REPORT FROM JOINT GLEBE COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION / OLD OTTAWA SOUTH COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION ASSESSMENT COMMITTEE REGARDING TURN RESTRICTIONS IN THE GLEBE

RAPPORT DU COMITÉ D’ÉVALUATION CONJOINT DE L’ASSOCIATION COMMUNAUTAIRE DU GLEBE ET DE L’OLD OTTAWA SOUTH COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION CONCERNANT LA LIMITATION DES VIRAGES DANS LE GLEBE

ACS2006-CCS-TRC-0007 Capital/Capitale (17)

Appearing before the Committee to answer questions on the above-noted item were Public Works and Services (PWS) staff Richard Hewitt, Acting Deputy City Manager, Michael Flainek, Director of Traffic and Parking Operations, Bob Streicher, Acting Manager of Mobility and Area Traffic Management, and Ravi Mehta, Acting Program Manager of Area Traffic Management.

Before proceeding with discussion on the issue, Chair Stavinga noted that the recommendations listed under this item on the Transportation Committee Agenda index were incorrect, and that the recommendations contained in the report itself are the ones being considered.

Mike Jenkin, President, Old Ottawa South Community Association (OSCA) stated that the OSCA and the Glebe Community Association have been working together on this issue for a number of months, with OSCA publicizing the issue in the community newspaper, conducting significant consultations in the community, and participating in lengthy discussions at the Board level as well with the community at large. Sunnyside Avenue is a major concern for both communities and is currently the subject of a safety audit because there have been a number of pedestrian accidents in the past several months. He commented that traffic volumes are growing, housing is very close to the street and is densely packed, and there is a lot of pedestrian traffic on the street, particularly in the morning when children are en route to school. The community is concerned that with the Glebe traffic plan turn introductions could significantly add to the already significant traffic volumes, and the community suggests the staff estimates are actually on the low side, given traffic volume growth. There is strong support from both communities to do a traffic study on Sunnyside in conjunction with the safety audit of the street, which also has other problems in terms of physical design. Their proposal in the interim, awaiting the results of these two studies, would be the prohibitions noted in the report recommendation, which they feel would relieve about 40 per cent of the traffic volume problems in the Glebe and would not materially affect Sunnyside or Old Ottawa South.

Guy Giguère, Glebe Community Association (GCA) Transportation Committee indicated that the GCA supports the report recommendations, noting that the short-term measures would provide some relief for the residents on Torrington Place, Findlay Avenue and Broadway Street while still permitting people to get downtown in relatively the same amount of time. They feel the medium term solution would allow staff time to study and address the problem on Sunnyside and monitor any impact on the surrounding residential areas of the Glebe, and the long-tem solution proposal is to implement the right turn prohibition on Bronson when the O-Train is extended.

Bob Brocklebank, President of the GCA and June Creeleman (former President) noted the GCA has been working on this issue for the a long time and they hoped a solution would be provided at this time. Ms. Creeleman explained that after the Transportation Committee approved that Councillor Doucet and staff further consult the communities on this issue, the GCA wrote about the new measures extensively in the Glebe’s local newspaper on May 12 and included a large public consultation notice. The GCA had a walk-about of the area with its block representatives, area representatives, concerned neighbours and City staff. There was a public consultation on June 6. The issue was discussed and endorsed at three GCA public meetings, two regular Board meetings and the GCA Annual General Meeting. Consultation also took place with OSCA, the Dows Lake Community Association, and the National Capital Commission, the two school councils affected, Muchmore and Hopewell, as well as the local trustee, all of whom expressed support for the recommendations. They feel there has been complete buy-in to the proposal and note there has not been one substantive objection. Mr. Brocklebank added that the GCA’s concern about the traffic on Sunnyside is not a new issue, noting that during the last budget debate the GCA requested that funding for safety studies be protected in order to provide such studies for that area.

Chair Stavinga noted the following correspondence had been received and circulated to Committee members in advance of the meeting, a copy of each is held on file with the City Clerk:

§ E-Mail received 4 July 2006 from Christian Szpilfogel, Re. Objection Note

§ Memorandum from Acting Deputy City Manager, Public Works and services dated 4 July 2006, Re. Clarification of staff comments in the report

§ E-mail from Sharon Levine dated 5 July 2006, Re. Objection Note

Councillor McRae noted the following objections to the report recommendations were received via e-mail from constituents of her ward as well as from Councillors Deans’ and Thompsons’ wards. The Councillor later copied this correspondence to the Transportation Committee Coordinator, and a copy of each submission is now held on file with the City Clerk.

E-mails from the following individuals dated 4 July 2006:

1. Ray and Elenore Benesch

2. Tom Brandt

3. Trevor Butlin

4. Phil Caiger-Watson

5. Heather Chakra

6. Peter Chan

7. Robin Cullum

8. Eddie Flindall

9. Marlena Floyd

10. Dan Franzblau

11. Carolyn S. Gauthier

12. Sarah Godwin

13. Gary Goodings

14. Peter Green

15. Julie Hauser

16. Ray Jacobsen

17. M. & D. Kalab

18. Geoff King

19. Pam Lewis

20. Theresa MacLean

21. Ian MacPherson

22. Ted McNabb dated

23. Brian Mahoney

24. Darryl Michael

25. Susan Norquay

26. Deb & Dan O’Donnell

27. Chris Pomroy

28. Ron Ramkerrysingh

29. Lee Reid

30. Jim Robertson

31. Brent Scollie and Whidden Sankarsingh

32. Mary Stewart

33. Ray Stone

34. Patricia and Ted Ulch

35. Ron Wade

36. Patrick Wallace.

37. Donna Warner

38. Colin Williamson

E-mails from the following individuals dated 5 July 2006:

39. Bo (bo.gombac@servicecanada.gc.ca)

40. Chris Biber

41. Earl Canham

42. Andy Gagnon

43. James Law

44. Michael Lowe

45. JoAnne MacNeil

46. Andrew Marshall

47. Sabrina Quraeshi

48. Ted Treuil

49. David J. Wilson

Chair Stavinga asked for staff’s comments on the report. Mr. Flainek referred to the memo of clarification that had been distributed by the Deputy City Manager prior to the meeting and stated that with respect to report recommendation 1, staff supports the approval of the previously recommended right turn prohibitions and the undertaking of the area traffic management study for Old Ottawa South, but the issue is that with the way the report is written, it suggests that these are the recommendations that the community would like to see that are going to come out of the study. He directed Committee to the statement on page 50 of the report, “The Assessment Committee recommended the following outcomes of the area traffic management study”, and he pointed out that the group cannot recommend the outcome of a study to be undertaken. He therefore suggested that approving recommendation 1 as is would be akin to pre-approving the medium term proposal. Staff does recommend conducting the study but requests that recommendations not be approved as presented at this time. Staff support recommendation 2, but recognize that the NCC needs to be consulted. With respect to the third recommendation, staff wish to clarify that only the funding of the study is being approved, not necessarily the funding of the recommendations that flow from it; that would need to be prioritized within the list of outstanding $7 million worth of improvements.

Chair Stavinga noted that during her briefing meeting with staff prior to this meeting, she had requested for the sake of clarity that staff prepare their suggested revisions to the report recommendations for distribution at the meeting, in the event that a Committee member wished to so move them. The revisions were as follows:

That Transportation Committee recommend that Council:

1. Approve but defer the implementation on the prohibition of right turns from northbound Bronson Avenue between Findlay Avenue and Renfrew Avenue and from eastbound Chamberlain Avenue to Imperial Avenue until the completion of the medium term proposals an Area Traffic Management Study of Old Ottawa South as indicated in this report; and

2. Approve the short term proposals from this report to go into effect as soon as possible, subject to the National Capital Commission’s consultation; and

3. Consider the funding for the medium term proposals from this report of the Old Ottawa South Area Traffic Management Study during the budget deliberations for the 2008 Capital Budget.

When asked by Councillor Legendre why the NCC has not yet responded, staff advised they had provided the information to them about a month ago but one of individuals that was reviewing it was on holidays at that time. Staff have not received any type of reaction at this point from the NCC. Feeling that staff’s suggested revisions were appropriate, Councillor Legendre proposed to move them as amendments to the report recommendations.

Councillor McRae asked Mr. Flainek if the expansion of light rail transit (LRT) would diminish traffic flow from the south end to the north end of the corridor, as that was something stated as fact by the former Deputy City Manager of Planning and Growth Management (PGM). Mr. Flainek responded that neither staff nor the project consultant has undertaken any specific technical review to quantify the number of cars that could be taken off the corridor with the introduction of LRT, but he acknowledged the fact that there is some transition from one mode to another when a different mode of travel is introduced in a parallel corridor, the magnitude of which could be measured after LRT is put into that area.

Chair Stavinga likewise noted that the presumption is that there will be a positive impact on traffic flow with the expansion of LRT and that is one of the City’s reasons for pursuing the project. Given the magnitude of that project, she felt that staff needs to provide clarity in the form of a definitive answer as quickly as possible. Mr. Flainek pointed out that at the same time LRT will be introduced, approximately 200,000 additional vehicles will be introduced onto the overall network as a result of growth. He reiterated there will be some diversion from one mode of transportation to another and he noted that traffic volume may decrease slightly in the Bronson corridor or it may actually increase because of the growth that will be occurring throughout the whole city. That analysis forms part of the Environmental Assessment. Chair Stavinga was not satisfied with that response and advised she would expect a much more concrete answer in the form of a memo from the Acting DCMs of the PWS department and the PGM department prior to July 11, when Council begins deliberations on the LRT. Councillor McRae added that the memo should also clarify what the effect will be on the Bronson corridor if LRT is not expanded in the south.

Councillor Thompson sympathised with Councillor McRae’s concerns about the effect this will have on her ward and others. He suggested the restrictions implemented on Albion Road could be used as a guide because although those measures have reduced the traffic directly north of Lester Road, they have caused roll-out problems for cross-streets in the area. He was concerned about the report recommendations and stated they would have significant impact on those who drive from the south end of the city, and that it would cause greater congestion on Bronson. Mr. Flainek acknowledged there will be an increase of traffic on Bronson Avenue, but he noted that it would not be a one-for-one relationship with every car using Bronson because of the new right turn prohibition. He suggested that with time traffic flow will adjust and even out. He also acknowledged there are presently some capacity issues on Bronson but he stated staff have done their best in advance of implementing the right-turn prohibitions by upgrading the intersection of Carling and Bronson to more safely accommodate north-bound left turn movements. Further, Mr. Flainek noted that staff primarily implement turn restrictions to deal with the concerns of the community while trying to maintain traffic on the arterial road system, but those measures are not always successful or beneficial to the entire community in which they are placed. Staff thus find themselves in a difficult situation and suggest that if this is the manner in which Committee is requesting they proceed, there should be some thought given to re-evaluating the methodology that Committee and Council has directed staff to utilize through the Area Traffic Management guidelines. He noted a report would be coming forward within the next couple of months dealing with the broader consultation of these types of reviews.

Councillor Doucet inquired how much money was spent improving the Carling/Bronson intersection. Mr. Flainek responded that the intersection improvement, which was a combination of three or four programs to deal with problems relating to collisions, transit priority measures and capacity, cost approximately three quarters of a million dollars. Councillor Doucet was upset, stating that it was asserted to his community that the intersection improvement was required if the right-turn prohibitions were to be implemented so that Bronson could take more capacity, but then the community had been told that the prohibitions may be deferred. He asked whether staff agreed with Mr. Giguère’s earlier comment that the prohibition would only add 30 seconds to drivers’ commute time and Mr. Flainek responded that although staff have not done any specific studies, that number does sound reasonable.

In response to concerns raised by Councillors Thompson and McRae, Councillor Bédard questioned whether there would be through-traffic in neighbouring wards as a result of the turn prohibitions. Mr. Flainek advised that the only issue he can see is that some of the residents of those wards would no longer be able to use their regular route to downtown because of the prohibitions. He acknowledged this might have a distribution effect in the ward of origin as some drivers might adjust their entire route, but he commented that it is difficult to predict.

Councillor Legendre referred to the memo that some Committee members had requested to come forward and stated that he found Mr. Flainek’s responses to earlier questions to be highly appropriate and that he doubted any other senior staff member could provide any more substantial response. A further study would be required to provide those types of answers. In response to these remarks, Chair Stavinga explained that she meant no offence to Mr. Flainek and did not wish to question his integrity in asking for the memorandum; she simply wanted additional information about ridership issues, changes in traffic patterns and growth projections that would need to be provided by the PGM department.

Councillor El-Chantiry felt there is a bigger issue to be addressed here, specifically that traffic flow and community impact should be planned and consulted for in the early development stages of new subdivisions. Mr. Flainek responded that the Traffic and Parking Operations branch has been providing comments in the early planning stages and has been reviewing some of the subdivision plans that are in place for some time now, looking to implement some of the overall traffic calming solutions within those new neighbourhoods. The problem here, which will be an on-going one, is that there is an established neighbourhood with a certain level of traffic on it that has built out, but the city itself has not. The Councillor commented that consultation should go beyond the immediate community of the problem area because the impacts are often widespread. He referred to March Road in Kanata as an example, which was supposed to be widened before the subdivision was built, but that did not occur and the people coming from that area are now experiencing major traffic problems. He questioned why the widening of such high traffic areas is not enforced before other subdivisions are built and the Director advised that the Transportation Master Plan, as part of the Official Plan, looks at what measures are required in the various years, but there are budgetary issues involved as well.

Councillor McRae asked whether the prohibitions would cause traffic to jam up on the Airport Parkway, on Riverside Drive, on Hunt Club Road or on Prince of Wales Drive. Mr. Flainek responded that there would be a re-distribution of up to 200 vehicles starting from their origin, but he commented that it is difficult to tell how far south that might occur or how much of an impact it might have. The Councillor felt this to be an unsatisfactory response and she expressed frustration with the fact that the PGM department is requesting support for LRT, saying that those roads will fail without it, and that PWS staff are not able to respond as to whether or not these prohibitions will cause problems further south. Mr. Flainek advised that these prohibitions would have an impact on specific corridors leading up to this area, but a detailed analysis of the potential impacts that far south has not been conducted. He added the study area has shown that the impact on Sunnyside will be in the order of 60 vehicles, and any impact further south would likely be of a smaller degree. Mr. Streicher pointed out that motorists coming from the south would not be affected until they get to the Bronson / Carling / Preston area. Councillor McRae advised that her concerns were about getting people onto the Queen Elizabeth Driveway to get downtown, not in the other direction. Mr. Hewitt responded that is really the subject of the intended traffic study and that is why staff have suggested revisions to the report recommendations in order to await the undertaking of the traffic study, which would provide further information on potential network impacts. When asked whether NCC approval is required in order to implement the short-term proposals, Mr. Flainek indicated that the City has an agreement with the NCC dating back to 1958, which speaks about the Bridge, the ramp system that was to be put in place, and by default, which is the three road pattern currently serving that demand, as part of that agreement, it suggests that the NCC would have to concur with any changes to that area. At her request, staff agreed to provide a copy of that agreement to Councillor McRae. In response to additional questions about the agreement, Mr. Flainek replied that legal staff have reviewed it and have advised that any proposal the City undertakes that would have an impact on the traffic using this ramp system would require NCC concurrence. Councillor McRae suggested, as a friendly amendment to Councillor Legendre’s motion, that recommendation 2 be amended to read “…subject to NCC concurrence”, rather than ‘consultation’, and Councillor Legendre accepted. With respect to the Carleton Heights Area Traffic Study, the Councillor requested clarification that Mr. Flainek’s earlier comments about cut-through traffic in Carleton Heights referred to people cutting from Fisher to Prince of Wales (or vice-versa), which Mr. Flainek confirmed. The Councillor wished to point out, for the record, that there is a big difference between restricting cut-through traffic from one main arterial to another and permanently restricting the only on-ramp to the Queen Elizabeth Driveway north of Catherine.

Following debate and comments on the issue, the Committee considered the revised recommendations put forth by Councillor Legendre, splitting recommendation 2 from 1 and 3 for voting purposes, at the request of Councillor McRae, who did not support the implementation of the short-term proposals.

Moved by Councillor J. Legendre:

That Transportation Committee recommend that Council:

1. Defer the implementation on the prohibition of right turns from northbound Bronson Avenue between Findlay Avenue and Renfrew Avenue and from eastbound Chamberlain Avenue to Imperial Avenue until the completion of an Area Traffic Management Study of Old Ottawa South as indicated in this report; and

CARRIED as amended

2. Approve the short term proposals from this report to go into effect as soon as possible, subject to the National Capital Commission’s concurrence; and

CARRIED as amended

YEAS (5): Councillors G. Bédard, A. Cullen, C. Doucet, J. Legendre, J. Stavinga

NAYS (3): Councillors E. El-Chantiry, M. McRae, D. Thompson

3. Consider the funding of the Old Ottawa South Area Traffic Management Study during the budget deliberations for the 2008 Capital Budget.

CARRIED as amended