Vaughan 'prepared to work closely with' province, Metrolinx to fix decaying fence along Hwy. 7

Pioneer Lane resident Maria Mazzurco regularly cleans up tires, license plates, bumpers and piles of garbage thrown from passing cars.

Yorkregion.com
Sept. 20, 2019
Dina Al-Shibeeb

The City of Vaughan says it’s “prepared to work closely with” the province and Metrolinx to “address the concerns of residents” over the decaying fences shielding their homes from the increasingly busy Hwy. 7.

The City said is also ready for collaborate either to “have this fence replaced and for the provincial government and Metrolinx to make an important long-term infrastructure investment here in Vaughan.”

It said these investments will directly “impact the well-being of people throughout the GTA.”

So far, residents were told they're responsible to maintain the wall in spite of the accelerated salt being splashed from the increasingly congested Hwy. 7 to the fence.

Others like Maria Mazzurco, who has been living in her Pioneer Lane home since 1975, has a different problem.

“A noise barrier was never supplied or offered, even as Hwy. 7 went from a one lane road to a two lane (road) each way since our homes were built,” Mazzurco said.

'We're living with noise'

When asked about how she tackles this issue, Mazzurco said, “We’re living with the noise, we’ve had to accommodate our life to avoid it.”

“Back windows are always kept closed. We rarely have an outdoor meal in the backyard, we tend to use our front veranda if we want to eat outdoors.”

“Sirens are always blazing along Hwy. 7 and the 53-foot tractor trailers and motorcycles are always revving their engines, especially because they would be travelling uphill behind our houses.”

On top of that, Mazzurco cleans up tires, license plates, bumpers and piles of garbage thrown from passing cars.

“The sidewalk along Hwy. 7 is directly behind our dilapidated fence so when the sidewalks are cleared in the winter, the snow is piled on the fence.”

While Mazzurco in May 2015 met with councillors Tony Carella and Mario Ferri in hopes they would represent her on a regional level,” she never heard back from them again.

In the same period, she found out that “Vaughan funded a sound barrier fence on the west side of Islington Avenue at Langstaff Road and a second one on the north side of Langstaff Road East of Pine Valley Drive.”

“The first one would be useless for abating noise since the residential houses are at a much higher elevation than the road, rendering the barrier useless,” she said. “The second one isn't even in a residential area. The fence borders a private golf course.”

The City knows that Vaughan has changed, especially for properties situated between Pine Valley Drive and Aberdeen Avenue, along Hwy 7.

“Today, Hwy. 7 has become an important east-west corridor for families, students, workers and visitors travelling throughout Vaughan and across the Greater Toronto Area (GTA),” it said.

With Hwy. 7 morphing into “a major public transit corridor for Viva Rapid Transit,” with “thousands of commuters” depending on this route, the city said it “recognizes that the maintenance of the fence should remain the responsibility of the property owner.”

“However, at this critical point in time, full replacement of the fence is required by Metrolinx due to the York Viva Bus Rapid Transit project -- which is part of Metrolinx’s Regional Transportation Plan and which has resulted in the extensive widening of Hwy. 7 to accommodate completion of the project.”

In response, Metrolinx said, “The (Bus Rapid Transit) BRT rapidway construction has no need to move the fences and, in fact, the design of the rapidway along Highway 7 was moved south to avoid any impacts whatsoever.”

Problem beyond Hwy. 7

For other residents, they see the problem beyond Hwy. 7.

Birgit Motz, who lives “directly” on Rutherford Road, told the Vaughan Citizen in an email, “The city put up the fence on one side of my property, which will come down during the next severe wind storm/snow storm.”

“I don’t understand why the transport trucks moving east to west on Rutherford could not take the 407 instead of roads where there is residential housing.”

“Vaughan the beautiful is not Vaughan the beautiful by my house,” Motz lamented, describing how the City “does not care about what it looks like to have dead branches on trees and garbage littering all over city property.”