Burlington Could be Getting a New Sidewalk
Published April 29, 2019 at 10:05 pm
The city of Burlington could be getting a new sidewalk in the future.
The city of Burlington could be getting a new sidewalk in the future.
According to a blog post on Mayor Marianne Meed Ward’s website, the majority of city council recently (April 25) voted to approve a motion regarding the installation of a sidewalk on Strathcona Drive.
This motion was brought forward by Ward 4 Councillor Shawna Stolte.
The approved motion, according to Meed Ward’s blog post, is as follows.
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Approved motion:
- Proceed with a 1.8 m sidewalk on the east side of Strathcona Drive, with 1.5 m of the sidewalk to be constructed within the roadway, and 0.3 m into the existing boulevard.
- Proceed with no sidewalks on Lorraine Crescent, Apple Valley Lane, Applevale Court, and McIntosh Place.
- Direct that construction of the sidewalk on Strathcona Drive is not subject to local improvement charges, as per Local Improvement By-law 49-2017.
Earlier this month at a committee of the whole meeting, committee members approved a motion to have further public consultation regarding the three options pertaining to sidewalks on Strathcona Drive.
These three options were as follows.
- No sidewalks.
- Sidewalk on the east side within the footprint of the existing road.
- No sidewalks with painted lines on the road as a pedestrian path.
After this meeting, city staff noted that painted lines do not meet the safety standards required by the city for safe pedestrian travel. As a result, staff did not support the option of painted lines on Strathcona and the option was removed.
Following this, Burlington residents were contacted in regards to installing a sidewalk on Strathcona.
“A letter was hand-delivered to 453 homes in the Strathcona neighbourhood spanning the block from Walker’s Line, New Street, Belvenia Road and Lakeshore Road,” reads the blog post.
“The letter outlined the two options and residents were asked to submit their feedback by completing a comment sheet or an online survey.”
Residents who received the letter were also invited to a community meeting on April 15 to learn more about the two options and to ask questions.
Ninety-one (22 per cent) households in the distribution area provided input.
The results are outlined in the graphic below.
In addition, 11 surveys were submitted by residents who enjoy walking and biking in the Strathcona neighbourhood. Eight households were in favour of the ‘sidewalk on the east side of Strathcona’ option and three households were in favour of the ‘no sidewalks’ option.
Meed Ward was the only council member who voted against the motion during the April 25 meeting.
“We cannot approve a plan that takes out green space in our communities while our city has just declared a climate emergency days before,” Meed Ward said in the blog post. “Nor can we approve a plan that adds hard (non-permeable) infrastructure where it is not necessary and when we have an infrastructure deficit across our city. We can’t keep up with maintenance, repair and snow clearing of the roads and sidewalks we already have — it makes no sense to add more unnecessary infrastructure.”
“There was no demonstrated safety issue on Strathcona Drive — this is an area that has experienced 60 years of safe streets and that is not to be dismissed lightly,” Meed Ward continued.
“My approach has always been that not every street deserves a sidewalk. We decided one wasn’t warranted on Lorraine Crescent, Apple Valley Lane, Applevale Court and McIntosh Place — was one warranted on Strathcona? It is my view that it was not.”
View Meed Ward’s full statement, here.
Photo and graphic are courtesy of Meed Ward’s website.
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