Residents split on the issue, but council approves sidewalk for Wellesley’s Parkview Drive
GUARANTEED TO DISAPPOINT SOME of the residents, Wellesley council came down on the pro-sidewalk side Tuesday night, approving a stretch of walkway on Parkview Drive in the Village of Wellesley.
Council heard from three formal delegations May 9 in support of the sidewalk, citing the safety of children in the neighbourhood, but had some vocal opposition from spectators. Coun. Carl Smit was the only ‘no’ when it came time to vote for the motion.
In December, residents put forth a petition in favour of a sidewalk on Parkview Drive, followed in January by a petition from residents against the sidewalk installation. Other traffic-calming measures have already been put in place, such as a four-way stop in 2015 and stop blocks in 2016, but for some, it wasn’t enough.
Scott Kelterborn lives at 61 Parkview Dr. with his wife and two sons. He was the first to speak to
council in support of a sidewalk on at least one side of the street to reduce the chance of an incident.
“My wife Melissa and I believe strongly in this and see on a daily basis what we believe to be a very important cause. Even since the installation of no-parking signs along Parkview, although it has made things a little easier, it still remains a huge concern. With two young boys, three and six, whether we are out walking or teaching them how to ride their bikes, we continuously need to remind them to stay to the side of the road and out of traffic. We literally count the seconds down until we can get off Parkview and reach a street with sidewalks and walk stressfree.”
Amanda Ferris lives at Parkview Drive and Village Road, and even though she says a new sidewalk would cost her family valuable driveway space, she agrees with the plan to install one.
“We regularly use the full length of our driveway for our vehicles and it would be quite inconvenient to lose any part of that driveway. We also have a beautiful maple tree that is very close to the edge where the sidewalk would go ... For us, we would be very annoyed to have a sidewalk on our property,” she said. “But, our life in Wellesley is much more than our home. We love that our kids can walk to school. We count on the neighbours. As a parent, I am 100 per cent sure that I would be telling my kids to choose the sidewalk always as the safest option. I am very grateful that there is the opportunity to optimize the safety of our community.”
Living on Edgewood Court, a small street that intersects with Parkview, Blair Cressman was in agreement with Ferris and Kelterborn.
“Wellesley is a great community, and we want our boys to safely travel around, to school, to participate in sports and visit with friends,” he said. “We regularly use this busy artery to walk to school and to the park. Like most parents, the safety of our children is very important to us. The lack of sidewalks on Parkview has been a safety concern since this oversight by the township and developers many years ago.”
Before approving a sidewalk on north and west side of Parkview, councillors had their say. Mayor Joe Nowak was in favour of the project, saying for him, it wasn’t just about the kids. It was about the safety of everyone that uses the road as a pedestrian.
“I understand that there is some opposition to this, but I think we are here to make decisions based on what is best for all residents, not just the children, but there are a lot of adults there too and individuals with accessibility problems that use that road on a regular basis, and what we are doing now is forcing them on to the road,” he said. “I have a big problem with that.”
Coun. Herb Neher was initially against the proposal, but changed his intended vote after taking the time to sit and watch the foot traffic on Parkview.
“I was out there this morning for half an hour, and I noticed there are a lot of kids that walk along that street, and it isn’t just one or two at a time. A lot of them go in bunches of five or six,” he said. “So, I watched this for a while, and as much as I am not for this, if you buy a house with no sidewalk, you accept it, it seemed with the number of kids there, and the bicycles, I tend to support this.”
Smit was the lone dissenter, but he received an applause and vocal support from some of the crowd gathered in council chambers.
“Eighty-three per cent of the residents on that street are against sidewalks. If it was 50/50, I would say yes,” he said. “That subdivision has been here for so long, and the people have lived on that street for so long that everybody is used to that. Are we going to be put sidewalks on every street in the township? I can think of a few streets in St. Clements that could use sidewalks also. People moved in there knowing there weren’t sidewalks and now, all of a sudden they are going to have this in front of their property.”
The sidewalk from Village Road to the recreation facility walkway will be included in the 2017 township capital budget, and the portion from Village Road to Greenwood Hill Road will be coming out of the 2018 capital budget.