Smith Farm Coulee (ABOVE)
While things may seem quiet on the surface, I have received a lot of e-mail traffic regarding local issues this week. I will try to summarize them for you.
The City and the Province’s MTI department continue to discuss the Aimes Bridge parking lot/paddling launch-site on the west side of the Seine River by the Perimeter Highway. An agreement or MOU regarding the orphaned Creek Bend Park entrance has still not been reached.
On the east bank of the Seine, City Parks supports the preservation of Smith Farm coulee and the Seine riverbank trees in South Royalwood/Precinct K. While Save our Seine and the CBRA have never formally requested an Active Transportation (AT) bridge over the low-lying forested coulee, this has been a matter of discussion between the City and Landmark/Qualico this winter. While my old dog and I used the old farm road that cuts through the local forest in years past, an all-weather AT path right-of-way is evidently quite another matter. As the land is currently posted most Save Our Seine board members have never seen Smith Farm coulee. At this point in the Bois-des-esprits campaign local landowner Dave Venema had already taken interested SOS members for orientation walks in that Seine River forest. I will invite the SOS Board to do the same in the Creek Bend community.
At this point the City supports a plan to “go around” the coulee. I am not sure if the old farm road is considered within or outside the coulee proper.
While Save Our Seine has not had a successful history with AT infrastructure projects such as the never-built Dufresne Community AT Bridge, a future bridge over the Smith Farm coulee would be an interesting community amenity. Had there ever been a new Seine River Greenway study, that bridge could have been a capstone project planned for Precinct K. While there may be no City or Provincial funds available for bridge construction in the near future, this could be a long-term project for SOS and the community to discuss.
Landmark Planning has been very patient with my requests for information. Rather than paraphrase I will cut and paste their response below.
“As noted, a Transportation Impact Study (TIS) and servicing studies (for water, wastewater, and land drainage) are currently underway. Road configurations, rail crossing upgrades, servicing designs, etc. will depend on the results and recommendations of these studies, as well as confirmation from the Public Works and Water and Waste Departments, among others…We’d also want to clarify some of the misconceptions about discussions to date, including:
- While Qualico noted that they would not be initiating a Local Improvement for Creek Bend Road, that’s not to say that the process itself isn’t possible.
- It’s too early to know what type of intersection treatment would be proposed at Creek Bend Road and Southside Drive – we’ll await the recommendations of the Transportation Impact Study.
- It’s too early to know the treatment of the Creek Bend Road / CPKC Emerson Rail crossing – as noted, the land use concept we shared is strictly conceptual at this point, and we’ll await the results of the rail safety study and further discussions with CPKC prior to any application.
- Our application does not require that other property owners initiate a development application to develop their own lands. Other landowners can decide on their own if and when they want to develop.
- The Sioux Road intersection at Creek Bend Road differs in that the rail crossing on Creek Bend Road already exists. The Aimes Road rail crossing is currently not there. When designing new crossings new standards are enforced, and the Railway can require that the Sioux Road connection to Aimes be closed if Aimes Road crosses the tracks. According to CPKC they would not have the same authority to close an existing road to improve a crossing, especially as the folks to the south will require access. In addition, an application cannot make changes that would landlock existing property that currently has access.”
Plans for the historic Estate area in the Waverley West B (Bison Run) precinct plan are far more detailed and nuanced than the 2014 Precinct K plans. The Bison Run plan provides an effective safeguard to protect the historic community from development. Lee Boulevard Estates is designed to be a quiet enclave within a new community. That is not the case in current plans for the Creek Bend Estate community. The inability of the City and/or the development community to acquire the vacant Sampson Lands to the north makes Creek Bend’s new $3.5M bridge the only alternative for Precinct K road access to St. Anne’s Road. While no one is forcing current Creek Bend Estate residents to develop their lands, the prospect of thousands of vehicles per day using our narrow, ditched gravel road is not sustainable. This week a Purolater and a Prime delivery truck were both sucked into our snow-filled ditches. Pretending that our lives will be unaffected by Precinct K residential development does not make it true.
The imminent closing of the Sioux Road West-Aimes Road intersection completely upends future residential development south of Creek Bend Road. Pretending that does not exist does no one any favours, especially local residents.
As I said, it has been a busy week.
Save Our Seine has invited me to meet with them and Councillor Markus Chambers next week to discuss local Seine River development issues. I will report more on that later.