 and Highway 6 south.
Even so, Bain said the nature and positioning of the proposed entry raises other concerns, as it is situated at the top of a hill where traffic from east and west has restricted sight lines.
Bain contended much of the traffic, particularly from the east, habitually exceeds the posted speed limit and the Ontario Provincial Police appear to apprehend a fair number of speeding drivers when they operate from Currie Drive/Wellington Road 36.
“My concern is that the positioning of the proposed entry way increases the likelihood of collisions on Wellington Road 34.”
Mayor Dennis Lever said his understanding was that this project started quite a few years ago.
“On the surface, he seems to have a very valid point about having only one entrance,” said Lever, who then asked if there was a review of this by the fire department.
CAO Karen Landry noted because of concerns raised during the public meeting (May 8), “we’ve requested the consultant provide the municipality with updated mapping information which has been forwarded to the fire department.”
Councillor Susan Fielding added there are precedents of other subdivisions within other portions of the township which only have one entrance “… and they are actually much larger projects.”
