Attendees:
John Sankey: A development is proposed at 934 and 938 Hunt Club Road. It consists of a three
story, 20 unit apartment building located just east of Downpatrick on Hunt Club Road. The
developer has submitted a request to rezone the land from R1 to R4 and to relax the parking
requirements. The HCCO has submitted its comments but City staff rejected our comments and
also those of Councillor Diane Deans in who's ward the development is. Alan Asselstine has
prepared a brief outlining our position.
Alan Asselstine: The crux of the argument is that Hunt Club Road will be adversely affected by
the development. City staff have recommended the development based on the traffic/parking
brief. Councillor McRae asked for a study and the traffic/parking brief is a brief and not a study.
It doesn't consider the negative affects of the development. The development is advertised for
seniors but it's just a generic apartment building. So we have to compare it to the other apartment
buildings on Downpatrick where there is not enough parking so the overflow parking is on the
streets. Currently parking is allowed on Hunt Club Road! Since Hunt Club Road is divided by a
median, then only east-bound traffic can access the site. We have to expect that there will be
u-turns on Hunt Club Road which are dangerous and disrupt traffic. We have written up a
submission which we want to present to Planning Committee: You have a conflict. The first
priority is that Hunt Club be an arterial road and the second priority is that it provide access to
adjoining residential and commercial developments.
Motion: To present orally and in writing to the Planning Committee, our brief opposing the rezoning and the reduction in parking requirements. Moved by Alan Asselstine, seconded by John Sankey, carried.
John Sankey: Hunt Club Road is not the only east-west corridor - there is also Walkley-Heron
Road-Baseline. If the developer receives approval to relax the parking requirements, the City
cannot evict the tenants because they have too many cars. The landlord can but we should not
expect him to.
Gord Graham: I agree with the motion but there are other developments which will add
traffic to Hunt Club Road: the proposed trade centre on Uplands Drive, the Hampton Inn and any
new development on the land where there is now a pine forest.
Jerry Beausoleil: We should further emphasize the main point - that this development sets a
precedent. Our goal is to ensure that traffic continue to flow on Hunt Club and we are not against
economic development and infill. Our arguments to the Planning Committee will be: you're the
guys that approved the Traffic Plan. We have raised the problems with T& T. Councillor McRae
is not on Planning Committee.
Issie Berish: That stretch of Hunt Club is very busy; it only takes a little thing to disrupt the
flow of traffic. There is a proposal to increase Hunt Club from 4 to 6 lanes. How does this
proposal affect our thinking?
John Sankey: The proposal is a long-term plan, 10 years away.
Motion: To approve the December minutes. Moved by Peter Foulger, seconded by Gisèle Loiselle-Branch, carried.
Greg Killough: Presented the Councillor's Report. Several items elicited discussion.
New Sidewalk on Riverside Drive:
Jerry Beausoleil: Why is it necessary to build sidewalks on both sides of Hunt Club Road?
John Sankey: The Quintera neighbourhood would like a sidewalk to connect to the park on
the west side of Riverside Drive.
Green Bin Program:
Gord Graham: Randall Denley wrote that of the 53,000 tonnes of organic waste 20,000 are
leaf and yard waste .
John Sankey: The province as much as ordered the City to implement the Green Bin
Program.
Gisèle Loiselle-Branch: She has only one big green bin for her whole development.
John Sankey: That's because your garbage collection is not handled by the City but by WSI.
Low Income Energy Assistance Program:
Jerry Beausoleil: He is on the Board of Envirocentre which might be able to help with the
Low Income Energy Assistance Program.
John Sankey: He is on the Board of the Services Centre which also provides subsidies to
low-income families. There are a lot of such programs that are too disconnected from each other.
John Sankey: Our long-term goal should be to promote traffic flow along Hunt Club Road. The
417 highway will soon have a direct connection to Hunt Club Road which will allow traffic to
bypass downtown and also allow trucks a new route.
Jerry Beausoleil: Hunt Club Road is important to us. When the new T & T store was built it
required its own traffic lights which we learned about after the store was built. The back-up on
Hunt Club Road is getting worse and worse. We have two or three proposals for development
that will disrupt flow of traffic. The free flow of traffic is a priority for our community.
Gord Graham: We have to have a ring road to provide access to the growing numbers of
commercial and residential developments.
John Sankey: We should also unplug Walkley and Heron Roads.
Peter Brimacombe: He agrees that Hunt Club Road is important and he does support
restrictions to development that threaten the flow of traffic however the City's major capital
project is the tunnel underneath the downtown core and the major funds must be reserved for this
project.
Issie Berish: There is a lot of concern about the increase in traffic on Hunt Club Road.
John Sankey: The tunnel is not in our area and we have a higher percentage of private to
public traffic. Outside of peak hours, public transit is not attractive. It takes him 1 hour and 3
minutes on the bus to go from his house to Farm Boy on Merivale Road.
Peter Foulger: The vehicle with the worst fuel efficiency is a bus operating in off-peak
hours.
Gord Graham: Two intersections, the one at Riverside and Hunt Club Roads and the one at
Prince of Wales Drive and Hunt Club Road will require a massive infrastructure investment to
significantly add capacity.
Motion: The HCCO adopts the designation of Hunt Club Road as a priority arterial. Moved by Jerry Beausoleil, seconded by Peter Brimacombe, carried.
John Sankey: The City has put forth three proposals to reduce the costs of garbage collection:
1.that the green bin be collected once a week all year round. Currently in the winter green
bins are collected only once every two weeks.
2.That the present distinction between black and blue boxes be eliminated. That is paper
waste and cans and plastics would be collected at the same time in the same containers (either
blue or black bins) and be collected once a week all year round.
3.That the regular landfill garbage be collected only once every two weeks all year round
Motion: The HCCO does not support proposal 1 that is the status quo is OK; it does support proposal 2 that is paper ,cans and plastic be picked up once a week, together and it strongly opposes proposal 3. Moved by John Sankey, seconded by Peter Foulger, carried.
Gord Graham: Why don't we limit landfill to one bag a week and allow residents to purchase tags for additional bags?
Next meeting: Monday Februrary 7, 2011 at 19:30