Attending my third Zoom meeting discussing Qualico’s upcoming Precinct K DASZ application in only 2 weeks is akin to re-experiencing Groundhog Day over and over. I think we have heard this song before. But each meeting brings new details, and in this case, new PowerPoint slides, so I guess it is worth it in the end.
Public attendees were from Bonavista and from the Melnick Road business community. Genstar land development manager Marc Brown appeared as a guest star. No one identified themselves as a resident of the Creek Bend community, rural or urban, no one except for me of course.
The full PPT slide deck will be available on the Landmark site tomorrow
https://www.landmarkplanning.ca/precinct-k
Here are a few screen grabs that I made for you to look at before then.
Here is the concept plan for the latest subdivision plan with the legend now included (It was cropped before.)
Here is the Active Transportation pathway plan, showed only fleetingly before now.
It is remarkable how the Seine River lands are presented without any details or explanation. Qualico says, in a missing slide, that the City is protecting the riparian forest with both dedications and acquisitions. (What does acquisition mean?)
Landmark insists that they are listening to the community and to stakeholders.
The WSP traffic study seems to be done. The traffic study reveals that the Creek Bend at Creek Bend and the St. Anne’s Road at Creek Bend Road intersections are being considered separately. While traffic improvements will be made by the developer, the City has not directed Qualico exactly what those improvements might be. In fairness, the formal application has not been made to the City yet.
Genstar honcho Marc Brown brought up the Warde Avenue extension several times. He seems perplexed as to why what he was told was impossible in 2014 is now seen as possible for Qualico in 2026. Precinct K can evidently be developed without the Warde Avenue extension, despite what he was told previously told by the City.
It seems that talks with the CPKC railway on the approvals needed for the CPKC Warde Avenue railway crossing are going as bad as we had suspected. They are going nowhere. The anticipated Four Mile Road railway crossing ROW approval swap is not going over well. The new WSP traffic studies are going forward as if the Warde Avenue extension, which needs a bridge and a railway crossing, was not a given. The new Southside road extension will be stubbed at the north. While the vital sewer line connection is to be made at Warde Avenue at Southside, how to get there is evidently quite another question.
As an Estate area resident I asked again exactly where the Creek Bend Road improvements west of the tracks will terminate. Again, they said at the new Southside intersection, even though their map clearly shows new un-serviced Qualico lots west of that point. This is quite mystifying to me.
I asked if the new RIE lots by the Seine River will be exactly ¼ acre in size, or if 10K sf in size will be sufficient. Qualico said that they do not know the answer to that yet. They expect that the new R1E pie lots may be of varying sizes anyway.
Sorry, I have to stop writing now. Too many Zooms!