As Collingwood grows westward, the public has an opportunity to learn more about the changes and deliver input at an upcoming public meeting.
The town of Collingwood is hosting a public information centre (PIC) on Sept. 6 to answer questions and provide more details on the future upgrades to Mountain Road and Tenth Line.
The public meeting is the second (the first on June 1, 2017) in the Environmental Assessment process being undertaken by the town with consultants from Ainley Group.
The area being studied is Tenth Line from Sixth Street to Mountain Road and Mountain Road from Tenth Line to First Street.
There are an estimated 2,200 new residential units (Red Maple, Mair Mills, Linksview and Todco) planned adjacent to those roads to be built out by 2030 to 2037. That’s in addition to an industrial development at 185 Mountain Road, the Georgian Bay Biomedical Facility, and Bluewood Business Park, all expected to be completed by 2022. With this increase in residential and commercial units, Tom Nolert, one of the town’s Ainley consultants, predicts up to 25,000 vehicles per day on Mountain Road and 11,000 along Tenth Line.
The preferred solution – though it has not been approved or formally chosen by council yet – is to rebuild Mountain Road to a five-lane urban street and rebuild Tenth Line to a “fully-urbanized” two-lane urban street. The town may also improve Black Ash Creek Bridge via rehabilitation, widening or replacing it.
Ainley group is recommending a roundabout for the intersection of Mountain Road and Tenth Line and a five-lane bridge on Mountain Road going over Ash Creek. Details on bike lanes and sidewalks will be available at the Sept. 6 meeting.
According to the meeting notice on the town of Collingwood website, public input is “encouraged throughout this process and will be given consideration during the planning and design of this project.”
Staff will be available to receive feedback at the PIC, but submissions can also be made in person or via email on or before Sept. 20, 2018, for those who are unable to attend or didn’t provide feedback during a meeting.
Following the meeting, Ainley Group will prepare an environmental study report, which will be publicly available for comment for 30 days.
The PIC runs from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 6 at the Collingwood Public Library in community rooms B and C on the third floor.
