Parkway opponents rally to try to sway council

It’s a “vexatious and frustrating ” time to object to council’s controversial plan to extend The Parkway, says one citizen – particularly since he feels council isn’t listening to his point of view.

Peter Hewett, a long-time opponent of the plan to pave over a crosstown ribbon of green space, said he thinks council is ignoring him and other citizens who feel the same way he does. He compares council to a child who wants his way.

“It’s like a kid standing with his fingers in his ears, saying ‘La la la!’ until he hears what he wants to hear,” Hewett said. “It’s bizarre.”

On Monday at City Hall, councillors voted 6-5 to have Mayor Daryl Bennett ask Premier Kathleen Wynne to set aside an order for more study and allow the city to start constructing the north and south ends of The Parkway.

A year ago, the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change ordered a detailed environmental assessment (EA) of The Parkway before construction can start.

But now Bennett wants to seek the premier’s permission to start extending The Parkway to the north and south, leaving the most controversial section of the corridor - the planned bridge over Jackson Park - in limbo.

Councillors gave preliminary approval to the plan on Monday; it needs a final vote at a council meeting on Oct. 2.

Hewett expects many opponents of The Parkway to speak to council before that final vote, but he doesn’t think it will make any difference. He said council’s views on the matter have been entrenched and he doubts any member of council will budge.

“We’re not sure speaking to council is all that beneficial,” Hewett said.

Land was first set aside for a road that would take traffic north to south across the city in 1947, but The Parkway was never fully built.

For years, the road allowance has been a greenspace used by some as a recreational trail. The question of whether to pave it over was put to a referendum in the 2003 municipal election, and citizens rejected it.

Yet in 2013, council voted to extend The Parkway across the city at a cost of $79 million. The most controversial part of the plan was a bridge carrying traffic over Jackson Park.

That drew many opponents: 88 local organizations and citizens each filed appeals to the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change.

In September 2016, then environment minister Glen Murray asked for a more-detailed environmental assessment before any extension of The Parkway can occur.

But a new city staff report says delays in building The Parkway will stall the development of new subdivisions, add to future costs and worsen traffic congestion.

So the mayor plans to speak directly to the premier and ask that construction of the least-controversial parts of the roadway be allowed, and then do more study of the Jackson Park portion of the plan.

The mayor will ask the Premier, the report states, because she’s familiar with the file – more so than new Environment and Climate Change Minister Chris Ballard (he succeeds Murray, who left politics in late July).

Hewett is the spokesman for the PeterboroughGreenspaceCoalition, a large citizens’ group that opposes The Parkway.

The Coalition filed one of the 88 appeals to the province – the same order the city is hoping to circumvent.

On Wednesday, The Examiner received a scathing statement from the Coalition about councillors’ Parkway plans.

“In a desperate ploy, the city is proposing to award carte blanche to the mayor to immediately develop the Parkway corridor without any transparency or accountability,” the statement reads.

The Coalition also calls it a “Parkway by stealth” plan and calls the road extension a “vanity project” that the mayor is trying to bring to fruition.

On Monday at City Hall, Bennett said he found it unfortunate that councillors were again debating whether or not to build The Parkway – that wasn’t the point, he said.

The point is that development is stalled in the city’s north end for want on an adequate road network, he said – and that’s the problem council should be focused on.

Coun. Dan McWilliams said at the meeting that Peterborough’s streets are so congested it’s creating a crisis.

“The transportation we’ve got now is lousy at best,” he said.

But on Wednesday, Hewett said The Parkway isn’t a “fix-all” that will ensure smoother transportation.

The Coalition’s statement calls instead for the city to promote active transportation and transit, or use signal coordination or left-turn lanes to get traffic moving.

“The Parkway is an expensive vanity project the public doesn’t want,” says the Coalition’s statement.

Cam Douglas, another member of the Peterborough Greenspace Coalition, sent a letter to The

Examiner’s editor calling on council to change its mind.

“The Parkway by Stealth campaign continues to use every tactic possible to force the bridge through Jackson Park, even though it postures that non-bridge options will be looked at,” he writes.

That’s no way to manage traffic, Douglas adds.

“We would welcome city staff and council’s engagement with the community on a real, modern-day solution.”