London Construction - Development News Thread #1

[london2020]

They've begun ripping out trees/shrubs and relocating utilities for the Wonderland widening north of Gainsborough. One small step....

[MolsonExport]

^very overdue. I can't understand why they rezone/develop areas prior to improving the infrastructure.

[manny_santos]

Originally Posted by london2020

They've begun ripping out trees/shrubs and relocating utilities for the Wonderland widening north of Gainsborough. One small step....

Chances are the widening might start soon in that case. Historically I've found utility relocations happen fairly soon before the backhoes show up. One example being Commissioners between Wharncliffe and Wellington, where utility relocations took place in 2001 and widening started in 2002. There are cases such as Sarnia Road where power lines were moved years ago and there is wide ROW to widen the road, but not everything has been moved yet - there is still the odd pole from the old power lines.

I'll have to get a look up there soon. Haven't been on that part of Wonderland in some time.

[go_leafs_go02]

Haha...don't complain.

In BC they WIDEN roads around utility poles, because the Utilities don't believe it's a priority to them, and there's no legal obligation to them apparently.

[MolsonExport]

Originally Posted by manny_santos

Chances are the widening might start soon in that case. Historically I've found utility relocations happen fairly soon before the backhoes show up. One example being Commissioners between Wharncliffe and Wellington, where utility relocations took place in 2001 and widening started in 2002. There are cases such as Sarnia Road where power lines were moved years ago and there is wide ROW to widen the road, but not everything has been moved yet - there is still the odd pole from the old power lines.

I'll have to get a look up there soon. Haven't been on that part of Wonderland in some time.

I am really sick and fucking tired of waiting for the widening of Sarnia between Western Road and Wonderland. C'mon!! wtf is going on? Why widen only one side?

Connected to the above includes the following annoyances:
1. The world's shittiest bridge over the tracks (Sarnia)
2. Turning right from Western road onto Sarnia between 4-530pm. Cars are often backed up into the Springett parking lot.
3. the deadly merge lane from Sarnia, northbound onto Wonderland.

[manny_santos]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

I am really sick and fucking tired of waiting for the widening of Sarnia between Western Road and Wonderland. C'mon!! wtf is going on? Why widen only one side?

Connected to the above includes the following annoyances:
1. The world's shittiest bridge over the tracks (Sarnia)
2. Turning right from Western road onto Sarnia between 4-530pm. Cars are often backed up into the Springett parking lot.
3. the deadly merge lane from Sarnia, northbound onto Wonderland.

There's an easy solution to the right-turn lane problem - that lane should be channelized directly into the right-hand lane on Sarnia Road, leaving the left lane only accessed from Philip Aziz Ave and Western Road northbound. This setup is used at the north end of Wortley Road, where the right lane defaults onto the right lane of York Street. Trouble is, the majority of traffic stop there, even though there is no yield sign!

Did you mean the merge lane from Wonderland northbound onto Sarnia? One of the other problems in that area is the left turn arrow from Sarnia onto Wonderland southbound. Way too short for the amount of traffic.

[ldoto]

A long-vacant property in the heart of downtown has been deemed structurally unsafe, though the building's long history of decay and deterioration could soon reach a happy ending.

Just weeks after city officials issued a mandatory repair order for 142 Dundas St. -- a move that can result in a building's demolition -- the century-old structure near the John Labatt Centre has been purchased by new owners intent on fixing it up quickly.

"It's just an extraordinary building and it fully deserves the restoration it's about to receive," said Peter Mullins, the realtor who brokered the sale of the three-storey building.

"It's wonderful."

The building's pre-sale plight, though, was anything but.




It has been empty for more than a decade -- its last tenant was a Grandma Lee's restaurant -- and damage from a fire several years ago has still not been fully repaired, say city officials who posted a public safety warning on the building's windows last month.

Mullins, who listed the property for $150,000, says the new owners will take advantage of the ground floor that fronts both Dundas and Carling streets -- turning the former into a retail space and the latter into offices.

The previous owners were from outside London.

It's rare for a downtown property to be declared structurally unsound but the move in this case by city officials underscores what could become a growing problem among the core's aging building stock, said Janette MacDonald of MainStreet London.

As the old, empty commercial properties age further, she said, the main concern for downtown boosters like her could shift more and more from getting them occupied to simply keeping them safe.

The challenge, she said, is some owners bought downtown buildings in the 1960s, '70s and '80s hoping to realize huge profits as the property values skyrocketed -- except the values have steadily gone the other direction.

"That's our biggest challenge -- convincing people who paid too much on these to reinvest in them," MacDonald said. "If you do invest in it, the value will return."

To illustrate her point, MacDonald noted a downtown building that sold in 1975 for $775,000 and years later was seized by a bank, eventually hitting the market for $175,000.

But by 2003, with a solid tenant, it sold for $248,000 and after $150,000 in renovations was appraised in 2007 for $548,000.

"The value will go up but there has to be investment," she said.

So-called "orders to make safe" like the one issued by city hall against 142 Dundas St. make repairs mandatory for the owner, who may face legal action and fines of as much as $100,000 if they're not done "in a timely manner."

The ultimate decision, made by the city's chief building official, is to order a building demolished, said Frank Galera, a city building inspector.

City-wide, about one structure is ordered demolished each month, Galera said, noting the most recent case is an abandoned Lorne Ave. home that was razed in recent days.

[london2020]

The other day I heard something on the radio about London developing a new transportation master plan. But I can't find any stories on that....

[london2020]

First stage of Oxford widening west of Hyde Park has begun. Trees and shrubs have been cut back and all the fences have been torn down. I believe they are going to install the sound wall now.

[MolsonExport]

Funny, most of London seems gripped in Narrowing (due to construction) rather than widening. Pisses me off, as there are only a couple of through roads in the entire city (and no freeways, excepting on the southermost fringes). And, of course, no real "rapid" transit.

[manny_santos]

Originally Posted by london2020

First stage of Oxford widening west of Hyde Park has begun. Trees and shrubs have been cut back and all the fences have been torn down. I believe they are going to install the sound wall now.

Looks to me like the rear portions of the backyards have been expropriated as well. I recall the City's capital budget called for residential property acquisitions as part of the project.

The new transportation plan might have to do with that rapid transit idea mentioned in the Free Press a day or two ago. Bud Polhill said it wouldn't be done in his lifetime, but that's not to say it won't be done in my lifetime.

[MolsonExport]

yup: london planners/council-->think small.

[london2020]

I think I found out what I heard about on the radio the other day.

LF Press reports the city recently published an "Urban Structure Plan Concept."

The plan calls for several streetcar lines running north, south, east and west, an orbital rapid transit line around the city, Go Transit lines connecting us to nearby communities, all connected to a central transportation hub downtown, presumably a high-speed rail centre connecting us to Toronto and Windsor.

source: http://www.lfpress.ca/cgi-bin/publish.cgi?x=letters&p=31942&s=letters

I think this stuff sounds pretty good but there needs to be a focus on improving the road system too. I think trams will be great, but I am still a strong proponent of a real expressway.

I think we need an expressway either down Oxford or perhaps Springbank/Hamilton/Horton. I think London should have a depressed freeway along one of these alignments.

Here is my quick drawing of where I think a freeway could go. Option 1 is pink and Option 2 is green.

[QuantumLeap]

http://www.terrasan.com/ca/terragroup/terrasancorp/london.htm: at least this is on their website now!

[GreatTallNorth2]

Originally Posted by london2020

I think we need an expressway either down Oxford or perhaps Springbank/Hamilton/Horton. I think London should have a depressed freeway along one of these alignments.

Here is my quick drawing of where I think a freeway could go. Option 1 is pink and Option 2 is green.

Hey london2020. London has ZERO chance of building a freeway in the city. There was nothing but dithering in the 1970's with regards to London building a freeway and London back then was not nearly as built up as it is today. The chances of having an in-city freeway in London now, apart from the ring road (which isn't in the city really) is nil. There is no political will to build it. I was in Kitchener/Waterloo on Sunday and freeways take up a lot of space. Can you imagine telling Londoners they are building a 6 lane highway through the city? We have a better chance of getting the olympics.

[MolsonExport]

Originally Posted by Snark

..

Excellent point. I might add {

[london2020]

Originally Posted by GreatTallNorth2

Hey london2020. London has ZERO chance of building a freeway in the city. There was nothing but dithering in the 1970's with regards to London building a freeway and London back then was not nearly as built up as it is today. The chances of having an in-city freeway in London now, apart from the ring road (which isn't in the city really) is nil. There is no political will to build it. I was in Kitchener/Waterloo on Sunday and freeways take up a lot of space. Can you imagine telling Londoners they are building a 6 lane highway through the city? We have a better chance of getting the olympics.

Out of the 80 cities of over 285,000 people in North America, only three other cities in addition to London have no urban freeway servicing the downtown area. I define this as a freeway either passing through the downtown, or passing within 2.0 km of the city center. Even if you look at cities over 200,000 people, none of them have a freeway as far away as the 401 is to London's core, and the vast majority of them have urban downtown freeways.

So what biggish cities don't have a freeway? One is Tucson, AZ, which has a major parkway 3.0 km from its core, slightly outside the definition above because it's a bit too far away and the parkway is a limited-access highway rather than a true freeway. Victoria is another example, with the closest freeway 4.3 km from its downtown. However, the freeway they do have bisects an urban area, and is twice as close to the city core as the 401 is to London. Lastly we have Winnipeg, but there are literally no freeways in all of Manitoba so this is to be expected.

Look at the lists below and search google maps one by one if you don't believe me.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_cities_by_population
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_the_100_largest_metropolitan_areas_in_Canada

London's leadership is a joke. Truth hurts.

[SlickFranky]

A 401-DT-402 freeway would be pretty great, but I think it's too late now. There's just no room anymore, unless you plan on cementing over the Thames.

I do sort of like that London doesn't have a freeway though. To get across the city you actually pass through the city. In K-W you just blast down the freeway until you hit your exit. You don't really get any sense of the city or its people...it's very disconnected.

[MolsonExport]

I think that the best shot at a freeway for London would be to upgrade Veterans Memorial Parkway...then convert Sunningdale or Medway to the Northern Ringroad....then perhaps West del Bourne to connect Southward. I would of course prefer Fanshawe Park Road, but I think that it is already too developed and proximate to residential areas.

The city needs a ring road, absolutely.

[QuantumLeap]

Does anyone have any news on the new Regional Mental Health Care building to be constructed at the Parkwood Site?