Creating Local Greenspace…

Above: The Old Growth Spruce Lined Entrance of the 452 Raglan Street Property

January 23, 2023 – Presentation to The Town of Collingwood Council.

To download a PDF version of the presentation, please click here > Creating Local Greenspace

On January 23, 2023, I presented to Town Council my revised proposal aimed at Conserving Our Local Greenspace.

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I’d like to start by congratulating all our new council members, Deputy Mayor and Mayor and thank them for the opportunity to be able to speak in a public forum regarding the issues we are here to address.

I am a resident at 1 Lynden Street in Collingwood. My wife Yim and I have lived here since 2013. We purchased our property at the end of Peel Street mostly because of the surrounding greenspace and walking path, as well as the protected area surrounding The Pretty River. When we first visited the development, we wandered down the walking trail to the river and thought, “What a wonderful little hidden community”.

However, over the past couple of years, I have watched with keen interest after seeing the property at the end of Peel being listed for sale and then sold. After that, I made efforts to inform myself and our community of the development proposals being submitted for the property.

I am here tonight as a representative for a group of concerned residents of the area we call Lockhart Meadows and we are hoping that we can work together with Eden Oaks and the Town of Collingwood to reach a revised development proposal we can all support.

So, please allow me to address our concerns and offer our proposed solutions.

Topics Being Presented

1 – The Property in Question.  2 – The Proposed Eden Oaks Development. 3 – A Legally Owned Berm. 4 – Clarity Required on the Flood Plain of the Property. 5 – Our Revised Development Proposal. 6 – Creating a new Greenspace and Walking Trail. 7 – Simply Too Much Traffic along Peel Street. 8 – Storm Pond Placement and Design. 9 – Renovating and Protecting a Bridge.

The Property – A Google Earth View

452 Raglan Street Property

To begin, we are discussing the property shown above at 452 Raglan Street.

As you can see from this view, there are remnants of homestead landscaping at the northern section of the property in discussion where the house once stood, which we hope to conserve as greenspace and a walking path, as well as possibly a continuation of the valuable cultural connections our walking trail provides, which could incorporate interpretive signage highlighting the natural environment of The Pretty River.

In essence, we are asking The Town of Collingwood to assist us in re-imagining the proposed development by Eden Oaks.

This is the main objective of our presentation.

The Proposed Development Superimposed on the Property

Here is the proposed Eden Oaks development, superimposed on top of the previous image. This calls for 128 new homes.

In this view, it becomes apparent of the development’s ambition is to build houses on an existing berm and, since there would be no other alternative to this proposal, to remove all of the existing greenspace.  Within that greenspace there is a berm, which is a legally owned portion of the homes on the south side of Lynden Street.

So let’s begin with the Berm

As a group, we are most concerned about the berm, which is part of the section of land we would like to conserve, and how that will be handled.

As you can see from the photos below, that berm is in fact, the legal property of many of the residents of Lynden Street. Surveys have been done which clearly show it is part of residents backyards. It is a significant berm, rising well over 15 feet in sections.

Excavating or moving this would be a mammoth project and would seriously affect groundwater flow. At this point, most residents on Lynden Street have water in their basement and removing this berm could be a disaster. What we are proposing is to work with the environment as it exists.

We have walked this piece of property with our current Mayor, Yvonne Hamlin (shown above in May 2022). Mayor Hamlin graciously took the time to meet with 20 plus residents and listen for almost two hours while everyone got the chance to speak a bit of their mind on the proposed project. We also walked the property with our current Deputy Mayor Tim Fryer in October 2022, with Councillor Christopher Baines in February 2023, as well as having had a lengthy conversation with Deb Doherty. This is a known issue.

Removal, or even minor excavation of this berm, would cause significant erosion to the existing homes and their properties on Lynden Street. This is not a matter which can be taken lightly and must be resolved to the satisfaction of the homeowners prior to any construction being permitted.

This berm therefore became the fundamental reason for wanting to work with The Town of Collingwood and Eden Oaks to come up with an alternative development proposal. From there, it developed into a community concern.

Our Revised Development Proposal

Here is the revised proposal, which we would like to initiate a discussion of.

As you can see, we are counter proposing either two cul-de-sacs or two entry points as potential solutions. In the second proposal, there would be one access road through to William Street, which would arc as it entered the property, thereby saving the berm and the second access road would be Kirby Street, as planned. Eden Oaks could relocate the townhouses, which were to be built directly behind the existing south Lynden homes, to the south side of the new Kirby Road, which is to be built to connect the property. This is in keeping with the original proposal by Eden Oaks and maintains their exact proposed density. Nothing changes as far as the density of homes being built in this proposal, only the location of the structures and since the development is currently simply lines on a piece of paper, what better time to listen to and cooperate with a small local community and achieve something better – something the local community embraces.

We have added the second option as we re-considered the fact that the initial proposal would force all the traffic out of Kirby Street and that didn’t seem fair to us so we re-created a new proposal with a Williams Street access option.

Not only would both of these options conserve a large amount of canopy, both would conserve the beautiful historic spruce treed driveway.

Speaking of protecting canopy, this would be in keeping with the new Official Plan, presented to council in July, suggesting that the town achieve a minimum of 30 per cent tree canopy cover by 2041.

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It should be noted that we want to work with Eden Oaks to reach a proposal which we all approve and and which will benefit the local community. We are NOT against development. We are simply trying to conserve some greenspace and create a better solution for the community.

And we are knowledgeable professionals including an Architect among us. We know we can make this work given some co-operation.

Option 1: Access Roads on Williams Street and Kirby Street.

Option 2 – Two Cul-de-Sacs.

Traffic Flow Along Peel Street

Our re-routing of streets suggested above takes into consideration the new developments currently completed or in the works for Peel Street.

There are now 3 new luxury condominium complexes with 156 new units (shown on the illustration above) which have been completed on Peel Street at the corner of Collins Street, as well as a new development planned for the southern section of Peel by Mamta Homes, which includes 78 additional townhouses (also shown) and the now completed Sunvale Townhouse development, which is 57 townhouses. Without a diversion of traffic away from Peel Street, we suspect the number of cars traveling north on Peel will overwhelm the current capacity of the street, not to mention the excessive speeds cars will travel at on a longer street.

It is easy to foresee an absolute nightmare of traffic trying to exit onto Hume Street from Peel. The current configuration would not be able to handle the excess flow. Traffic would be unbearable along Peel, which is already completely out of date in it’s current winding sort of fashion, having been constructed decades ago. Peel MUST turn within the Eden Oaks development and not become even longer.

If the Town is currently getting complaints about traffic, this has the potential to become a disaster…

Let’s get back to what we are trying to focus on…

We Propose the Creation of a Walking Trail and Greenspace

We would like to see the area directly south of the existing homes on Lynden Street be conserved and maintained as greenspace and integrated into the existing Collingwood Walking Trail System. As well as increasing our walking trails, this would also allow for the protection of the existing mature trees.

An article published in Collingwood Today by Jessica Owen titled; Committee Votes to Spruce Up Collingwood’s Tree Canopy Policies on August 9, 2022 confirms a unanimous approval by council

UPDATE: The recommendations passed at committee – to spend up to $100,000 to retain a consultant to inform the next council on how Collingwood can better protect tree canopy, and to spend an additional $75,000 tree maintenance and removal in 2022 — were approved by a unanimous vote at council’s Aug. 18, 2022 regular meeting.

As a businessman – who retired as a Consultant – I can tell you that this is the perfect opportunity for The Town of Collingwood to start protecting our Tree Canopy.

Another article on this was also published in Collingwood Today on July 31, 2020 By Erika Engels titled The Trees are Worth a Million Bucks – Consultants give Town advice on its Urban Forest. In it, the following statement is made;

An Ontario Health Study conducted on residents in Toronto by Chicago psychologist Marc Berman found planting 10 trees on a city block had the same effect on people’s health as a $10,200 raise or being seven years younger.

To drive home that point, I went out and did a rough count of the trees in the parcel of the property we are hoping to conserve and there are well over 500 trees, making that area pretty valuable…

Existing Interpretive Signage along the Trail

Interpretive Signage

As this new greenspace was considered, it became evident that another opportunity the greenspace could provide is the potential of creating a series of interpretive signage, as currently exists throughout the Collingwood Trail System, which would serve to raise awareness of the life which thrives within the banks of The Pretty River.

This greenspace could become a beacon for future developments. We like to see this as an opportunity to add value to the community being developed.

In addition, most in attendance here today know something of the proposed Poplar Regional Health & Wellness Village, which is currently seeking approval on the adjacent property off Raglan Street. This walking trail extension would be an obvious link to that future property.

The Nottawasaga Valley Conservation Authority Flood Plains

 It is important that we discuss the fact that ROUGHLY 60% of the entire piece of land this development is being proposed to be built upon is a flood plain.

The Nottawasaga Valley Conservation Authority Flood Plains Graphic

On February 16, 2002, this was published in Collingwood Today by Jessica Owens; New Report Shows Impact of 100 Year Storm Event on Collingwood. A key paragraph within this story clearly states what so many of us are concerned with;

Should a 100-year event occur in Collingwood, under the mapping, the Pretty River would spill near Poplar Sideroad and the Rail Trail near Collins Street and flow north through a large section of downtown Collingwood. However, with possible grading revisions and maintenance of the Pretty River vegetation within the channel (which is currently ongoing through the NVCA’s maintenance program), the flood spill could potentially be eliminated.

An earlier article by Erika Engel on July 6, 2018 also discussed the MOST At Risk Communities for flooding and our area was clearly an At Risk Area: The report, titled Watershed Flood Risk Assessment, identifies three areas of concern within Collingwood;

• Batteaux Creek along Beachwood Road, Georgian Manor Drive and toward the bay

• Pretty River from Poplar Sideroad to the Bay

• Silver Creek along Osler Bluff Road and Grey Road 19

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What this means, as far as we are concerned, is that the proposed Kirby Street extension becomes an area which requires a significant amount of consideration for flooding mitigation. It’s something we are concerned about…

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While discussing Flood Pains and this development, during the same discussion mentioned above with John Proctor of Crozier Engineering, we were informed that new standards have been put into place by the town so that future sump pumps within this development will now be allowed to pipe directly into town water and that all new developments will have pipes brought directly into their properties, assuring the water is drained into the town’s water pipes.

It was also mentioned during this conversation on May 2022 that new development standards require a full year of monitoring before development can start, so he suspected this development is at least three years away at this point. Our question is;

• How will these ‘tests’ be monitored and will the results be publicly available prior to full scale construction?

It needs to be pointed out that current residents did not have this by-law in place and a majority of the homes along Lynden Street constantly pump water out of their basements onto the street.

It is a serious concern to all of us who own homes here that a new development could seriously increase the amount of water being redirected into our basements and the Town of Collingwood should be aware of the potential issues which may arise if that changes due to this new development.

Water being pumped out of a basement onto the street

According to the Town of Collingwood’s OFFICIAL PLAN: SECTION 3.9.3 – Development within Flood Prone Areas Two-Zone Concept (Pretty River) – Pretty River Building Setbacks are clearly stated as…

All development, including storm water management facilities shall be set back a minimum of 30 metres from the stable top of the bank of the Pretty River or shall be located outside the 1:100 Year floodplains, whichever is greater.

The Nottawasaga Valley Conservation Authority and the Town of Collingwood shall approve all uses.

As a condition of draft plan/site plan approval, a qualified professional to the satisfaction of the Town of Collingwood and the Nottawasaga Valley Conservation Authority shall prepare an Ecological Restoration Plan (ERP). In general, the ERP will identify the areas within the Pretty River Corridor that require protection and the areas that require enhancement or restoration. The ecological restoration plan shall apply to those lands located within 30 metres of the stable top-of-bank of the Pretty River or those lands within the 1:100 Year floodplain, whichever is greater.

In fact, if we use the Nottawasaga Valley Conservation Authority Flood Plain graphic as an accurate mapping, over 60% of this development would be built on a flood plain and perhaps should not be built at all.

The Beautifully Designed Lockhart Meadows Storm Pond

Our Storm Pond versus the Proposed Storm Pond

After meeting as a group to discuss the proposed development, it also became clear that the location of the proposed storm pond was seriously opposed in the neighbourhood, for a wide variety of reasons.

We would like to see the Storm Pond relocated and reimagined. The existing Storm Pond in our community should be regarded as an example of intelligent storm pond design to be aspired to in future developments, this one included.

We do not want to see a four foot black fence surrounding a pond that cannot be accessed by wildlife or by locals as Eden Oaks have done in the development they are currently completing off Kirby Street. There is no reason to surround a pond with fencing. It is NOT a mandatory requirement by the Town, which is clearly obvious when one views our existing storm pond.

We are proposing that we work together to explore options for relocating the storm pond to a more central location within the proposed development and integrating it as lightly as possible within that development.

The Bridge

Lastly – we are hoping the Town of Collingwood and Eden Oaks could collaborate on upgrading the existing bridge and integrate it into a new section of our walking trail system.

The Existing Bridge

We’ve heard talk of removing the bridge and most certainly, that would cause more environmental damage than preserving and conserving it.

The bridge is a popular spot for local kids to congregate in the summer and autumn for several reasons – swimming and splashing in the Summer and fishing in the Autumn and for locals, who are fortunate enough to be able to watch salmon spawn up the river each Fall…

What a special thing to have in a local development.

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Other questions we have…

• What will increased housing population do to/how will it effect fish migration and population?

• What will this mean for rainbow trout, steelhead and salmon populations? If the storm pond drains into The Pretty River, what impact will this have on fish population (as The Pretty River is their sanctuary for half the year)?

• What is the expected percentage increase of traffic in BOTH Williams and Peel streets?

• What streets will the construction vehicles be traveling through while this development is being constructed?

These are also all important questions and for the families living in this community, they are questions which the residents would like answers for before more construction begins. There are dozens of young kids growing up in these homes – boys and girls who spend time in the surrounding greenspaces and fishing in the river. We have personally watched boys heading down to the river for ten years with fishing poles to go fishing. What a wonderful way to grow up – surrounded by nature yet minutes from a family home.

In 2023, communities should have a say in what is going on around them and their greenspaces. There is a real opportunity here for the Town of Collingwood to create something very special along the banks of The Pretty River for generations to come.

To Recap

• We are NOT against this development

• We ARE ASKING FOR COOPERATION from The Town of Collingwood for support of our revised proposal

• We ARE ASKING FOR CLARITY on the Berm prior to construction being allowed to begin

• We ARE ASKING FOR ADDITIONAL CLARITY on the Flood Plain issues before construction is allowed to begin

• We ARE PROPOSING A GREENSPACE AND WALKING TRAIL be developed within the property

• We ARE LOOKING FOR SUPPORT Regarding Traffic Flow

• We ARE PROPOSING REVISIONS  to the Storm Pond placement and design

• We ARE HOPING to see The Bridge renovated and protected

Remember that once these areas are gone, they are gone forever.

Thank You

By the way, featured below are a few of the photos we’ve taken along The Pretty River in 2022. They pretty much tell the story on why this area is so important to conserve.