Cost of sound wall could be paid with improvement tax

Noise from Highway 20 in Beaconsfield is worse, the estimated cost of a new sound wall has gone up and residents may be asked to pay a local improvement tax to help pay for any noise-dampening construction.

That was the news delivered last week at an information meeting held by city officials in order to update residents on the ongoing sound wall discussions with Quebec’s Transport Ministry (MTQ). About 40 residents attended the meeting at Beaconsfield city hall.

For almost two years, the sound wall project has been more or less stalled since talks with the province broke down over Beaconsfield’s refusal to meet the province’s 50-50 cost-sharing requirements.

In an interview after the meeting, Beaconsfield city councillor Wade Staddon said he was encouraged by reaction from residents. Residents seemed to have an open mind to the idea of a local improvement tax – at least at this point – opening the door to a new round of discussions that could propel the project forward, he said.

The possibility of sending out a survey to residents to gauge wider public support, will come up at Beaconsfield’s next council meeting on Aug. 20, Staddon said.

The survey would allow residents who live along the south side of Highway 20, east of St. Charles Blvd. to the Pointe Claire border to tabulate how much they would have to pay in local improvement taxes and to register their reaction, he said.

In an interview after the meeting, Patrice Boileau, Beaconsfield’s director general, explained the province’s estimated cost of the sound wall has gone up from $3.9 million in 2010 for a concrete sound wall to $4.59 million for a 3-metrehigh “green wall” on a 1.5-metre-high landscaped berm, the construction now being suggested by the province.

Derrick Pounds of Citizens For A Sound Wall, a local lobby group, said he is not pleased as there seems to be very little progress. At the meeting, residents learned the province’s most current noise level studies indicate the noise from the highway tops 70 decibels in some locations, a threat to public health.

But he said he wants to see Beaconsfield demand the MTQ to enforce a speed limit of 70 km/h along Highway 20, a move that could reduce traffic noise by six decibels.

Both Staddon and Boileau said the council will look at the possibility of making such a request of the province. But Staddon noted the province sets speed limits based on road safety criteria, not public health criteria.