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4 Friday, September 10, 2021 brooklintowncrier.com An open letter to the residents of Brooklin and Whitby, from residents in Ashburn, Myrtle and Myrtle Station There has been much talk lately regarding an Environmental Assessment undertaken by The Town of Whitby, to determine a recommended alternate route to by pass the downtown of Brooklin. Ultimately, this route will become Highway 7/12, and align with Lakeridge Road. This appears to be an admirable objective, especially when seen in the context of the inevitable growth of Brooklin. However, the fact is that this proposal impacts us all and is in fact flawed. The consultant on the project is recommending the use of the Townline Road (traversing through the Greenbelt) as the preferred route. This has enormous negative environmental impacts to the entire area. These concerns are obvious and should worry everyone. We wish to focus on other aspects of the discussion, in order to outline why this current EA needs to be put on hold, pending a review of the entire process. First, the facts: 1. Fact. The estimated cost of the project is over $200 million. While you will read that this cost will be funded by Development Charges, paid by the builders of the Brooklin expansion, it needs to be noted that this argument has massive holes in it. First, Development Charges (DC's) are in fact a tax levied on the homebuyer. Second, the Towns own documents state that the current DC projection (a ten year plan to 2031) is that $87 million will be raised to fund this road. The shortfall will be added to DC charges from 2031 onward. That suggests that this project will not be paid for until at least 2041. The Town is planning to build the road within five years from now. Where will the funding come from to accomplish this objective? To achieve this DC number, Brooklin would be a 100,000 life community. There simply is no way to fund this project without local tax dollars. 2. Fact. After Whitby pays for it, the road ownership will be transferred to the Ministry of Transportation. The Province will in turn transfer ownership of Baldwin Street. This is an admirable outcome, but we must point out that Whitby will be paying $200 million in order to receive an asset valued by the province at $30 million. When asked, people advocating for this project, will say that the province is supportive. Well, why wouldn't they be? Whitby pays 100% of the cost; Whitby deals with environmental concerns; Whitby has to incur debt over a minimum of 20 years………and at the end, the Province receives an asset valued at seven times their own…..for free! Who, at the province wouldn't agree with that deal? 3. Fact. When this project was first discussed in 2015, it was during highway 407 construction. Trucks were a mainstay rumbling down Baldwin through the Brooklin downtown. This was unacceptable to most residents. However, since that time, truck traffic is far less. Still, that traffic is one of the biggest reasons cited for this bypass initiative. Is there a better solution than the one proposed? Could trucks be rerouted using existing roadways? The answer is yes. The approved Brooklin secondary plan calls for the intersection of Thickson and Baldwin, at Brawley, to be reversed, such that Thickson will be the road used for 'thru' traffic. Thickson is already planned, and budgeted by the Region, to be a four lane, arterial road. This route will be built for traffic that otherwise would proceed through downtown Brooklin. 4. Fact. When asked, the Town is unable to produce any communication with other government bodies, that explores how they managed to create a vibrant and people oriented downtown in Markham, which is still Highway 48. If Markham could do it, why not us? Why is this EA being rushed? We are asking the Town to take a time out! Explore other potential solutions, and hopefully prevent a very bad decision from happening. Talk to the Ministry about other options. Let's explore what other communities have done. No one is disputing the need to make the downtown something special. We simply believe that other options may exist. Let's pause before we go and spend $200,000,000! Mayor Don Mitchell: THE HIGHWAY 7/12 ALTERNATIVE ROUTE I must respond to the recent article titled "About that EA" which argues that we should stop the EA and leave Baldwin Street in provincial ownership. I completely disagree. Nothing is more important for the future well being of the residents and businesses of Brooklin and the North Ward than getting control and ownership of Baldwin. Ownership allows us to achieve planned growth and foster a complete streets and walkable environment. Ownership allows controls such as access, how close buildings can be to the street, the ability to modify the travelled portion of the road to install traffic calming measures, control on-street parking needs, build wider sidewalks and have street cafes. It allows us to manage heavy truck traffic and move it away from our Historic Downtowns and Hamlets. Information on the project can be found at: https://connectwhitby. ca/highway-712-ea Our Treasurer advises the costs of the alternative route will be 100% funded by development charges - provided the road is in Whitby. There will be no property tax impact nor any impact on our overall capital program. If we don't build the alternative route, we will have to add road capacity elsewhere because the traffic problem is real: it will keep growing and ignoring it will not make it go away. That new capacity will very likely come from widening existing roads which will negatively impact many, many more residents than the current recommended alternatives. I joined council in 1991 and represented the North Ward for 12 years. For the business owners and adjacent residents, provincial ownership of Baldwin Street meant aggravation, cost, delay and frustration. This has not changed. In fairness to MTO staff, they were, and are, just applying the provincial highway standards - but these standards are wholly inappropriate for urban areas, hamlets and downtowns. You cannot negotiate around this - we have tried for decades - we need to control the road. Who will benefit when we finalize the new route and control Baldwin? The list is long: 1 - Residents of Brooklin and area who care about their downtown and want it to be safe, comfortable and vibrant. 2 - Businesses who will prosper from more customers in their stores because there are more people on the street. 3 - Residents who will be able to move easily through our downtown and not be delayed by the congestion from large trucks and disinterested through traffic that add zero value to our village. 4 - Residents who live on Baldwin Street and deal daily with the increasing large truck traffic just outside of their homes. 5 - Residents on adjacent streets who face the risk of their streets becoming "cut thru"s from frustrated drivers fed up with the increasing congestion on Baldwin. 6 - Residents of Ashburn will see a double benefit. The new route will divert a lot of the existing large traffic from Myrtle Road - while not building it will certainly increase that traffic. That will make Myrtle Road a candidate for a future widening. 7 - Residents of Myrtle Station and Myrtle who have been dealing for so long with increasing heavy truck traffic right outside of their homes. There has been little that we could do to help. But adopting any option that begins north of Myrtle Station would not only divert that heavy traffic but allow us to slow all traffic and make those hamlets safer and more pleasant. 8 - Future residents north of Columbus Road. The quality and safety of those new neighbourhoods will be compromised if they must follow provincial highway standards. We cannot get sufficient entrances or pedestrian crossings or traffic signals or traffic calming measures. That is the hard reality we face. There is no magic solution to our growing traffic problem. There is no route anywhere that will not draw some objections. The EA is a onetime opportunity to find a route with the fewest social and environmental impacts and then mitigate those impacts to the maximum extent possible. MTO staff have been working with us on the commitment of all previous councils to build an alternative route. If this Council decides it will not honour that commitment, MTO would be justified in removing the existing on-street parking in our downtown to increase capacity. We work with MTO on many issues. They are providing our preferred site for the new hospital. We do not want to lose their trust. The Downtown Brooklin Development Steering Committee was formed in 2000 and is made up of business owners and residents committed to building a great downtown. Chair Steve Kee says: "The control of Baldwin Street has been, and remains, a top priority for the Committee. Our focus is on the livability of the downtown core. If Baldwin Street remains a provincial highway, the volume of traffic, much of which is large transport trucks, endangers pedestrian safety and is a barrier to creating a shopper, pedestrian and cycle friendly downtown. We strongly encourage continued efforts to gain municipal control of the street from the MTO.