Posted Sep 5, 2009, 6:27 PM
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Registered User
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Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 1,256
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—... Make up your minds people!!!
Quote:
Stony Plain Road LRT plan draws fire
Proposed new route would put brakes on neighbourhood revitalization efforts, isolate businesses, critics say
By Richard Warnica, Edmonton Journal
Running a new West LRT line down Stony Plain Road would stifle business, disrupt the community and bring a long-planned revitalization to a screeching halt, say some opposed to the new proposed route.
The city unveiled a plan Thursday to lay a track from Lewis Estates in the west along 87th Avenue to 156th Street, where it would head north to Stony Plain Road/104th Street before ending at the future MacEwan College Station.
Under an older proposal, the train would have continued along 87th Avenue and across the river to the university. But many residents were against that plan and it was scrapped in the final version.
Some along the new proposed line, though, were not happy to see the change.
"If they take it down Stony Plain Road, they're going to destroy Stony Plain Road," said Don Calder, the president of Orbit Property Management, which owns several commercial buildings along the route.
Calder said the reduced street traffic would isolate the businesses between 149th and 156th streets and deep-six their efforts to make Stony Plain Road a more livable, vibrant place.
"There's obviously a need for the LRT to get the west and the Lewis Estates people more connected to the city, and especially the downtown core," he said. "But putting it right down the middle of Stony Plain Road makes no sense at all."
The Glenwood Community League, meanwhile, accused the city of bowing to NIMBY-ism ( "not in my back yard") by rejecting the 87th Avenue route.
"We're worried this is going to delay revitalization, maybe for decades," said Jamie Post, an official with the league.
The new route also means no direct access to the university from the west end. But that doesn't worry Kory Matthewson, the president of the University of Alberta Students Union.
Matthewson said students are just happy to see the city commit to more fixed-link public transit.
"Students do more than just university, as well," he said. "There's work and volunteer opportunities they're going to be going to. So the fact that they can't connect directly to campus is not a major concern."
The city also unveiled plans Thursday for a new Southeast line that would link Mill Woods to the core.
The plan calls for a track that passes through the Quarters redevelopment before crossing the river and stopping at the Muttart Conservatory in the river valley.
Terry Wickham, producer of the Edmonton Folk Festival, said the new route could be a godsend for the festival, but the devil's in the details.
Having a fixed link to bring people to and from the site would be great, he said, as long as the city doesn't have to expropriate any festival space to do it.
The southeast plan also calls for the line to snake out of the valley next to Connors Road, go east along 95th Avenue, and turn south on 83rd Street past Bonnie Doon Mall.
Nancy Rempel, the president of the Bonnie Doon Community League, said the proposed line could be a terrific thing for her community. Those with property on or near the proposed route, though, are understandably worried, she said.
"I've talked to people of two completely different minds. Some people think it will be great, some people think it will split their community in half and be devastating."
Before any more steps are taken, Rempel said she wants the city to produce an updated development plan for Bonnie Doon.
Dieter Schmidtke, the president of the community league in Idylwylde, which borders the proposed route to the east of 83rd Avenue, said his main worry about the plan is that the area's already limited green space could be annexed.
"We would prefer, if you're going to chew up something, chew up the Bonnie Doon (Mall) parking lot," he said.
© Copyright (c) The Edmonton Journal
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http://www.edmontonjournal.com/news/Stony+Plain+Road+plan+draws+fire/1965258/story.html
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