Present : Councillors M. Meilleur (Chair), C. Doucet (Vice-Chair), E. Arnold, R. Bloess, A. Cullen, J. Harder, P. Hume, J. Legendre, P. McNeely

Declarations of Interest

No declarations of interest were received.

Confirmation of Minutes

The Minutes of the Transportation and Transit Committee of 02 May 2001 were confirmed.

PRESENTATION

Staff advised that the verbal presentation would be postponed until the next meeting.

PUBLIC HEARINGS

1. MODIFICATIONS TO PRINCE OF WALES DRIVE AT CRESTWAY DRIVE TO ACCOMMODATE THE WINDING WAY SUBDIVISION/ MODIFICATIONS À LA PROMENADE PRINCE OF WALES À LA HAUTEUR DE LA PROMENADE CRESTWAY AFIN DE PERMETTRE LE LOTISSEMENT DE LA VOIE WINDING

Ref N^o : ACS2001-DEV-APR-0084

Councillor Legendre recalled that Regional Council previously approved a report on modifications to Prince of Wales Drive to accommodate a development and he believed it included an arrangement for the developer to provide pedestrian access (sidewalks) to the other side of the road.  The report before committee, however, does not include these details and he was concerned about the lack of reference to that previous understanding.  The Project Manager, Bill Jolliffe, explained that the detailed design for the modification had not yet been finalized, but confirmed that sidewalks will be provided along Crestway Drive and Winding Way as a link between the two communities.  He clarified there are no current plans to provide sidewalks on Prince of Wales Drive.

Councillor Legendre asked that staff provide information detailing what the anticipated pedestrian movement will be from the existing subdivision in the northwest corner to the east side.  He also asked that future reports include details of where transportation infrastructure, including sidewalks, is proposed to be constructed.  The Manager of Design and Construction, Larry Morrison, indicated that since this report refers specifically to an intersection modification, the provision of sidewalks would typically be shown on the plan of subdivision only.

Councillor Cullen asked whether the proposal for this intersection would be compatible with the Planning Committee’s recent direction for landscaping at the same intersection as part of its approval of the subdivision application for the Winding Way area.  Mr. Morrison responded by stating there is a plan for a greenway (walking and cycling facilities) adjacent to Prince of Wales Drive when it is widened in the future, and he confirmed that the design of the greenway and the design of the intersection would be co-ordinated to ensure they both work.

Councillor Legendre remarked that while future plans may include a walkway and cycling path, he thought the Transportation Master Plan required that developers include sidewalks unless otherwise recommended.  The Director of Development and Infrastructure Approvals, John Moser, indicated there is no requirement for a sidewalk on Prince of Wales Drive immediately adjacent to the roadway, but, as previously indicated, the developer will be required to provide for cycling and pedestrian movements within the green space when the road is widened.

In order to clarify the concerns of providing for pedestrian movement, Dan Paquette of Minto Developments, advised that as part of the Greenway Masterplan, a walkway is planned on the west side of Prince of Wales Drive from JDS Uniphase on Merivale Road, past Chapman Mills and down to Woodroffe Avenue.  On the east side, from the intersection of Crestway, there will be a pathway that will connect to the conservation area just south of Winding Way Drive.

Councillor Doucet was concerned about not providing for sidewalks now, especially when there have been many occasions where they were not included as part of a development and  then had to be constructed after the fact.  He proposed that sidewalks be included as part of this intersection modification.

Questions arose on the cost of providing a sidewalk through the area and while staff did not have those figures, it was suggested it could be worked in as a development charge item.  Mr.  Morrison confirmed that sidewalks will be built into the intersection modification itself, but will not be extended to any distance along the roadway.  With respect to the appropriateness of a sidewalk on Prince of Wales Drive, Mr. Morrison explained that the greenway is intended to be situated behind the ditch line because a sidewalk immediately adjacent to the road will have an impact on the drainage of the road.

Councillor Cullen opined that constructing a sidewalk in advance of need would not be useful and from the perspective of timing and priority, suggested the Motion be referred to staff for consideration of costs, et cetera.

Councillor Bloess reminded committee that the report is a proposal to modify an intersection and he could not support the Motion when there are other areas which warrant such facilities, but which cannot be accommodated due to funding restraints.

Councillor Harder advised there is no justification for sidewalks on Prince of Wales Drive because the houses contained in the new development will back onto the former highway and the growth of the communities is in an east-west direction and therefore people will have no need to use sidewalks to access the other side of the road.  She was confident the proposed greenway would provide people with the appropriate connections required for them to access the facilities, which will be developed in the area in the future.

Councillor Doucet withdrew his Motion.

Having held a public hearing, that the Transportation and Transit Committee recommend Council approve, in addition to the previously-approved traffic control signals and associated roadway modifications at the intersection of Prince of Wales Drive and Crestway Drive, the construction of an easterly leg to this intersection and a southbound left-turn lane to accommodate the Winding Way residential development along the east side of Prince of Wales Drive as described in the report and illustrated in Attachment 2, subject to the proponent, Tartan Development Corporation:

1.      funding the total cost for the additional roadway modifications and the associated utility relocations; and,

2.      executing a legal agreement with respect to the above.

CARRIED

2. THE ORISKA WAY TRANSIT CONNECTION AND THE INTERIM WIDENING OF FALLOWFIELD ROAD between THE VIA RAIL TRACKS AND WOODROFFE AVENUE/LA VOIE DE RACCORDEMENT DE LA VOIE ORISKA ET L’ÉLARGISSEMENT PROVISOIRE DU CHEMIN FALLOWFIELD ENTRE LA VOIE FERRÉE VIA ET L’AVENUE WOODROFFE

Ref N^o : ACS2001-TUP-INF-0009

Having held a public hearing, that the Transportation and Transit Committee recommend, subject to Municipal Act advertising, Council approve the Transit connection from the Barrhaven Southpoint community directly to the Fallowfield Transit Station (via Oriska Way) and the interim widening of the eastbound lane of Fallowfield Road from the VIA rail tracks to Woodroffe Avenue, as detailed in the Report.

CARRIED

REGULAR ITEMS

3. OC TRANSPO TRANSPLAN 2001/ TRANSPLAN 2001 D’OC TRANSPO

Ref N^o : ACS2001-TUP-TRN-0006

Following the staff presentation, Councillor Cullen requested a copy of the document which includes all the input from the public consultation.  Staff agreed to provide that to the councillor.

Councillor Cullen indicated that he had received some complaints about the increased waiting time for Route 2 and wondered whether staff had received other such complaints during the consultation process.  Dr. Helen Gault, Manager, Transit Schedule and Service Development indicated that following a review of the level of usage, the service frequency was increased east of Westboro and reduced west of Westboro.  These changes were made several months ago.  While he recognized staff’s ability to adjust schedules to some degree, the councillor believed that such a reduction in service (from 20 to 30 minutes) was inappropriate without first coming to the committee or at least consulting with the ward councillor.  Dr. Gault advised that OC Transpo has a policy about what constitutes major service changes and what types of changes must be brought forward for consideration; the changes to Route 2 would not have fallen under that policy.

The Committee Chair suggested, however, that in situations such as this, staff should at least advise the ward councillor.  In addition to his earlier request, Councillor Cullen asked staff to provide committee members with the policy that stipulates what changes in schedules are delegated to staff, et cetera.

Councillor McNeely made note of the service changes to be made in Orléans and as the date for implementation draws near, he asked that staff assist him with informing residents of the proposed adjustments.  Dr. Gault agreed to discuss OC Transpo’s marketing program with the councillor.

Councillor Bloess was concerned about the impact of the changes proposed to Route 27.  He noted that while service will be increased south of Innes, by the time the bus reaches Hurdman Station, it is already packed and is out of sync with Route 40 and he wondered whether the changes would worsen this existing situation.  Dr. Gault did not believe it would make the situation worse, adding that they will adjust the frequency to take into account the additional ridership base at the station.  The councillor wondered if Route 27 and 40 could be synchronized at Hurdman, noting that from that point forward they follow the same route to the same destination.  Dr. Gault agreed to examine the fine-tuning, but explained it is difficult.  Councillor Bloess further indicated that residents in Chapel Hill south do not feel they have adequate service and he wondered if staff could examine the possibility of extending one of the old Chapel Hill routes to address this concern.  He explained that Route 28 travels through Blackburn Hamlet, adding approximately 10 minutes to the travel time and he believed there was an opportunity for people on both sides of Innes if there was a dedicated express route that stayed on the By-pass, thereby reducing travel time.  Dr. Gault responded by stating staff would work with the councillor with respect to what can be done for the next Transplan.

Councillor Legendre questioned whether the people that will be affected by the changes to Route 18 are employees of the businesses on Coventry Road.  Pat Scrimgeour, Manager of Service Planning advised they will be customers or employees of those businesses.  The councillor indicated that Route 18 travels via Coventry at time, and via Tremblay at others and he was concerned this may be confusing for users.  He wondered how many other routes featured this switchable feature.  Dr. Gault advised that while there are very few routes with this feature, it is only used as a last resort for the purposes of scheduling trips.  The councillor suggested this is the type of confusion that may deter people from using transit and he urged staff to keep it as simple as possible to ensure confidence in the system.

David Jeanes, Transport 2000 stated that as an employee in the high tech industry, where people live within the greenbelt but work in the outer business parks, this particular segment of the working population was not accommodated during the Transplan 2001.  He explained that the downtown open house was only at noon and therefore completely inaccessible to those working in the business parks and all other open houses were held outside the greenbelt and therefore only accessible to those living in the area or to those prepared to drive out in the evening.  He noted that they have different needs from those living in the suburbs and working downtown because they depend a lot more on transferring.  He suggested Transplan 2001 could have been more successful if there was an opportunity for more consultation from the people working in the business parks.  Mr.  Jeanes hoped that in future this could be taken into account.

When questioned whether it would have been of value to have OC Transpo come to his place of work to discuss the issues, Mr. Jeanes indicated that this had been done in the past, but it is costly.

That the Transportation and Transit Committee recommend that Council approve the following changes to the OC Transpo route network, to improve transit service by introducing service into new residential areas, reducing customers’ walking distance to the nearest bus stop, their travel time, or the number of transfers they need to make:

CARRIED

4. OC TRANSPO 2001 SERVICE PERFORMANCE REVIEW/ ÉVALUATION DU RENDEMENT DES SERVICES D’OC TRANSPO POUR 2001

Ref N^o : ACS2001-TUP-TRN-0007

Councillor Munter expressed concern about the difficulties people have travelling from south to north in Kanata and yet staff are now recommending a further reduction in service on the only local north/south route (Route 162).  While Dr. Gault agreed that this will result in a 35% loss of customer trips between Monday and Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., staff are recommending the service be removed after 9:00 p.m. because it is not cost efficient to have a bus that is not productive.  The councillor stated that if the city is serious about making transit more accessible and more appealing, it needs to make it easier for people in one area to get to an employment node, for example, in the same area.  He had suggested several times to OC Transpo to run a bus up and down Eagleson and March Roads, but that could only be accomplished by using existing resources and with this service reduction being proposed, he was concerned that it will make it even harder to get that north/south route put in place.  Dr. Gault agreed to work with the councillor in the coming months to see what can be done in Transplan 2002.

Councillor Harder believed it was important to identify where people are working in the city, noting the balance has been shifted from the downtown core to areas in Kanata and Nepean.  As a result, there is a need to provide good transit service to those areas and she suggested taking advantage of under utilized corridors such as Highway 416, which could provide a connection to the Eagleson Park and Ride Lot.  From there, the bus could feed into the local routes to the employment nodes.  The councillor expressed concern about the reduction in service on Route 175 and the impact this will have on seniors attending programs at the Sportsplex.  She believed that for at least on workdays, the route should be tied in with the programming at that centre.  Dr. Gault understood that the request was to provide evening service, which is not currently provided because it would have a very poor performance.  She suggested that the alternative service delivery methods might assist in this regard.  The councillor opined that a regular bus is perhaps not necessary to address this need, and suggested using one of the smaller buses that could circulate between Baseline Station and the Sportsplex.

With regards to the Fallowfield Park and Ride Lot, Councillor Harder noted that many users are from south Nepean and while ridership has increased as a result, the goal is to attract people who live in Kempville and Manotick, for example.  She suggested staff may want to do a better marketing job in order to attract people from the more southern communities.

Councillor Arnold questioned whether there would be any co-ordination with the new Mobility Issues Advisory Committee with respect to the guidelines for Transplan 2002.  Dr. Gault advised that they would discuss with that committee how low floor buses should be distributed and as part of the plan to solicit more input from the public for Transplan 2002, staff would certainly meet with them to discuss any ideas they may have.  The councillor indicated an interest in seeing the guidelines for the planning process and asked whether there was some way of setting some objectives and whether the appropriate place for that is through this committee or the Mobility Issues Advisory Committee before consultation takes place on the details of a route change, for example.  Dr. Gault advised that OC Transpo uses service design guidelines to allocate resources and decide where they are being wasted and where they can be used more efficiently.  She added that there are already established guidelines for the Transplan 2001, i.e., the 400 metre walking distance to service; aiming for a 3% ridership increase each year.  She agreed there could be an open discussion on these and other issues with the Advisory Committee.

The General Manager suggested that prior to embarking on Transplan 2002, staff could bring forward the guiding principles used to look at service decisions and how those contribute to the overall transportation objectives of the former Official Plan.  The committee can then have the opportunity to validate those directions.  Councillor Arnold agreed with this direction and suggested the committee should have that review before embarking on the Transplan 2002 process.

Councillor Bloess noted that Route 123 would be removed and wondered if staff had looked at the possibility of changing Route 124, which is the alternate route in that area.  He believed that if some small adjustments could be made to Route 124, it could accommodate some of the lost ridership.  Dr. Gault advised that Route 124 is doing well and staff did not want to increase the travel time on that route and discourage users.  However, she suggested that through the Transplan 2002 process, staff can do further examination to determine if anything can be done.

Councillor Doucet referred to the issue raised through the KPMG report about providing skeletal service, because of the difficulties people have travelling by bus within the community.  He suggested that moving towards a skeletal system should be introduced into the discussion.

Russell Larabie, OC Transpo Garage Employee, conveyed his comments to the committee about the atmosphere with employees at the garages since the tragedy at OC Transpo two years ago.  While the changes that have been implemented as a result, and the municipal amalgamation itself was a lot for employees to digest, he assured committee that staff is working together with management to make their place of work as positive an environment as possible.  He indicated that the negative comments made to committee by union representatives were not a true reflection of how employees actually feel.

Committee members were encouraged by these comments and suggested he and other employees take a more active role at union meetings to ensure their views are made.

That the Transportation and Transit Committee receive this report for information, noting that major changes are planned on four routes to improve their financial performance and that the resources made available will be re-allocated to accommodate increasing ridership on other routes in the OC Transpo network.

RECEIVED

5. NICOLL’S ISLAND ROAD, FORMER TOWNSHIP OF RIDEAU / RUE DE L’ILE NICOLL, ANCIEN CANTON DE RIDEAU

Ref N^o : ACS2001-CRS-LEG-0011

Jerry Bellomo, City Solicitor provided the following comments:

- significant capital improvements are required on the roadway at an estimated minimum cost of $300,000 and may involve greater expenditures upon further study;

- a statement in the report that both the federal government and the residents involved did not support arbitration is incorrect; the community now feels it is an acceptable alternative for attempting to resolve the issue;

- the road in question is substandard in width and the slope destabilization occurring along the riverbank is affecting the integrity of the road;

- the city’s position is that it is not a municipal roadway and it is the position of the federal government that it is;

- there is a license of occupation agreement that the Township of Rideau entered into in 1990 whereby it agreed to maintain the road, but not to get involved in major capital repairs;

- the issue of access to the subdivision and the lack of appropriate access for emergency vehicles to those homes are of concern.

Ian Hawtrey, Chair, Nicoll’s Island Community Association indicated that residents are extremely concerned about this situation, especially with the deterioration of the road continuing at an alarming rate.  He advised that an engineering report prepared in 1997 stated that the road would fail unless the slope is stabilized and the longer it is delayed, the more costly it will be to repair it.  Further, delaying the stabilization increases the potential liability, risk of serious injury due to road collapse and the risk of making homes inaccessible to emergency vehicles.  He explained that residents have worked long and hard for ten years trying to resolve the issue, but have been continually frustrated because of the number of jurisdictions involved and the fact no one seems to know who’s responsibility it is to correct the situation.  Mr. Hawtrey urged committee to consider this issue an urgent priority and to resolve the matter before a disaster occurs.

When questioned whether the homeowners would contribute to a local improvement levy to remedy the situation, the delegation advised that residents are still paying for local improvements on that road, but that they would be willing to discuss any kind partnership.

That the Transportation and Transit Committee receive this report for information.

RECEIVED

INQUIRIES

Airport Expansion

Councillor Doucet asked that representatives from the Airport Authority be invited to speak to the committee about their expansion and the impact this will have on the Airport Parkway.

OC Transpo – Annual Complaints

Councillor Doucet asked whether or not there has been any tiered analysis done on annual complaint statistics.  For example, are operator complaints increasing or decreasing, service times increasing or decreasing, et cetera.  And if not, could there be.

Road Safety

Councillor Munter noted that as suburban communities continue to grow and rural areas get more developed, the number of conflicts between deer and people are growing.  He asked that staff consult with relevant agencies and report back on:

1. What measures can be taken to ensure road safety for motorists (including budget and recommended actions)?

2. What public education is required to reduce conflicts (including budget and recommended actions)?

3. What is the impact of the new development protocol on reducing conflicts?

ADJOURNMENT

The Committee adjourned the meeting at 1:15 p.m.

_________________________ _________________________

Committee Coordinator Chair