HomeMy WebLinkAboutEGD-028-11 CjQgton REPORT
ENGINEERING SERVICES DEPARTMENT
Meeting: GENERAL PURPOSE AND ADMINISTRATION COMMITTEE
Date: Monday July 11, 2011 Resolution #: aoA-Son
Report#: EGD-028-11 File#: By-law#:
Subject: MITCHELL CORNERS PUBLIC INFORMATION CENTRE REPORT AND
FIRNER STREET DITCHES
Recommendations:
It is respectfully recommended that the General Purpose and Administration Committee
recommend to Council the following:
1. THAT Report EGD-028-11 be received;
2. THAT any decision regarding improvements on Trulls Road be deferred until
such time that both the Municipality and the Province have assessed the
potential impacts that may arise from the phased extension of Highway 407;
3. THAT the filling in of ditches on Firner Street, which is a structurally adequate
road, may not be fiscally appropriate in terms of Municipal priorities;
4. THAT the $60,000 cost to construct a cul-de-sac at the west limit of Firner Street
be considered in the 2012 Capital Budget and Four Year Forecast;
5. THAT Staff report back on this matter once our discussions with the Province
about the phased extension of Highway 407 have progressed further from
concept to implementation; and
CORPORATION OF THE MUNICIPALITY OF CLARINGTON
40 TEMPERANCE STREET, BOWMANVILLE, ONTARIO LIC 3A6 T 905-623-3379 F 905-623-9282
REPORT NO.: EGD-028-11 PAGE 2
6. THAT all interested parties listed in Report EGD-028-11 be advised of Council's
decision.
Respectfully by,
x
,37
1A LIZ
Suborn tted by: A.S. Cannella Reviewed by: Franklin Wu
Director of Engineering Services Chief Administrative Officer
ASC/ra/jo/jb
July 6, 2011
REPORT NO.: EGD-028-11 PAGE 3
1.0 PURPOSE
1.1 In order to get a clear understanding of what the greater community of Mitchell
Corners felt were issues related to Trulls Road that required attention, staff held a
Public Information Centre. In addition to receiving input, staff presented a
number of potential alternatives to address pedestrian safety and/or elimination
of road side ditches. This report provides the input received at the meeting,
background relating to the issues raised by the residents, observations by staff
and recommendations for consideration of Council.
2.0 BACKGROUND
2.1 On December 14, 2009, Mr. Guiseppe Braccia of 4739 Trulls Road in Mitchell
Corners, was a delegation at Council to speak and present a petition in support
of a letter sent to the Municipality by Mrs. Betty Massey of 4545 Trulls Road
requesting that sidewalks be constructed on Trulls Road through Mitchell
Corners and that the ditches be filled in to make maintenance less challenging.
On January 11, 2010 the Municipality received two pieces of correspondence for
direction which stated that these two separate Mitchell Corners residents were
not in support of sidewalk and sewer request and that they wanted the road and
ditches to remain as they currently are. A public information centre was
proposed to solicit input from the greater community as a whole.
2.2 Description of the Community
Mitchell Corners is a hamlet located north of Courtice. The community
predominantly surrounds Taunton Road east and west of Trulls Road and Trulls
Road, south of Taunton Rd (Regional Road 4) and includes three cul-de-sacs off
of Trulls Road; Tyler Street, Bradley Boulevard, and Firner Street.
Taunton Road is classified as a Type "A" Arterial in the Official Plan. All other
roads in the community are classified as Local Roads with posted speed limits of
50 km/h. Although Trulls Road is classified as a local road it is evident by the
traffic trends that it is functioning more and more as an arterial road.
REPORT NO.: EGD-028-11 PAGE 4
There are approximately 170 properties within the community, most of which are
single family residential. There are a few businesses on Taunton Road including
a coffee shop and a gas station with a convenience store and there is a church
on Trulls Road just south of Taunton Road at the location of a former elementary
school.
2.3 Traffic
There have been a number of traffic counts performed on Trulls Road over the
years and the volume of traffic has been increasing. The Average Annual Daily
Traffic (AADT) is tabulated below.
Year AADT
1994 2,400
2002 2,715
2005 2,814
2007 3,158
2011 3,331
It is likely that traffic will increase further as a result of a number of proposed
changes to the surrounding road network.
The Highway 407 extension will include an interchange at Enfield Road (Regional
Road 34) between Taunton Road and Concession Road 6. Enfield Rd is the
extension of Trulls Road north of Taunton Road. The provincial government has
now committed to completion of the 407 extension to Hwy. 35/115 by the year
2020. Detailed design for the first phase of construction to Harmony Road is
underway. Clarington staff are currently in the process of dealing with the
province in order to address concerns the Municipality has with the impacts of the
extension on our existing road network. One of these concerns is the impact on
Trulls Road.
REPORT NO.: EGD-028-11 PAGE 5
Other plans include extension of Adelaide Avenue to Trulls Road and the
extension of Rossland Road from just east of Harmony Road to Townline Road.
A pedestrian count was performed on Trulls Road on Wednesday, September
29, 2010 over the span of 5 hours from 2 pm to 7 pm. There were 31 pedestrians
observed walking on the shoulder of the road, including 7 teens and 3 youths.
There were an additional 3 teens and 11 youths that were dropped off from the
school bus directly in front of their home, or at the side streets and did not walk
down the road. This compares to the peak pedestrian traffic count of 50 which
was observed in 1994 when Mitchell Corners Public School was still in service.
Traffic speeds have also been recorded on Trulls Road and show that speeds
are consistently higher than the posted speed of 50 km/hr. The results are
tabulated below:
Date ; Average 85
(Y/M/D) Speed Percentile
(km/h) Speed
(km/h)
06/07/06 65.1 69.9
07/10/29 58.1 63.3
08/06/24 58.8 63.5
09/07/07 64.4 68.5
10/06/28 59.9 66.7
10/09/29 54.9 60.3
10/09/29 58.5 62.9
11/06/28 66.6 72.6
Average 60.8 66.0
REPORT NO.: EGD-028-11 PAGE 6
2.4 Drainage
Mitchell Corners is drained by a combination of storm sewers and open ditches.
The side streets on the east side, Tyler Street and Bradley Boulevard have storm
sewers that outlet to open ditches on Trulls Road. Trulls Road and Firner Street
are drained by open ditches. The ditches on Trulls Road drain to existing two
watercourses, one just south of Taunton Road and the other to the valley roughly
275m south of Firner Street.
2.5 Previous Improvements
In 2007, the Municipality constructed a drainage channel on the west side of
Trulls Road north of Firner Street to address complaints from a number of
residents on Firner Street. The work was done to reduce existing flooding in the
back yards of the houses on the north side of Firner Street. The channel outlets
to the existing watercourse west of Mitchell Corners running through agricultural
lands.
In 2007, the Municipality also rehabilitated Trulls Road through Mitchell Corners
which included localized repairs, new surface asphalt, and some ditching
including placing rip-rap to prevent erosion where required.
2.5.1 Bradley Boulevard and Tyler Street Improvements
In 1987, the Municipality constructed storm sewers and asphalt gutters on
Bradley Boulevard and Tyler Street and filled in the ditches. Local
residents said that the improvements were the result of concerns raised by
the local residents to address concerns with the number of children that
had to walk to the school and due to heavy farm traffic accessing the farm
at the east end of the community.
2.5.2 Similar Projects in Enniskillen and Newtonville
There have been similar situations where residents have requested that
the Municipality construct sidewalks in rural hamlets to address safety
REPORT NO.: EGD-028-11 PAGE 7
concerns. It is not typically the Municipality's policy to urbanize rural
hamlets unless there is a specific need identified.
In 2004, the Municipality constructed sidewalk in Enniskillen on Old
Scugog Road to provide safe access to the public school on Old Scugog
Road. A similar project was also completed in Newtonville to improve
safety accessing the school.
3.0 PUBLIC INFORMATION CENTRE
3.1 Plan to Address Concerns
It was determined that the best way to move forward with confirming the
residents' concerns and reviewing possibilities to address those concerns was to
have a Public Information Centre (PIC) to present some alternative solutions and
gather feedback from the residents. The concerns would then be presented to
Council with preliminary solutions for consideration.
3.2 Summary of PIC
The PIC was held on Thursday, May 19, 2011 from 5 pm to 7 pm at the Carriage
Country Baptist Church. The meeting was very well attended with approximately
70 people in attendance, most of whom stayed for the full two hours.
There was a register for people to sign and comment sheets that could be filled
out at the meeting, or mailed in to the Municipality afterwards. There were 27
written comments received. The register and comments submitted are available
upon request (35 pages).
Staff attended the meeting to receive comments and answer questions. There
were a number of display boards set up showing possible alternative solutions to
address the concerns that the Municipality had received regarding pedestrian
safety and maintenance of the ditches, including the pros and cons of each
alternative and a rough cost estimate. Due to the number of people in
attendance, an informal question and answer session was conducted so that
REPORT NO.: EGD-028-11 PAGE 8
everyone in attendance could participate in the discussions and hear answers to
their questions.
3.3 List of Concerns Raised
There were many people that expressed their concerns at the meeting or through
written comments. Many people expressed concern about pedestrian safety,
general traffic safety, and the difficulty with maintaining the steep ditches. Others
were concerned that any changes would compromise the rural feel of the
neighbourhood that many stated was the reason they moved to the area. The
main concerns and the number of times each issue was raised in the written
comments are tabulated below.
Comment/Concern Number of .
Tunes Raised
Want ditches filled in 11
Want bikeway/widen shoulders 11
Do not want sidewalk 7
Safety concerns due to sight lines, guiderail
on hill 4
Concerns about speed and volume of traffic 4
Want improvements to Firner St. 4
Do not want any changes 4
Want sidewalk 3
Want improvements to Pebblestone Rd 2
Want municipal water service 2
Prefer the full reconstruction option j 2
Some of the comments are expanded upon below:
• A number of residents noted that they are getting older and are finding it
increasingly difficult to maintain the steep ditches on Trulls Road and
Firner Street.
REPORT NO.: EGD-028-11 PAGE 9
• A number of people also spoke about how unsafe it is to walk on Trulls
Road with the high traffic speeds and narrow shoulders.
• There are limited sight lines on the hill at the south end of the community
which poses safety concerns for both pedestrians and residents pulling
out of their driveways. The guide posts on the south side of the hill are in
disrepair.
• There were a few residents that said they moved to a rural community and
do not want the kind of improvements that their neighbours were
requesting.
• Some residents noted that they do not want sidewalks due to the
requirement for snow clearing in the winter and issues with privacy.
• Some residents wanted improvements to Firner Street as well as Trulls
Road, and some noted that there were other priorities that the Municipality
should address first such as Pebblestone Road. It was noted that the
garbage trucks are required to back down Firner Street as there is no turn
around at the west end.
• One resident noted that there is substantial through traffic that uses Trulls
Road because it has a signalized intersection at Taunton Road whereas
the intersection between the two Regional roads, Taunton Road and
Courtice Road is not signalized and northbound left turns are difficult.
• A few residents said that they want municipal water brought up from
Courtice. It was noted at the meeting that Mitchell Corners is within the
"Protected Countryside" area under the Greenbelt Plan, and it is unlikely
that the urban boundary would be expanded to include Mitchell Corners.
• Many residents are concerned about the increases in traffic that have
happened over the years and the anticipated changes that will cause even
more traffic in the future.
• It was noted that there are less children in the community than there were
in past years, however there are still a number of children that catch the
school bus off of Trulls Road.
REPORT NO.: EGD-028-11 PAGE 10
4.0 SOLUTIONS
4.1 Alternative Solutions Presented at the PIC
Municipal staff, working with AECOM, prepared a number of possible solutions to
present at the PIC for review and comment from the residents. The solutions
ranged in cost and impact on the community and were designed to address the
main concerns that led to the PIC, which were pedestrian safety and drainage
improvements. The designs were preliminary and were presented in the form of a
before and after visualization with a brief description and pros cons for each.
The list of options presented at the PIC is listed below with a brief description.
The pros and cons tables presented at the PIC are appended to this report.
Alt. Description Cost
A Full Urban Reconstruction, 10 m Road Width
• Includes new storm sewer, concrete curb and gutter
and sidewalk
Total Cost—Taunton Road to Firner Street $920,000
Total Cost—Taunton Road to high point (1200m) $2,760,000
B Full Urban Reconstruction, 8.5 m Road Width
• Includes new storm sewer, concrete curb and gutter
and sidewalk
Total Cost—Taunton Road to Firner Street $880,000
Total Cost—Taunton Road to high point (1200m) $2,640,000
C Partial Reconstruction, East Side
• Widening of existing road including new storm
sewer including ditch inlets, concrete curb and
gutter, concrete sidewalk
Total Cost—Taunton Road to Firner Street $412,000
Total Cost—Taunton Road to high point (1200m) $1,236,000
D Partial Reconstruction, West Side
REPORT NO.: EGD-028-11 PAGE 11
• Includes new storm sewer, concrete curb and gutter
and sidewalk
Total Cost— Taunton Road to Firner Street $384,000
Total Cost— Taunton Road to high point (1200m) $1,152,000
E Shoulder Bikeway
• Widening of road on both sides, replacement of
entrance culverts and restoration of ditches
Total Cost—Taunton Road to Firner Street $284,000
Total Cost—Taunton Road to high point (1200m) $852,000
F Do Nothing NA
Perform routine maintenance as required.
4.2 Feedback From Residents
Overall, the residents were happy that the Municipality had put the effort into
organizing the meeting and listening to their concerns. There was mixed
feedback from the residents as to which, if any, alternative would best address
their concerns. Some people noted that the full reconstruction options are very
expensive, however many people also wanted the sight lines at the south end
improved, which would require a significant drop in the road to address the
concern. In order to eliminate the ditches, the road would have to be lowered to
provide drainage from the adjacent properties. Alternatively a shallow swale
system with ditch inlets could be used in areas where drainage to the road is not
possible. Similarly, many people said that they would prefer the bikeway over
sidewalks, however that solution would steepen the ditches unless a storm sewer
system were also constructed or the ditches were reconstructed further back
from the road. It is worth noting that a wider road platform typically leads to
higher traffic speeds. It is possible that a hybrid solution could be developed to
address many of the concerns, and the cost would likely be somewhere between
the cost of the partial urbanization and the full reconstruction options. This would
not, however, satisfy the residents who are concerned about the costs
REPORT NO.: EGD-028-11 PAGE 12
associated with the project, or those who would prefer that no improvements
were made.
4.3 Firner Street— Request to Fill Ditches and Provide a Storm System
Post PIC staff was requested by Council to provide a cost estimate to fill in the
ditches on Firner Street.
Description Cost
Fill in Ditches (similar to Tyler and Bradley Streets)
• Construction of new storm sewer, storm outfall,
asphalt gutter, and restoration of surface features.
Total Cost—Trulls Road to West Limit $320,000
Typically unless there are operational or safety issues related to the rural cross
section in hamlet areas the filling of ditches and installation of storm sewers is
not considered.
4.4 Firner Street—Turn Around
One of the issues raised at the PIC that was of concern to staff was the lack of a
turnaround or cul-de-sac at the west limit of Firner Street. The lack of an
adequate turnaround requires Garbage and Recycling vehicles to back either
down or up the street to complete weekly pickup. Although not discussed at the
PIC a solution to this would be to provide a turnaround at the south end of the
street which would require the cooperation of the adjacent land owner west of
Firner Street. An estimate of cost to complete the construction and associated
works would be $60,000 for a cul-de-sac that meets our current Municipal
standard or $25,000 for a modified turnaround similar to what exists on Bradley
and Tyler Streets.
REPORT NO.: EGD-028-11 PAGE 13
5.0 CONCLUSIONS
5.1 Short List of Alternative Solutions
Based on the feedback from residents at the PIC, there was not a clear choice
from the alternatives presented that would best suit the community's needs.
There were some specific deficiencies noted that could be addressed in isolation
such as constructing a turn-around at the west end of Firner Street for the
garbage trucks and replacing the guide posts at the south end of the community
with a new steel beam guide rail system. There may be measures that the
Municipality can take to eliminate one of the root problems of increased traffic
such as encouraging the Region of Durham to make improvements to the
Regional road system in the area which could reduce the amount of through
traffic in the community. A hybrid solution using bikeways and a storm sewer
system with full excavation in some areas could be developed.
The limits of work would need to be defined. The cost estimates were developed
on a cost per linear metre basis because it was not clear going into the PIC if the
concerns were related to a specific area or throughout the community. Based on
the feedback from residents, it seems that the problems are throughout the
community including Firner Street as well as concerns about safety on the hill
south of Mitchell Corners. In order to give an order of magnitude costs were
extended to two possible termination locations on Trulls Road ranging from value
from just under $300,000 to just over $2,700,000.
The possible solutions that seem to suit the community's needs best are:
1. Address high priority areas only
2. Hybrid solution including bikeways and storm sewer system
The costs associated with these will vary greatly depending on the limits of the
work and scope of improvements that are selected.
Considering the future 407 extension and possible impacts on Trulls Road and
based on the existing topography it is suggested that it is premature to decide on
REPORT NO.: EGD-028-11 PAGE 14
a preferred solution until such time that discussions with the province dealing
with concerns of the 407 extension impacts are completed.
Attachments:
Attachment 1 - Key Map
TAUNTON ROAD
H
IT TTT�_
T_Y.�ER.STREET
4w -BRADL"EY B:O.ULEVARD�
.Q FIRNER-ST.REET _
0
TT I
o
� o
o
N
_ W
� J
LORD DUNK'
Taunton Rd: —
-, LL
MITCHELL'
-
CORNERS4 -�
J LL
y _ rr
Pebblesltone Rd �
1llL_LL-1
DRAWN BY: E.L. DATE:July 6,2011
X _ REPORT EGD-028-11
—. couRricE 'r KEY MAP ATTACHMENT NO. 1
— G:Wttachments\Trulls Rd Michell Corners.mxd