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Home My WebLink About09/06/2006 Minutes I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I C/JJLiJlgron CAC MEMBERS PRESENT: . Chair - Bradford Soles Vice-Chair - Linda Gasser Fred Biesenthal Gerald Brown Mark Canning David Duffie Staff in Attendance: Janice Szwarz - Planning Services Sharon Norris - Recording Secretary Absent: Councillor Jim Schell George Khouri DATE: RE: I - 3 MINUTES OF THE CLARINGTON HWY. 407 COMMUNITY ADVISORY COMMITTEE Leslie Benson - Bill Harford Ron Hooper Karina Isert (LAC Ross Libby Murray Paterson September 7,2006 HIGHWAY 407 COMMUNITY ADVISORY COMMITTEE Sept. 6, 2006 Meeting No. 28 w.- HH ,~... ::'--'!'::"~';l" I!!';". Welcome Review of Draft Minutes (June 13, 2006) Review of Draft Transportation Assessment Report Meeting commenced 7:00 p.m. Welcome b Bradford Soles The following changes were made to the draft minutes of June 13,2006, Meeting No. 27: Page 1: David Duffy was corrected to read David Duffie. Page 3: Under "Road pricing versus transit pricing versus subsidies" the following bullet was added: . Highways are highly subsidized. Page 4: Fourth paragraph "congestion becomes worst" changed to read "congestion becomes worse". Page 5: First paragraph "economics of scale" changed to read "economies of scale". The report is not significantly different from the last draft. It was asked if staff had contemplated an information report to Council. Linda Gasser suggested we should prepare a recommendation and information report, as this is an important issue, the details of which Council should be aware of. The report should go to the current Council and not wait until January. Janice advised that she would speak with the Director of Planning about staff resources/timing for preparing such a re ort. CI![illgton MINUTES OF THE CLARINGTON HWY. 407 COMMUNITY ADVISORY COMMITTEE I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I Review of Draft Transportation Assessment Report It was. noted that the Durham Region Planning Committee refused a presentation to Council by Totten Sims Hubicki. Bradford offered that the report was all encompassing, with very few changes. The Sensitivity Analysis shows changes in the base assumption which still determined the need for a highway. It was noted that the cost of a preferred alternative was not discussed by the Project Team. Linda suggested that staff should give thought to the financial impact of the preferred alternative. Note: It would not be possible to build into the capital budget if the costs were unclear. This is something that the CAC should request as Council should want to know. The Ministry of Transportation (MTO) is responsible for improvements where roads intersect. It was asked if this responsibility could change and be borne by tax-payers. Janice indicated that social services are not bome by Municipal Government. How do we word this to bring to Council's attention - costs are not quantified. What is more cost effective, the 407 versus local road improvements? Are there other more reasonable alternatives? Altematives to the Undertaking Review: Has any checking been done on how the evaluation process meets the Terms of Reference (ToR)? No. The evaluation process is a qualitative analysis. The Regional Official Plan's latest amendment changes in a substantial way and this is not considered in this document. It was noted that the Region is forced to go with the position of the Province. Regions can change their position on where they see growth (shown as attachments and appendices to the Official Plan).The document is still in draft form and will be for a few years until the final EA is submitted. It was asked if the contact list for the Project was public. It was indicated that it probably would not be due to privacy concerns, but that the Proactive Involvement Plan is available for viewing on-line. contains a list of reference documents. If you would like to get on the mailing list, you will need to contact the Project Team directly. I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I CI~-ilJgron MINUTES OF THE CLARINGTON HWY. 407 COMMUNITY ADVISORY COMMITTEE Other Business Preliminary Analysis Section: Letters were sent and property owners approached about allowing access to their land for an EA assessment. There is now consideration being given to T- boning the highway in order to avoid the Oak Ridges Moraine (ORM) and resulting in building "less" highway. The T-Bone is potentially just north of Orono. There is a 6 km guideline for the distance between provincial level highways. The maximum is 10 km but not a factor of criteria in this evaluation. Previous route alternatives will be the starting point for field work as well as revisiting interchanges. Pebblestone is not as important as was once thought. Wetlands are becoming more important and a more complete environmental base will be developed. Linda asked if there was a staff report a few years ago stating that the 407 should terminate in the Kirby area. Janice advised that: The first stage of the EA is done and they are now doing route planning. Route selection field work is being conducted from east to west. Letters and door-to-door communication is being done. Should people not allow access to their property there will be data gaps. Route alternatives will be presented at Public Information Centres to be held late November/early December The preferred route will be presented Public Information Sessions scheduled for late spring 2007. Two workshOps are scheduled for two Saturdays in October. They will cover evaluation criteria and will most likely be held at the Garnet B. Rickard Ccmplex. A joint meeting the MT AG/RAG and CAG is to be held September 20th. Janice will report back on issues raised by CAG via email to all committee members. There is currently a push to reconstitute the CAG as a number of members are not attending meetings. Three to five new Janice Szwarz members are needed. You can apply on line - by Sept. 6th. It was asked that they consider adding members from people within the study area and with a knowledge of the landscape. The number of east-west routes is being reduced. A Community Value Plan will have each community identify high potential communities in their area (community priorities). The route will be identified in earl 2007. The CAC should provide more comprehensive comments to Council; that is our mandate. The committee could present to Council themselves (current Council). The next Council would also have access to the information. October 16th Council discussed as a ossibili . CI~lQglOn MINUTES OF THE CLARINGTON HWY. 407 COMMUNITY ADV!\SORY COMMITTEE Janice indicated that an information report may be possible; however a position report is not feasible. The committee is asked to take a more detailed look at the documentation provided for discussion at the Oelober 3" meeting. Linda and Brad.ford will put a detailed document together for Council - Bradford to present. Presentation to include what our committee is about and raise comments! issues). Janice to email the link to the Problems and Opportunities report to all members. Problems and Opportunities Report. Excerpt from the project web site, this report is a revised version of the eartier report. The Draft Transportation Assessment and Problem and Opportunities Definition Report (June 2006) summarizes the existing and future anticipated transportation conditions for the network within the Analysis Area (including the Region of Durham and surrounding communities to the east and west) and identifies potential future problem areas and opportunities for improving the transportation system 10 address those problems. The work builds on a review of federal and provincial policy framework and a series of related goals and objectives. The recent review indicates that the provincial transportation network within the Analysis Area is constrained with respect to its ability to serve the anticipated growth in travel demand. Over the past 1510 20 years, growth in the Analysis Area, and particuiarly within the Durham Region, has been substantial. Population has grown significantly and employment opportunities within the area have shown an associated increase. The analysis shows that even with the planned expansion of Highway 401 through Whitby and Oshawa, demands for east westlravelthrough the analysis area will exceed the ability of this freeway 10 accommodate that demand. This capacity issue is further exacerbated by recurring summer congestion resulting from the significant recreational traffic demands in and through this corridor. Over the lastlwo decades, the need for transportation improvements within the Analysis Area has been assessed on a number of occasions. The current trend indicates the urgency of the improvement(s) needed within the Analysis Area. The work associated with this report has reconfirmed the need for changes to the transportation system to address the defined problems (e.g. volume 10 capacity ratios, transportation system performance, economic, land use and environmental impacts) as ouUined in this report. Next Meeting Oelober 3, 2006 All Committee Members Linda Gasserl Bradford Soles Janice Szwarz I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I