A Cry of Desperation From Klaus Wehrehberg

I received the e-mail below this morning from Klaus Wehrenberg, Chairman of the Town of Aurora Trails Committee.I think it's a last desperate plea to obtain at least a reaction from the Region on the issue of a trail underpass under a five lane highway.

Leslie Street runs parallel to Highway 404. Five lanes represent a barrier which will   effectively divide a community..  For the Region and the town to ignore or deny the problems the juxtapositon of land designations and vehicular traffic will create in the very near future is incomprehensible.

********************

Dear Councillors:

Yesterday you were forwarded information that pertains to the Leslie Street underpass issue, by the Mayor's office. The documents: A Region of York report on the issue, prepared by the Transportation Services Committee (Report No 2) , and the Minutes of the Feb 17 Regional Council Meeting.

As you will have found, I was a delegate at the meeting. However, the Minutes don't reflect the substance of my presentation.

I am writing to you to:
1. inform you of what I said at the Feb 17 meeting
2. why I disagree with the Recommendation of Report No 2, and
3. to enlist your support to have the issue placed on the Agenda of the next Aurora Council Meeting, and to explain why I seek your support.

Re 1: Allow me to point out that the previous Council had adopted the draft trail corridor layout for the 2C Lands as Town of Aurora policy. That layout includes three corridors which cross Leslie Street between Wellington and Aurora's north boundary, all of them along deep valleys that straddle Leslie in a more or less east-west direction. Report No 2 recommended that the trail traffic utilize a push button traffic light to cross Leslie, at grade.
Being aware of the history of the underpass issue, that includes constant concerns about the costs of building such underpasses (estimated to be about $1 million, without any concrete backup), I asked Regional Council to include the design of the 3 underpasses in the terms of reference for the bidding process, the RFP for the widening of Leslie.
I said that the bidders should be asked to quote on the cost of building each underpass, so that it would be known, in concrete terms, how much more it would cost if they were to be built. Aurora Council could then decide whether to have them included in the re-construction of Leslie - the precise costs would be on the table.

Re 2: Report No 2, even though it appears comprehensive, is mute on two important items of information:
a) The Report does not set out the fact that, in the 2C Area, about 8,000 residents are expected to be housed immediately west of Leslie, and that immediately east of Leslie, over 6,000 employment opportunities are to be created. The average distance between the residences and such places of employment is about 1 km - a distance over which just about any traffic participant should be able to move without using a car, and hence could utilize the proposed trails corridors. One should also consider that the higher density residential clusters will be closer to Leslie Street than the low density residential areas, thus potentially reducing the average commuting distance between home and work to below 1 km per commuting trip.
In addition to commuting trips to the 6,000+ places of employment in the 2C Area, there will also be many shopping trips to the commercial (Walmart etc) area just to the south of the 2C Area, also on the east side of Leslie. Many of those trips could well be made via alternative modes of transportation, so called 'active' modes.
The writers of the Report have thus failed to include key demographic and traffic analysis information that should automatically trigger recommendations that encourage and promote non-motorized traffic, including the elimination of at grade crossings of a 4 to 5 lane Regional Road.
b) The Report also does not deal with the consequences of having non-motorized traffic cross a 4 to 5 lane road, via the push button triggered traffic light. Such crossings will happen predominantly in the high volume morning and afternoon periods, and will substantially inconvenience motorized traffic participants. Leslie Street is being widened to better move traffic - and then traffic is being slowed through lack of foresight.
No attempt has been made to assess cumulative wait times that will be suffered by the motorized Leslie Street traffic participant, and any consequent impacts. The one-time capital expenditure for the building of an underpass may pale in comparison to potential cumulative costs if non-motorized traffic is forced to cross at grade.
The absence of relevant comparative data, and related analysis, must be considered lack of due professional diligence, which renders the Report nonsuitable as a base for professional recommendations.
c) At this stage, the Leslie Street Environmental Study Report has been advertised as completed. That means, with the Feb 17 Regional Council decision incorporated in that Report, that the Regional Municipality of York has rejected the building of underpasses under Leslie Street, as part of the re-construction and widening of their Regional Road.
The Town of Aurora can ask the Minister of Environment to initiate a review of the Region's position. That request could be made based on the position that the widening of Leslie Street grossly conflicts with the Town of Aurora's policy to route 'active transportation' commuting corridors across Leslie, in that, e.g. at grade crossings are contrary to encouraging non-motorized traffic alternatives, and are contrary to Regional policies to encourage walkable communities and sustainable traffic, among other reasons.
The Town of Aurora could also accept the Region's position, and not appeal to the Minister of Environment for a review. However, in that case, the Town could nevertheless ask the Region to include the design of the underpasses in the RFP process, and await the actual cost quotations, before making a decision as to whether to include all or some of the underpasses; that approach would burden the Town with the costs, starting with design costs. This approach, the request to have the designs included, can still be made. I have recently (Aug 23) been assured by the Region's Senior Project Manager that the design can still be included, if Aurora gives direction to that effect.
The Town of Aurora could also pursue both of the above options.
The last day on which the Minister of Environment can be asked to review the Region's Environmental Study Report is September 21 - the request to review must be in the Minister's hands by then.
I am asking you, my Town Councilors, to request that this issue be placed on the Agenda of Council, before it is too late to take advantage of the re-construction of Leslie Street, to build underpasses. It will be prohibitively expensive to do it after the fact - in that the writers of Report No 2 and I agree. While one does not need special brains to arrive at that conclusion, realizing the impact of such delay should conjure up sober thought.
I have twice tried to have the item placed on the Council Agenda, and my second attempt could yet bear fruit. Hopefully I have convinced you why you should have at least a political dialogue on this issue. It is not too late yet.
You need to have your visionary mind in place, to realize the tremendous value of such underpasses - will they ever pay off!
could then decide whether to have them included in the re-construction of Leslie - the precise costs would be on the table.

Re 2: Report No 2, even though it appears comprehensive, is mute on two important items of information:
a) The Report does not set out the fact that, in the 2C Area, about 8,000 residents are expected to be housed immediately west of Leslie, and that immediately east of Leslie, over 6,000 employment opportunities are to be created. The average distance between the residences and such places of employment is about 1 km - a distance over which just about any traffic participant should be able to move without using a car, and hence could utilize the proposed trails corridors. One should also consider that the higher density residential clusters will be closer to Leslie Street than the low density residential areas, thus potentially reducing the average commuting distance between home and work to below 1 km per commuting trip.
In addition to commuting trips to the 6,000+ places of employment in the 2C Area, there will also be many shopping trips to the commercial (Walmart etc) area just to the south of the 2C Area, also on the east side of Leslie. Many of those trips could well be made via alternative modes of transportation, so called 'active' modes.
The writers of the Report have thus failed to include key demographic and traffic analysis information that should automatically trigger recommendations that encourage and promote non-motorized traffic, including the elimination of at grade crossings of a 4 to 5 lane Regional Road.
b) The Report also does not deal with the consequences of having non-motorized traffic cross a 4 to 5 lane road, via the push button triggered traffic light. Such crossings will happen predominantly in the high volume morning and afternoon periods, and will substantially inconvenience motorized traffic participants. Leslie Street is being widened to better move traffic - and then traffic is being slowed through lack of foresight.
No attempt has been made to assess cumulative wait times that will be suffered by the motorized Leslie Street traffic participant, and any consequent impacts. The one-time capital expenditure for the building of an underpass may pale in comparison to potential cumulative costs if non-motorized traffic is forced to cross at grade.
The absence of relevant comparative data, and related analysis, must be considered lack of due professional diligence, which renders the Report nonsuitable as a base for professional recommendations.
c) At this stage, the Leslie Street Environmental Study Report has been advertised as completed. That means, with the Feb 17 Regional Council decision incorporated in that Report, that the Regional Municipality of York has rejected the building of underpasses under Leslie Street, as part of the re-construction and widening of their Regional Road.
The Town of Aurora can ask the Minister of Environment to initiate a review of the Region's position. That request could be made based on the position that the widening of Leslie Street grossly conflicts with the Town of Aurora's policy to route 'active transportation' commuting corridors across Leslie, in that, e.g. at grade crossings are contrary to encouraging non-motorized traffic alternatives, and are contrary to Regional policies to encourage walkable communities and sustainable traffic, among other reasons.
The Town of Aurora could also accept the Region's position, and not appeal to the Minister of Environment for a review. However, in that case, the Town could nevertheless ask the Region to include the design of the underpasses in the RFP process, and await the actual cost quotations, before making a decision as to whether to include all or some of the underpasses; that approach would burden the Town with the costs, starting with design costs. This approach, the request to have the designs included, can still be made. I have recently (Aug 23) been assured by the Region's Senior Project Manager that the design can still be included, if Aurora gives direction to that effect.
The Town of Aurora could also pursue both of the above options.
The last day on which the Minister of Environment can be asked to review the Region's Environmental Study Report is September 21 - the request to review must be in the Minister's hands by then.
I am asking you, my Town Councilors, to request that this issue be placed on the Agenda of Council, before it is too late to take advantage of the re-construction of Leslie Street, to build underpasses. It will be prohibitively expensive to do it after the fact - in that the writers of Report No 2 and I agree. While one does not need special brains to arrive at that conclusion, realizing the impact of such delay should conjure up sober thought.
I have twice tried to have the item placed on the Council Agenda, and my second attempt could yet bear fruit. Hopefully I have convinced you why you should have at least a political dialogue on this issue. It is not too late yet.
You need to have your visionary mind in place, to realize the tremendous value of such underpasses - will they ever pay off!

*************

My Response

*****************

Good Morning Klaus,

Thank you for the succinct and comprehensive outline of facts related to consideration of the movement of people between residential and employment lands already designated in the town's eastern neighbourhood .

I know you have made this argument to Council many times and in fact Council has supported at least, having the Region include the underpass design as part of the specifications for re-construction of the road.

As Chairman of the town's trail committee, I am aware yours has been more than an intellectual vision. You are in the habit of hiking the lands to determine the complete practicality of your recommendations.

Years of your personal time has been expended and you have experienced a great deal of frustration.

I am glad to have received your presentation in writing and I am at a loss to understand why the Region is ignoring the town's request to have underpass designs included in the specifications.

With the help of senior levels of government , including a permanent share of the gas tax, we have been able and will be able to seriously contemplate better more natural ways of moving people.

All the effort and expenditure of the Region and Municipalities to trumpet concern for the environment, is apparently, as too often happens, nothing more than empty sloganeering.

I will certainly support the town doing whatever it must to insist the Region include an underpass crossing of Leslie Street in the bidding process.

Further, I don't believe It should be beyond the capability of the road building industry to provide a ball park figure of cost without necessarily designing the project in itemised detail. It has surely been done before.

I think of a five lane highway and its impact on the Oak Ridges Moraine as opposed to a golf course and close to a million dollars spent on legal and man hours from the public purse to prevent the golf course from happening.

At the end. Not a stone upon a stone, nor a stick upon a stick to be seen for it.

Nothing but a level of hubris to the shame and embarrassment of an entire community.

Klaus ,I believe the readers of my blog might be interested in receiving your earnest appeal to Council to do something about this situation before time runs out.

Do you agree to allow me to publish it?