With major upgrades slated for Laclie Street, city council has endorsed a number of design options for the street recently ranked as the worst road in Ontario’s central region in a CAA poll.
After public consultation through 2021 and 2022, on Wednesday city staff gained council approval to publish an environmental assessment, a required part of the planning process, based on the following features for the road:
- Constructing and reconstructing bus lay-bys between Neywash Street and North Street East, where transit stops currently exist;
- A left turn lane for southbound vehicles approaching North Street East, with one through-lane in each direction;
- Bikes lane in each direction, between North Street East and St. Jean Street; and
- Implementing “low impact development” measures along the golf course road frontage
Given council’s approval, the project will be open to an additional 30-day public comment period once the city’s environmental study report is published.
The previous term of council approved $750,000 for the environmental assessment and design work between Neywash Street and Murray Street, and the four-year road reconstruction project is expected to begin in 2023.
Although council endorsed the above design features at their Wednesday meeting, several councillors shared numerous concerns regarding the need for bike lanes and tree protection along the roadway – particularly for one property with numerous mature trees near Laclie Street and North Street.
“To save the trees and the hedge, you would have to take out the left turn lane and possibly the bike lanes,” explained city engineer Stan Martinello.
With five mature trees and a hedge slated for removal under the current design parameters, council members sought alternatives to protect the trees, while also questioning the necessity of certain design features, like bike lanes, as Laclie Street currently experiences less than 10 cyclists per day.
“Can the (roadway) be shifted slightly to the east to accommodate, to preserve the hedge and the trees?” asked Coun. Janet-Lynne Durnford.
“I would not consider that a viable option because houses on that side of the street are extremely close to the right of way,” said Martinello. “Perhaps not extremely close, but they are much, much closer to the right of way than the houses on the west side of the street with the trees.”
Coun. Whitney Smith questioned the need for bike lanes in the area, pointing out a nearby trail cyclists might use, the high volume of vehicular traffic, and a steep section of the road that makes cycling difficult.
“I understand bike lanes are obviously important and we want to encourage people to use them and to use bicycles as a mode of transportation, (but) I think realistically the majority of people are still going to operate vehicles,” she said.
“If there's 11,000 vehicles a day going through there right now, and we're looking to expand in the next 20 years, that's just going to cause more of a problem, and I don't think we're going to have 20,000 new bike riders in town.”
However, Coun. David Campbell and city staff argued in favour of leaving the bike lanes in the design.
“Right now, obviously, that's not a great road to be trying to ride a bike on, but you put bike lanes on it and those numbers will skyrocket. I'm quite confident in that,” Campbell said.
“In regards to the trees and the hedge, I would remind my fellow councillors that those trees and that hedge are on city property, and we've already committed as a city to replace them on the owner's property, which in my opinion is is kind of going over and above," added Campbell.
Ian Sugden, the city's general manager of development services and engineering, explained the rationale for the recommendation regarding the bike lanes.
“The City of Orillia has adopted a climate change action plan … (and) one of its guiding principles is to reduce our carbon footprint and reduce our impact on climate,” said Sugden. “The more we can shift the modes of travel to active transportation modes, the faster (we) achieve those goals.”
It's also about the future, not just today, he explained.
“The road reconstruction is a 50-year time horizon … so what we're trying to deal with is our increasing population and traffic of tomorrow, as opposed to the traffic and transportation modes of today,” Sugden said.
Mayor Don McIsaac questioned whether there was any data for increased bike traffic on Coldwater Road since bike lanes were introduced, but staff said they did not have that information available.
When asked by council, Martinello also said it would be “a mistake to eliminate that left turn lane,” given increased traffic expectations in the coming decades.
Coun. Tim Lauer asked about the city’s timeline for the project, and whether certain features could be given a “second look,” as he had concerns with the angle of St. Jean Street.
“I actually have an issue with another part of the road … my quick question is, simply, what kind of timeframe are we on? do we have enough time to … give it a second look?” he asked.
“The current intent is to publish the environmental study report as soon as we get approval from council to do so. That then starts the 30-day public comment period,” answered Martinello. “If there's delays at this point, we do risk having the actual construction on the first phase, which is between Neywash Street and Borland Street … being delayed for a year.”
