King residents fight long-term plans to extend 15th Sideroad

YorkRegion.com
July 17, 2016
Lisa Queen

Although it is on the distant horizon, King residents are battling a long-range plan to widen and extend 15th Sideroad to Hwy. 400.

“If this comes to pass, if this matter is approved, it would be a foreseeable, severe unmitigated environmental disaster,” Franklin Moskoff, co-chairperson of the Kingscross Estates Ratepayers’ Association’s committee to stop the extension of 15th Sideroad, said.

The committee has been working on the issue with York Region and King Township officials for at least 22 years, but residents are not satisfied their environmental concerns have been addressed, he said.

“Not only to the homeowners, it’s not a question only of not in my backyard, but to the particular environment that this proposed extension would cover. Not only on top of the ground, but the aquifer underground and all our wells,” Moskoff said.

“We’ve been through all of the motions, all of the assurances and you’ll forgive me if I’m a little bit skeptical as to the assurances.”

Moskoff was one of seven people who asked York Region councillors at a committee meeting last week to reject plans for the road or, at least, conduct a full environmental assessment on the potential impacts.

Construction plans for the road are included in the region’s proposed transportation master plan coming to council June 23.

The master plan is attempting to address the region’s top priority of traffic congestion as the population grows by about 630,000 residents to 1.8 million and the number of jobs in the region increases by more than 322,000 by 2041, Stephen Collins, York’s director of infrastructure management and the project management office, said.

“I want to assure council and residents this is a long-term project. We do have this as a recommendation, because our master plan has identified it as being needed, but it is in the long-term section of our master plan, which means we do not propose to do anything with this project until the 15 to 25-year time period,” Collins said.

“And, not withstanding the recommendation in the master plan, there are still extensive studies that would need to be done before we could proceed to a design and construction of this project. We need the environmental, public consultation and the social and health impacts of a road project such as the 15th Sideroad extension.”

But the environmental impact of the road widening and extension could be devastating on wetlands in the area, Julie Nevin, co-chair of the ratepayer association’s committee and the association’s treasurer, said.

“The environmental impact would be on the flora, the fauna, the noise, the night sky loss, the dirt, the dust, the fish, the agricultural lands and especially on the wetlands and our water,” she said.

“The Oak Ridges Moraine, as we all know, is one of the most significant natural features in Ontario. It’s the province’s largest moraine and the rolling terrain of the Oak Ridges Moraine sustains the most significant and distinctive woodlands and wetlands in the GTA. The moraine also contains the only concentration of kettle lakes and wetlands and they comprise some of the best examples in the province.”

In addition to the deputations at the committee meeting, several residents wrote letters opposing the project.

“By way of this email, we want to express our very strong opposition to the extension of the 15th Sideroad. Aside from arguments of environmental sensitivity, which I’m sure others are making, (there is also) impact on wells of those living in Kingscross and safety issues,” John MacLennan said.

“We believe that having two connections to Hwy. 400 so close to one another is not prudent. The King Vaughan Townline is by far the most prudent choice of routes. Truck traffic in and around King is already too much — it should be forced south to a less developed area. We know that this route was proposed many years ago and was dismissed at the time. There is even more reason to abandon the plan now.”

Brother Paul Koscielniak, the local superior of the Augustinian community at Marylake, also expressed concerns.

“Marylake has been a place of refuge and peace for our community for 75 years. One of the Augustinian missions is to continue to provide a place of solitude, peace, retreat, pilgrimage and spiritual prayer,” he said.

“Further development on our property’s borders will not only erode our mission, (but) also erode the pristine and untouched eco-system we hold dear in our hearts.”

Plans for the 15th Sideroad amounts to urban infrastructure being imposed on a rural area to facilitate the region’s growth, King Mayor Steve Pellegrini said.

“We’re 26,000 people currently. We’re going to 34,900. It’s because we are protected by the Oak Ridges Moraine and the greenbelt. We are the largest municipality by land size, but we have the smallest growth,”’he said.

“But one of the things is we are always burdened by is the infrastructure that supports (urban areas) around us...’There’s no homes, stick it there.’ That is the concern people are having. It’s not for them. It’s for the greater good of York Region, but it’s not going to support their quality of life. I’ve been struggling with this because traffic flow is a major concern in York Region.”

Since the project is so far in the future, Pellegrini suggested removing the 15th Sideroad from the transportation master plan.

But other councillors argued that would be a big mistake.

“We have all had to deal with situations where we regret decisions were not made 20 years ago and we’re having to live with those in communities, not just in our local communities but right across the region,”’Markham Mayor Frank Scarpitti said.

“While I hear the concerns of (King) residents, these are concerns echoed in three or four or five other projects across the region.”

Instead, councillors agreed to make plans for the road a special study area.