Postponement proposed for Passchendaele passage to P-patch

Neighbourhood residents have thrown a speed bump in the way of a new access road to the P-patch.

Sault Ste. Marie City Council will be asked Monday to postpone construction of the new Passchendaele Lane for two years, after neighbours who were expected to help pay for it launched a successful petition.

The new route, running from Northern Avenue to Princeton, through Panoramic Drive, was approved in 2017 to reduce delays for westbound traffic making left turns at Pine Street and Pleasant Drive.

The half-million-dollar project was included in the city's five-year plan that year, but Ward 3 Couns. Hilsinger and Shoemaker fought to get the work done sooner.

The Municipal Act, however, allows neighbours to petition against the project if they object to paying part of the cost.

The neighbourhood did indeed object and it launched a successful petition.

As Carl Rumiel, the city's manager of design and transportation engineering, sees it, the city now has two options:

• postpone the project for two years, then provide notice of the local improvements again, this time including a provision that the municipality intends to apply to the Ontario Lands Tribunal (OLT) for approval to undertake the work as a local improvement. At that time, an objection could still be raised and the tribunal would make a decision with respect to the work
• proceed with the project, but not by way of local improvements. This would have a potential impact on other local improvement projects

"The recommendations from the Northern Avenue environmental assessment are currently in the fourth year of ten-year shelf life before they expire and require an addendum to the environmental assessment to be completed," Rumiel says.

"Therefore, staff are recommending that the city wait the prescribed two years and then proceed with the local  improvement again and seek approvals at the OLT if required."

"If the city proceeded with the project without charging the local improvement fees, the city would forfeit $14,736 in local improvement revenue," Rumiel says.

Monday's City Council meeting will be live-streamed on SooToday starting at 4:30 p.m.