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September
1997 Newsletter More
Evidence of No Need for Road
As
noted elsewhere in this issue, current regional government
traffic projections show that there is no need to increase
road capacity across the escarpment in the east end. This
is clear from the Regional Transportation Review and was
confirmed by a decision taken last fall to again raise the
cap on growth in upper Stoney Creek. The cap was originally
established in December 1990, a few days after the NDP government
announced it would not fund the north-south expressway.
At that time, there were 11,000 residents in that area.
Council set a limit of 15,000, claiming that the cancellation
of the expressway required this cap. Three years later,
they increased the cap to 16,500, and last fall they raised
it again to 21,000.
Between 1991 and 1995, the population of the area only increased
to 13,000. Last fall's decision to raise the cap to 21,000
was done in order to allow "draft approval" to be given
to a 766 unit subdivision being planned by the Ontario Realty
Corporation.
The staff report recommending the increase in the cap stated
in part: "The Regional Transportation Department has determined
that a population of 21,000 will not overload existing escarpment
crossing capacity." In a related move, council removed any
mention of a cap from the Official Plan in order to "allow
Council to set a limit by resolution".
There are several obvious conclusions from this series of
events.
(1) There is no current need for the north-south expressway
or any other road capacity increases across the escarpment
in the east end.
(2) Even adding 8,000 people in upper Stoney Creek will
not overload existing escarpment crossing capacity.
(3) The only reason to proceed with the expressway is to
encourage a great deal more suburban sprawl in upper Stoney
Creek.
(4) The imposition of a growth cap on the area in 1990 was
merely political grandstanding, and was done solely in order
to falsely claim that the cancellation of the expressway
had created some hardship.
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