Councillor calls for $7.5m revamp of old roadway
Former country road lacks sidewalks, left-turn lanes and storm sewers
With no sidewalks, no bike lanes and deep ditches that begin where the pavement ends, Sixth Concession is a former country road overwhelmed by two decades of new homebuilding in South Windsor, according to the councillor for Ward 9.
While it’s the only way to get out of the subdivisions where thousands of people now live, “you can’t walk or ride your bike, in my opinion, down that road safely,” said Kieran McKenzie, who is calling for $7.5 million in improvements. Earlier this week he appeared as a delegation before fellow councillors who sit on the development and heritage standing committee. They were mulling approval of an 80-home development described as the final component for Walker Gate Estates — a large swath of new homes between Sixth Concession and Walker Road. McKenzie said while he’s not opposed to the project, he does take exception to the notion this development completes Walker Gate Estates.
“It’s not finished until you deal with the Sixth Concession,” he said Wednesday, describing Walker Gate Estates as a “positive transformation.” It’s become a true neighbourhood, complete with a significant park (Capt. John Wilson Park) and great school (Talbot Trail elementary), he said. “I wasn’t there (at Monday’s meeting ) to say this has been a bad project, it’s been a great project for us, but we have to complete it,” said the first-term councillor, referring to major improvements needed for Sixth Concession. “It’s important for this to move forward. It just is.” While an environmental assessment for improving both Sixth Concession and nearby North Talbot Road was completed in 2016, actually doing the $13-millionplus project is still a long way away. The current capital budget that lays out projects for the next six years doesn’t include it. Improving Sixth Concession alone would cost $7.5 million.
“It’s not that we don’t want to do it, it’s just that it’s a difficult decision of where do you put the money,” said city engineer Mark Winterton, citing a long list of road projects. These include massive phased projects already started — like the Riverside Drive Vista project and widening of nearby Cabana Road. Banwell Road is another widening project that people want, said Winterton, who said it will be up to council to decide at budget time where the money goes. “They’re all very costly projects that need to get done.”
This year’s budget, which is usually finalized by the end of January, has been delayed while the city waits for word from the provincial government on various funding decisions.
Sixth Concession needs widening, left-turn lanes, bike lanes, underground storm sewers to replace the ditches, sidewalks on both sides and intersection improvements like roundabouts, according to the environmental assessment. The project has widespread support from the community, said McKenzie, who used to live just west of Sixth Concession on Aristotle Crescent and took his toddler daughter to Capt. Wilson Park every day. Instead of taking a 10-minute walk, he drove for two minutes because walking on Sixth Concession was simply too dangerous. Sixth Concession is also the only route for kids to take to get to the neighbourhood’s only corner store, he said, referring to the Esso Station at Provincial Road. “That’s not a good way to build a neighbourhood,” he said.
“It’s already bad and those issues will only be made worse if we don’t make those improvements.” The standing committee recommended approval of the 80-unit housing project, but asked that the developer make a change so there’s easier pedestrian access to Sixth Concession. The project, on 15 acres east of Sixth Concession, still has to be approved by city council.
McKenzie said he hopes that the development of Walker Gate Estates, without improving Sixth Concession, serves as a lesson for the city as it moves toward developing the lands annexed from the Town of Tecumseh. Thousands of new homes are expected to be built there in coming decades.
“If we’re not talking about not repeating these same mistakes, we’re just going to,” he said.