Roadblock! Cambridge turf war rages over a strip of grass on Blair Road
CAMBRIDGE — A narrow swath of grass is at the centre of a debate over the reconstruction of Blair Road.
The grassy boulevard between the sidewalk and the curb is the latest battleground in a four-year feud between city engineers, residents and two city advisory committees.
Since 2015, there have been several proposals for upgrading the street.
The first involved widening the street from its current five metres to the provincial standard of six metres.
At the same time, new sidewalks would be installed. The sidewalk width would be 1.2 metres while the provincial standard calls for the 1.5 metres.
Those plans fell flat with residents and the city’s municipal heritage advisory committee with complaints the widened road and sidewalks would decimate mature trees at the side of the street, require the removal of historic street lamps, ruin the street’s character and take away parking.
Following several years of talks, the city decided to stay with the status quo regarding the width of both the road and the sidewalks and allowing street parking.
The move would retain the character of the Dickson Hill heritage conservation district, but it runs afoul of the province’s accessibility act that mandates, with few exceptions, that all sidewalks now be built with a width of 1.5 metres.
And there’s the rub. The existing 1.2-metre sidewalk allows Blair Road to retain its narrow grassy boulevard, which was an element of the landscape designated as part of the heritage district.
Adding 30 centimetres of concrete would narrow the boulevard too much and it could no longer support the grass.
“That strip of grass … does not warrant an exemption,” said Sheri-Lynn Roberts, chair of the accessibility advisory committee. “The needs of people are greater than that tiny strip of grass they will be losing.”
Roberts said the wider sidewalk will benefit able as well as physically challenged residents and the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) is the law.
She maintained that communities should not be allowed to pick and choose ... “Oh, we’re a heritage community so we don’t have to abide by the AODA.”
Referring to the proposed new heritage district being considered for the Galt core, Roberts suggested an exception for the Blair Road sidewalks could lead to other exemptions throughout the downtown.
Roberts said the accessibility act benefits everyone and that the widened sidewalk “would have a very small impact to the street.
“AODA is the law and we should be abiding by it everywhere,” Roberts said in calling for its consistent application across the city.
She said it’s the city’s legal duty to comply and suggested that the city is discriminating against the disabled if the narrower sidewalks were allowed.
Mayor Doug Craig took exception to that.
“The law does allow exemptions,” he said. “I want to make it very clear, we are not here tonight to discriminate against anyone.”
Graham Hurst, a 30-year resident of Blair Road, represented the Blair Road reconstruction neighbourhood committee.
His group wants the exemption and argued that the existing sidewalk width can be kept because it’s not a new sidewalk or a redeveloped sidewalk, but is the maintenance on an existing sidewalk.
Craig put forward a motion that was accepted, calling for the reconstruction plans be referred back to the city’s heritage and accessibilities committees, with the residents trying to work out a solution and a report and recommendation going back to council on July 10.
Should a compromise be found and the project approved, it would go to the budget for funding and construction would take place next spring.