Update following Council direction

The project team would like to thank everyone who provided feedback on the streetscape alternatives. We appreciated hearing from so many through the survey, through email, and the delegations who presented to Council. The Special Council Meeting from December 7 can be viewed on the City's YouTube page (the Longfellow Reconstruction portion of the meeting begins with the delegation presentations at 5:09:54 in the video).

At the December 7th meeting, City Council provided the following direction to the project team:

1. Notwithstanding Longfellow Drive is a designated minor collector road in the City’s Official Plan, which typically warrants sidewalks on both sides of the street, that sidewalks be limited to one side of Longfellow Drive;
2. That any retaining wall constructed as part of the Longfellow Drive reconstruction be reflective of a natural landscape, drawing from examples in the neighbourhood in terms of appearance; and,
3. That reconstruction works occur within the original infrastructure zone contemplated by Abram Wiebe, to the extent possible.

In accordance with Council’s direction, Option 3 (sidewalk on the south (odd-numbered) side only) was selected to move forward to final design. The main advantages of Option 3 are as follows:

• Minimal impact on utilities, and does not require relocation of light poles and hydro transformers which are on the north side of the street.
• Minimal tree loss (only 2 identified for removal, and anticipated that a majority of those identified as impacted will not be lost).
• Minimal need for retaining walls (only 2 short sections of walls anticipated between #293 to #301, approximately 15m and 30m in length and less than 1m in height).
• Minimizes impacts to and grading challenges associated with steep driveway ramps and slopes on the north side.
• Provides the best connectivity to existing sidewalks on the east side of Shakespeare Drive and the west side of Westmount Road, as well as to potential future sidewalk on Mohawk Avenue.
• Ranked as the most preferred option by the majority of those who completed the design options feedback survey.

Next Steps

The project team will work through December and early January to complete the design. As part of that process, we will invite residents to provide their feedback on the look of the retaining walls and which materials should be used to best reflect the natural landscape of the street. If you haven't already, please use the Stay Informed section to subscribe for updates with your email address to be informed when information about the retaining walls is posted.