Flooding, road improvements and city block studies come to King Township council

Session was last one before summer break, next scheduled council meeting in September

Yorkregion.com
June 30, 2023
Simone Joseph

In June, King Council held its last council meeting before the summer. The next scheduled one is in September. Here’s a summary of three main issues presented at council before the summer break.

1) STORMWATER MANAGEMENT/FLOODING

Citizen Tony Varanese has been very concerned with stormwater management for 30 years as his property is constantly being impacted due to flooding. Varanese voiced his concerns with flooding in the Nobleton area, the impact of development on the floodplain and the impact that the lack of maintenance of ditches and drains has been having on surrounding landowners’ properties. Various studies have been done over the years on the lack of mapping identifying where the drains/culverts are in King, and the need to be proactive by having a new drainage study done.

2) ROAD IMPROVEMENTS

The Road Needs Study proposes a 10-year paving strategy. The report prioritizes King’s road needs, looking at traffic volumes, road conditions and maintenance costs. It is a tool to help plan for budget needs and offers an approach to maintaining roads.

Issues with King roads include: certain roads with high traffic volume need an upgrade, hardtop roads have insufficient width, intersection improvements are required at King Road and Keele Street to improve traffic flow, enhance safety, and reduce congestion.

To implement these improvements, stopping prohibitions are recommended along both sides of Keele Street from King Road to Station Road. Some contributing factors are a bottleneck effect due to the on-street parking permissions along both sides of Keele Street and the absence of dedicated left-turn lanes onto King Road. Commuters have taken to using the local roads of Burns Boulevard and Burton Grove to avoid the King/Keele intersection during peak hours. This significantly increases traffic and vehicle speeds in these neighbourhoods. Several traffic-calming measures have been implemented in both areas to help reduce non-local traffic: A "No Heavy Trucks" sign on Burns Boulevard and Station Road, eight speed humps along Burton Grove, Patricia Dr., and Warren Rd., "No Through Traffic" from Station Road onto Burton Grove from 4 to 6 p.m., Monday to Friday, "Traffic-Calmed Neighborhood" signage and "Local Traffic Only" signage. A consistent recommendation is that the township and region implement dedicated left-turn lanes on Keele Street.

The 2020 Township of King Active Transportation Strategy recommended several locations on regional roads within the township for mid-block pedestrian crossings. The location that was identified as the highest priority is along Keele Street in the King City Core Area (approximately 120 metres south of King Road at the All-Saints Anglican Church). This area received high scoring as an efficient method to connect patrons between parking on Doctors Lane and the businesses on Keele Street.

With the current configuration, if no improvements are implemented, the intersection improvements at King Road and Keele Street are expected to operate over capacity by 2026. This over-capacity situation would be characterized by frequent individual cycle failures (when vehicles are unable to proceed through the intersection due to backup), poor traffic progression, and the wait for right/left turning is at the maximum acceptable limit.

Conclusion: To improve traffic management within the King City core area, staff are recommending township council issue a resolution to York Region Council requesting: (1) intersection improvements at King Road and Keele Street, (2) Amendments to York Region By-law 2017-37 for implementation of "No Stopping" restrictions on Keele Street, and (3) a mid-block pedestrian crossover on Keele Street.

3) INITIATE NOBLETON AND KING CITY BLOCK PLAN STUDIES

A report suggests initiating Nobleton and King City block plan studies for Old King Road in Nobleton and Doctors Lane in King City. The intent is to introduce a planning exercise involving extensive community consultation to help form the vision of revitalizing these integral parts of the village cores. The goal is to set up a framework to realize the potential to help create a “main street” feel, a walkable core and provide more amenities.