Decision finally made on Walnut Street reconstruction

by Sylene Argent, Local Journalism Initiative

Council for the Town of Essex finally directed Administration on how to proceed with the detailed design for Walnut Street in Harrow during Monday evening’s meeting.

  The matter was postponed twice previously, at the June 2 and May 20 meetings, to provide more time to get public feedback.

  The design chosen was Option 1, which will keep Walnut Street with a rural section, no curbs, conduct a full depth mill and pave, and construct a consistent granular shoulder for parking on the east-side of the road. This would cost an estimated $2.4M.

  The granular shoulder was amended, however, to be shortened to one-meter on the east-side, based on resident feedback.  

Previously, it was explained that through the 2022 Capital Budget, Walnut Street South in Harrow is currently being designed for reconstruction. This will make improvements to the road and watermains.

  Since this project is a Council-driven project, and based on recent delegations to Council regarding parking and driveway issues as it relates to semi-trucks making deliveries to Sanford and Son Supermarket, the Infrastructure Services Department wanted to solicit Council’s direction for the road design for Walnut Street.

  Council was previously presented with three options, each varying with cost and scope of work. The options were presented due to the question of parking and funding.  

  Administration recommended Option 1 as it will get the current road completed without substantial changes to the current design, adds a shoulder for parking without damaging boulevard grass, and provides a shoulder to assist with winter control. It is also a replacement project, which allows the Town to access money to fund all or most of the project, Director of Infrastructure Services, Kevin Girard, explained.

  Girard said administration still believed Option 1 provided the best value for completion in the five-year Capital Roads Plan.

  The other two options were considered upgrades, allowing the Town to only use 50% of Asset Management Plan (AMP) reserve dollars, with the other half coming from other sources, which could impact taxation.

Option 2 included urbanizing the road section, including a full reconstruction of the roadway from the granular base up, in order to install the concrete curbs. The roadway width would be kept the same way it is currently, which is six-meters. Parking would be eliminated. The estimated cost was $2.8M.

  Option 3: Urbanizing the road section, with a full reconstruction and road-width of 7.9meters. This section would allow parking on the east-side, but would require relocating existing hydro poles on that side of the road. The estimated cost was $3.2M.

  Girard explained consulting Council on the design of roads is not a process done on all road works. Each project is evaluated during engineering design to access options for each roadway, considering a variety of details.

  With those reasons, Council is not setting any standards for roads in any urban centres, due to the decision made on Walnut.

  Mayor Sherry Bondy took part in a site-visit with 23 residents of the road and area recently, and the consensus from this group was to move forward with Option 1, as well. They did voice a concern, however, that it planned for 2.6-meters of gravel in front of Walnut Street South homes, and they did not see the need for that width.   

  The width of the gravel area of this section could be reviewed, with Girard suggesting at least a foot be in place on either-side of the road. He warned that parking is still allowed, which may cause rutting in the grass.

  In answering the residents’ question on why the sanitary system was not planned to be replaced with the road work, Girard noted the sewer is around 40 to 45-years old and a typical lifecycle for that type of infrastructure is around 80-years. A similar review was done for the storm sewer, and quite a bit of it does not need to be replaced based on a camera inspection. The watermain, however, will be replaced as part of the design.

Councillors Joe Garon and Katie McGuire-Blais voiced concerns of standards being upheld in other wards, in terms of curbs and other amenities, but not in this instance.

  “We created a standard for a reason, why aren’t we following it?” McGuire-Blais asked.

Girard responded that not every road can be completed equally. In this circumstance, Option 1 was presented due to the discussions previously had about parking on Walnut, and a decision about parking needs to be made before going ahead with the detailed design. How to fund the road work was also a consideration. It also comes down to timing.

  “If you want to complete the road quicker, and cheaper, and guarantee that we can get it done using Asset Management [funding], then you want to go with Option 1,” Girard explained.

  For the other two options, the Town will have to find half of the project, around $1M, cost somewhere else.

  To move ahead cheaper and quicker, and not abiding by standards, made no sense to McGuire-Blais who pressed on the matter. “It is like taking a step backwards.”

  She later commented she wanted administration to provide three options for every road, because she would have liked Option 1 for the Irwin Avenue works completed in Essex Centre last year. She received many emails on having to put a curb there because it was needed due to the standards.

Rodney Hammond asked McGuire-Blais what standards she was referring to. She in turn asked Girard to define that, who noted the standards referred to were outlined in the Development Standards Manual.

  CAO Kate Giurissevich added the Development Standards Manual is for new developments. The Town strives for those standards as it can, but decisions do need to consider other factors.

  Deputy Mayor Rob Shepley was in support of Option 1 initially, and still was, even if the gravel width was modified. He later moved the motion to proceed with Option 1 and amend the shoulder width to one-meter.