Environment, Infrastructure & Transportation Policies Committee meeting from February 13, 2024. For full meeting agenda visit https://bit.ly/3UY0F8v
Good evening everyone there is seats on both sides of the chamber um there’s primarily more space on my left your right um if you would like to take your seats over there thank you we’ll get started shortly e e hello everyone uh we’ll call the meeting to order at
6:02 um so so can I get an approval of the agenda with the addendum moved by councelor too executive by councelor Stevens all in favor that passes so due to the number of delegations in briefings tonight um so any amount of public interest um I think we’re going to move item two and
Four to the beginning of the business items uh so we can resolve them quickly before we move on to the longer uh item on the agenda um so we need two a mover in seconded removed by councelor shaves seconded by councelor Stevens and uh all in favor and that passes
Unanimously okay so can I get a confirmation of the minutes has everybody read them over moved by councelor stepen second by councelor too all in favor that passes moving on are there any disclosures of pecuniary Interest seeing as none so we’ll move on to delegations so each delegation will have
5 minutes and uh no questions to staff um counselors have a maximum of two questions each so uh can I have uh Jane Kirby as the first delegation uh good evening councilors thank you for the opportunity to speak um so I have done considerable research on this issue I’ve written two articles
On the Williamsville Transportation study and specifically the removal of the bike Lanes one for the skeleton press and one for this magazine um I am going to actually speak a little bit more personally tonight though um I am a resident of Williamsville I live on the stretch of Victoria Street between
Concession and princess and to get basically anywhere I need to travel on one of those two major roads um um and my family so that is to say my partner and my four-year-old son have decided to live without a car uh we use we bus we
Walk and we bike to get around and given that we cannot get everywhere our busy family needs to go on the bus and getting a four-year-old to walk can be challenging cycling has become our major mode of transportation um I was shocked when I read the plans to remove the bike Lanes
From Williamsville as we frequent these Lanes often with our four-year-old in a bike trailer almost every day and while keeping car traffic flowing appears to be a priority in all of the documentation to date um despite the stated commitments to active transportation and addressing climate change there has been no evidence of
Serious consideration of either pedestrian or cyclist safety in any of these plans and that’s very concerning um the statements that have been repeated frequently during this process that confident cyclist can continue to use Princess Street that’s quoting from the project page um red is a slap in the face to me and my
Family um this summer when I was doing interviews uh for my articles the city staff told me that some cyclists prefer that there not be cycling Lanes on Princess Street because it would slow them down um I’m going to say in the many conversations I’ve had with cyclist
Since publishing these articles I have not met a single one uh who thinks that but to the extent that these confident cyclists exist I can tell you who they are they are almost certainly men and they are likely men without family commitments um what I am proposing is
That this is an equity issue the failure of the city to prioritize safety for pedestrians and cyclists is a failure to recognize that all kinds of people would like to use active Transportation if they could do so safely and easily anecdotally this has been true among the people I have spoken to and
Research has shown repeatedly that older people and children and by extension the families and I’m going to say overwhelmingly the women who care for children are the ones who are most affected when we fail to provide safe cycling infrastructure research out of the University of Toronto highlights that
There are three ways we can get more people cycling we can get new people cycling we can get those currently cycling to cycle longer distances and crucially we can get people cycling throughout life transitions that is getting them to keep cycling as they age and as they have children having protected bike Lanes
Along Princess Street would support all three of these measures and allow the city to meet its goals for active transportation and I am not sure why that is not being considered tonight the current proposals to either remove or to fail to protect the bike Lanes not only forsake the lives of
Currently Avid cyclists like Patrick Lynch who I’m sure we I don’t need to remind you was killed last November uh by a car um but also the many people who ride a bike hesitantly but out of necessity and those who would like to cycle but won’t in Kingston
Currently we have heard repeatedly that there is no space but there seems to be plenty of space for left turning lanes for vehicles and no willingness to sacrifice a few of these Lanes in order to both meet aota requirements and allow for cycling infrastructure um and I would ask that Council push for
Reconsideration of some of the protected Lane options uh uh and also to evaluate the safety of pedestrians and cyclists in any option that is considered more seriously um I’ve lived in Kingston for most of the last 20 years since I first came to Queens as an undergraduate student and
I’m not exaggerating to say that if these lanes were removed along Princess Street my family and I will consider moving and we’ll be moving to some somewhere where commitments to active transportation and climate are not just empty words on paper thank you thank you very much for that uh do we have any
Questions seeing as none we’ll move on to the next delegation uh Roger Hy will present and speak to the committee regarding the Williamsville cordor study uh neighborhood cycling Network and green streets Report thank you very much uh for allowing me to speak um I’m representing I’m the president of Kat uh Kingston Coalition for active transportation and uh I’m here to give you just a few comments we’ve got a written submission a couple of written submissions and I think they say a lot of the
Detail um but uh could do can I advance the screen here yeah okay so my alternate title is a street without bicycle Lanes is like a house without Windows uh kcat involvement has been long on this uh Kat was first formed in 2008 but by
Around um our main mission was to try to promote active Transportation but we got involved in the Princess Street Main Street study back when it started in 20 2011 is our first involvement um we fought to have cycle Lanes in bicycle Lanes included in the design finally
They were put in an off a terrible compromise between a drunken sailor bike lane that moved in and out of parked car spots and in November 2020 there was a Williamsville main main street study completely Rewritten um we didn’t have have a say in we didn’t it was the middle of CO as
You recall so there wasn’t it wasn’t easy to make uh comments and then lastly in in January of 2023 I found out that the city was planning to eliminate bicycle Lanes on Princess Street um my my only message a couple of messages here let’s follow the plans that we’ve worked very carefully
Together on the official plan the council’s strategic plans climate leadership plan active Transportation master plan which Kat was very involved with the act of Transportation implementation plan which started in 2019 a lot of great ideas in that um the household travel survey more of a report
Which came along and is very timely and um uh and and a lot of them are archived I can’t even get them on the website without specifically requesting for them uh I think we have to be really careful in this case of what I’ve seen a lot of plan washing uh we’re
Inundated uh with 500 page reports with a lot of technical detail they’re way too long and and very difficult to absorb and they’re delivered to us about 3 or 4 days before before the deliberations um I think there sh the city should con continue to strive for Meaningful con
Consultation uh involve advocacy groups if if there are any on a particular issue early in the process not this sort of all of a sudden being told and uh also prepare a meaningful summary of the comments there’s a vast number of comments that usually get thrown in an appendix and are often not
Even included in what the general public sees so just give a summary of the comment so I I I got a picture of the cover of the fiveyear imple implementation plan um it’s time for that to be renewed but there’s a lot of great stuff in there a
Lot of it couldn’t be dealt with during the during the pandemic I’d be happy if they Revisited that just changed the numbers so in the end so which of these two pictures do you prioritize there on the left you have the the glacier melter you know the big
Uh half half ton or you have uh in front of City Hall uh couple of ebikes that are very friendly so there’s a lot of other considerations and I’ve just left this for the end um I don’t think the the awareness is there of the increase in micro what I call micromobility and
That’s all Wheeling uh including uh certainly wheelchairs that was never an issue they’re always being included uh lots of lots of elect electric assisted things the economics of car ownership has to be really carefully talked about the safety of pedestrians and their vulnerable Road users speed reduction I was not talked
About Transit priority we’re all in favor of but the Q jump Lanes don’t necessarily belong on a constrainted street they can be used elsewhere and uh we we issues of accessibility we call a complete Street and there’s also an element of open space okay I’m just on
The last one um and Greening of a street does not mean trees exclusively okay so those are my thoughts thanks thank you do we have any questions from the committee seeing as none so we’ll move on to the next delegation uh Nathan N uh will be present will
Present to speak to the committee regarding pollinator Gardens Report sorry I didn’t expect to be lumped with the Williamsville people that’s not a bad thing but um unfortunately my some of my photos and I have some really ravishing photos of native gardens around Kingston but unfortunately they didn’t they didn’t download properly so I apologize I’ll go
With what I have good evening chair San Vice chair step committee members City staff and guests thanks to all of you for the work you do each day to make our city a better place for the Next Generation I want to commend City staff and Council for taking the lead on the
Issue of biodiverse native plant Gardens that’s one that’s missing so let’s just skip that for a while as a member of the Thousand Islands Master Gardeners I look forward to working alongside City staff to develop aesthetic and biodiverse demonstration Gardens on city property that will act as sources of inspiration to citizens
Who are lucky enough to have private Gardens and places where those who may who don’t May collaborate in producing Public Gardens uh last year as a neighbor climate action Champion for Portsmouth District I developed a neighborhood habitat seed Garden on donated private property easily access to the public um
As part of the Thousand Islands Master Gardener year of the biodiverse garden weekend I presented a workshop on Matrix Meadow planting using the garden as a learning area a matrix Meadow consists of about half grass plants and half native wild flowers in all there are six grass species and 34 Wild Flower species
In the hatter Street Garden even the though the garden was in its first year we managed to collect seed from 24 species but we held two workshops introducing the local Community to the species in the garden and collecting seeds from plants that produced good seed this
Year about a month ago one of our Master Gardeners led a workshop on winter sewing a method of starting native plants by planting them in clear bins in December or January protecting them against wildlife and giving them a period of cold and wet that most native perennials need to germinate we use
Seeds from the hatter Street Garden and from other private Gardens the plants that we are growing will be used in new Gardens this spring including seed Gardens at the senior center and 111 Van Order Drive a Kingston front neack housing Corporation development where we are planting two
Little forests in October seeds from the hatter Street Garden were also planted by volunteers at Le Moine point for transplanting in the spring all of these actions and ones like them will help to create our dream of micro of distributed micro nurseries where many people grow plants for their
Own Gardens for The Gardens of their neighbors and for Gardens on public lands um just imagine if 3/4 of all the lawn in the city was converted to Native Meadows Suburban Lawns City sidewalk verges roadsides Parks all retaining moisture sequestering carbon and supporting insect life by several degrees more than
Lawns these Meadows could be planted anywhere where there was Sun even if there was no gas or sewer lines below even if the soil was compacted or shallow or Sandy or clay or rocky or compromised by salt even next to fences and Foundations and walls imagine wet areas that receive the drainage from
Adjacent roads planted with jie weed and Cardinal flower and iron wheat imagine plants that can help to clean soil and water plants that are beautiful imagine all of the trees in the city now surrounded in grass with soft Landings underneath and soft Landings are the term for collections of
Shade tolerant perennial plants grown under trees to keep the soil free from compaction and weeds they are called Soft Landings because that’s exactly what they do they keep the soil moist and easily penetrable by millions of ground pupating moth and butterfly larvae that fall from our trees in Kingston each fall finally
Oops imagine a city where these lessons have been internalized by its citizens a city where every front yard looks more like this and less like a golf course lots of creatures would want to visit people would want to visit too like the 1 and a half million people that visit
The Highline Garden in New York City built on an old raised rail bed there are many King kingstonians who are working to make this a reality we welcome the city in joining us in committing to work with us and in committing to developing staff expertise to sustain our worthy and wide ranging
Collaboration thank you thank you very much uh do we have any questions from the committee seeing as none uh did you want to add through you Mr chair I’d like to bring forward a uh another delegation I’d like to bring forward Joyce Hoskin please do I have a second there
Councelor too all in favor that passes okay so I’d like to welcome uh Joyce oon uh to talk about pollinator Gardens yeah 5 minutes it’s up there which one I knew how to sing I sing a song from the birds and the Beast and we need Nathan up here to sing
Should be there now can you set okay and then there and then you’ll come sorry this could you make it stop tou oh sorry okay 40% insect species facing extinction there’s 60% of biodiversity lawn habitat or the typical verges that we moow that’s how many you
Know very few like the food web is almost nothing look at once you start introducing met plants pollinator plants the explosion of biodiversity not just the pollinator but then the birds who eat those insects for noo May last year Council was kind enough to sponsor a noo May motion Master Gardeners Thousand Island
Master Gardeners jumped in and did a lot of educational support around that including putting a noo May page on the website this is from the ministry of Hungary who aren’t we aren’t the only ones trying to convert things and so they’re trying to convert their citizens
And you can see over time as we increase biodiversity as we increase and rewi what happens to the biodiversity askam Master Garder every week we do uh educational session once a week once a month it’s biodiversity edible gardening gardening 101 and biod and climate resilient gardening so we’re all about
Education imagine every neighborhood from a pollinator perspective how far do they need to fly for food water nesting sites that’s something like both from on public lands and private lands we really need to start thinking about so the start of this pollinator plan is awesome because it can connect into that so
Pollinators they all travel different the little teeny tiny pollinators can only travel 150 M so everything they need needs to be there otherwise we lose them something like a monarch can travel much further so there’s different distances and as we do a map um as we plant little pollinator patch is whether
It be Sir Johnny which is in the proposal or in that neighborhood can we connect people’s yards into the pollinat patch that’s happening on Ser Johnny that’s the mission that both little forest and Master Gardeners are working towards and you can see the map on the right that’s from Lincoln pollinator
Plan and the yellow spots are like more City sponsoring initiatives the green ones are all the the personal ones that are springing up as a result thanks to that inspiration roadside enhancement so a roadside is a coroner we don’t think about it as a coroner but it can be equally a corner
For insects for pollinators as it can for people and so you can see the more connectivity roadside enhancements can make a huge difference to our pollinators traveling around our city the urban Matrix this is Barry and queen I did a meeting with the developers of that building that’s going
In there and you can see how how there very little there for pollinators or for any creatures um they’re going to do a green roof and they’re going to do 100% native plants an elar ecosystem we have ecosystems surrounding us that we can take inspiration from that our native
Pollinators are used to foraging on and that can thrive in our harsh conditions a AI generator this is Barry and queen again with AI generation of the possibilities if we start thinking of even our urban center streets and what could be done and someone mentioned shrubs and um Meadow plantings those can
Go AER streets along with any trees that are planted and that would increase like the patches for these for the pollinators so one of the things that both master gers and little forests are doing is working on tool kits to support the public in conversions and in working
With the city on on some of these public sites that will help educate us it will help educate residents surrounding those sites and it will help us build these tool kits to educate people so we see ourselves as learning along the side the city we super appreciate the city’s
Collaboration on this and their initiative and putting forth this pollinator plan and that’s Nancy one of our Master garders the most experienced ones we’ve already been out to the search on a site twice to try and evaluate it seeing why some sections of it might not being successful and see
What we could do going forward so people this is about landscape resilient framework and people like people all ofs can become stewards of our spaces that’s it oh and look at that one that as we do things like noo may leave the leaves slowo summer plant all of these pockets
Of pollinators Garden for biodiversity everything helps regenerate which leads us to really true sustainability versus where we at now and that’s and that’s it thank you very much do we have any questions from the committee seeing as none so now we will move on to business item 7B and then 7D
And then we’ll bundle up the briefings with business item 7A um so can I get and so this is a information uh report only uh about pollinator Gardens Item B Pardon oh okay so it’s got a motion for recommendation um so can I get staff to introduce the the report hi is that working um yeah so the pollinator report um is looking at using the community a lot of the community service that we have right now there’s
12 pollinator Gardens currently in the city that are run by Community groups and enhancing that working on um adding that into our community garden report our community gardening policy so that we have a streamlined process that we can look at there and then allowing some more groups to add into some of the
Public lands that we currently have and build on the um pollinator Gardens that we have in those areas okay thank you uh committee members do you have any questions you have five minutes councelor Amos thank you Mr chair and through you in the motion it calls for um continuing to assist Community
Groups in the ongoing development and maintenance of the pollinator Gardens can you give me a definition of what some of those uh assistance would be and the ex is there an Avenue for the existing Gardens and I I’ll be honest there’s six I believe six or five or six of the 12
That are listed are in my district um is there avenues for further support for existing Gardens uh for further enhancement through this motion uh thank you for your question um yes there is um an Avenue I think some of the things we were looking at for assistance were things like mulch um
Maybe supplying some of the the um flowers and some of the newer or plants and some of the newer Gardens or helping them maintain those as they go through um it will depend on the individual Gardens and sort of what what the needs are for those and what the resources are
That we have but it is to help them with soils and and plants and Mulch and that sort of thing that they may require I think the other thing also was signage and educational materials that they may need to help uh promote those areas that they’re working on perfect and are
We uh meeting with these groups on a regular basis to determine the needs uh to assist in any spring activities that could take place I don’t think that has happened in the past we have have made contact with them this year and we can make sure that
We continue to do that going forward awesome thank you are there any other questions from committee members seeing as none um so this is a public portion um if you have any questions you have a maximum of 5 minutes and um we need your name uh at the beginning of your remarks does
Anybody wish to speak about the poer gardens and through you Mr chair I’ll just use this opportunity um for members of the public who in the gallery when you wish to speak just raise your hand so we can identify you and then you will be directed to one of the option open
Mics and uh we’ll be able to take you from there okay seeing as none is there anybody on online nope okay so now we’ll move on can I have a mover in a seconder moved by councelor Steven second by counselor Hassan all in favor and that passes
Unanimously so now we will move on to business item 7D which is an update on municipal class environmental asset for the Kingston Regional biosolids and bio gas facility point of order I we still have S to see Street patio program or has that been moved no that one is the same staff
So okay so can I have staff uh present thank you through you your chair thank you over here um thanks for the opportunity tonight um the report on the agenda is an update on the municipal class environmental assessment for the Kingston Regional biosolids and biog gas facility uh there’s no recommendation on
The report the purpose is just to come to eitp before there’s um a public information session in March um the report just identifies that we are in step three of the EA there has been two concepts identified the preferred concept will be um selected ahead of the
March the end of March public session it details um some of the information for those two concepts but still doesn’t yet identify what the preferred is so we’re just coming to eitp ahead of that public information session um to make sure that there are some details shared
Thanks thank you very much uh are there any questions from commune members councelor shaves thank you um so regards to the report page 712 option one alternate design concept one Um so with this concept will it allow for more processing of the raw materials and a great reduction of ghgs overall between the two options through you chair um thank you for the questions um you’re on the right track concept one includes a pre-treatment step before digestion and
That process is a com a combination of heat and pressure um and it is basically to extract as much or squeeze as much out of those raw materials to create a biog gas um as possible but it does not mean that it’s going to add more capacity to process so
It does not mean that more raw materials can go into that it’s simply a step beforehand to precondition the materials heat them up with pressure before they go into digestion to extract as much gas as possible okay thank you for confirming thank you any other questions seeing is none um so now is
The public portion um does anybody from the public wish to ask questions about this report please raise your hand seeing as none so now we will move on back to uh briefings so to allow Mr Simple more time uh we need a vote of the committee to wave a procedure bylaw section 12.21
To give him 30 minutes prior to the start of his presentation uh or 30 minutes prior to he starts his presentation as per section 2.4 uh this requires a mover and a seconder and two-thirds votes moved by councelor Steven seconded by councilor too all in Favor did you vote councelor Amos okay I’ll that passes okay let’s see Mr Simple uh thank you Mr chair um I’ll uh I’ll just I’ll invite um staff to come up and and fill in as well just uh because we’ll be prepared to answer questions afterwards but um while people are are
Coming up I’ll just introduce the staff that are here tonight so our manager of trans Transportation Systems Mark Dixon is here um our project manager uh Hank um Williams is is here who’s been involved in the project um with myself um for the past year and and prior to
That and then we also have our Consulting team from Dylan who has been involved in the project um since uh since the initial phases of this was underway with the secondary plan in 2020 we have Maria king um we have Eric Stewart and and we have Rudy renle so um
These these members of Staff will be here tonight um to also assist in answering any questions after uh my lengthy briefing oh commissioner Joyce is also here so um thank you for um uh the time tonight and I appreciate the extra time there is uh as as some of the um members
Who uh PE members of the public have spoken to this is quite a a large project and it has a lot of information and it has a lot of pieces about it um so I’m glad we’re able to take the time tonight to talk about what has been
Looked at why those things have been looked at the constraints that we’re dealing with and the opportunities that we have um in this very important section of Princess Street but also in the Williamsville neighborhood overall so um I’m tonight I’m just going to provide a a bit of a background about
Why we’re here um at this point of the study I’m going to talk about the three main deliverables that are coming up from that so the first is related to what the design of Princess Street could be and the Alternatives that are being considered the second is the the
Neighborhood cycling Network that’s been proposed and the facilities that could be built to support that and the third is uh related to The Green Street concept and the definition and the principles associated with that that have been um developed over the last few months um so I’ll I’ll talk about the
Design alternatives for um princess Street you can speak to some next steps and I’ll also I have this as optional all in the agenda but since we’re doing it all at once we’ll do it all at once then we’ll speak to next steps so uh a little bit of information just before we
Get into um the Princess Street design component or step one there there’s there’s a policy um um piece for why we’re here so there’s a secondary plan that was completed for Williamsville um in 2012 it was updated in 2020 and it contained a vision um for what what
Williamsville would become and what what um the Princess Street Corridor would be so there are a lot of elements from a policy standpoint that we look at we have the official plan we have the active Transportation master plan the transportation master plan all of those pieces that speak to how we’re building
Designing and operating our transportation network but the work that we’re looking at right now as particularly as it relates to Williamsville and Princess Street comes from the direction that was adopted in 2020 for the Williamsville Main Street study and so there are a variety of policy pieces which I’ve I’ve listed
Here I won’t read them all out but I wanted to make sure that that information was available because it speaks to some of the elements and components that we have considered in the design of of the Alternatives and in the broader Network that’s being considered so the vision The Guiding
Principles the elements that speak to Transit and the importance of the transit Corridor on Princess Street and some elements as it relates to the public realm design and those public realm Design Elements the um direction that we have under the updated secondary plan to accommodate the growth and development anticipated for the
Neighborhood is what informs the steps that we’re taking now in building out the infrastructure and the design of the infrastructure to support that growth development and um expected population that will um that it lives in and will live in um the Williamsville neighborhood so as part of that 2020 um
Secondary plan for the Williamsville Main Street area there was also a transportation and operations analysis that was completed and there’s a few key conclusions that sort of are derived from that study that also inform the types of Alternatives that we’re looking at and the priority that’s been placed
On some of those measures so the analysis showed that that the transportation Network could accomodate the growth um but and could accommodate it with a single vehicle Lane in each Direction on Princess Street but there’s a key aspect to there needing to be a continued and growing um active and
Transit mode share and that means the percentage of trips that people living within the neighborhood how they’re making those trips they need to be making them walking they need to be making them on their bikes and they need to be making them on Transit they need
To be non-auto trips and that was part of the conclusion and the direction that came to my team relative to how those next steps for will Williamsville would look a couple of key findings in that operation analysis though is it’s not possible based on the the space that we
Have available on on Princess Street for that section of Princess Street to be everything to everyone at all times it can’t be a high-speed High um Corridor for cars um and be pedestrian friendly with a large pedestrian realm and provide separated cycling facilities and provide Transit priority there isn’t
Space for that and in fact some of those some of those um uh modes don’t are conflict with each other in the priorities of how the city is setting itself up as part of that direction as well there was there’s a note that there will likely need to be some compromises that
Are made when we’re making decisions about what can fit in the space that we have and so some of those um compromises were sort were laid out in 2020 um it talks to removing um turning Lanes it speaks to um restricting um turning movements at intersections removing on street parking and precluding the
Addition of any new on street parking in the future and limiting um the dedicated um buffered cycling Lanes along the corridor and looking at Alternatives so this is this is the policy framework that this portion of the study that we’re in right now set us up for so the Williamsville Transportation
Study is what we’re talking about tonight that started in um 20122 um and it started up started as a follow-up study to the updated secondary plan that I was talking about it’s reviewing sorry it’s reviewing the recommendations The Guiding policies for princi street with an intention to develop a series of design and
Infrastructure Alternatives that we could evaluate to establish the preferred design elements that we would that we would have on Princess Street from Bath to division and to increase the sustainable travel modes and accommodate a pedestrian friendly Corridor leading into the downtown area it’s meant to revitalize the corridor to
Continue to support the plan growth of the corridor in the surrounding areas and it also asks us to explore the neighborhood cycling Network for the entirety of Williamsville not just for Princess Street so that’s what the initial scope of the Williamsville Transportation study was but it’s expanded since then
So we have then that’s what the three main components are that we’re going to talk about tonight so we’re going to talk about the design alternatives for Princess Street that were looked at for Williamsville and some of the the um constraints that we face in in that um
Section of Princess Street we’re going to talk about the network uh the proposed cycling Network for the neighborhood and the facilities that we can build within the neighborhood to support um cycling uh regardless of what option is selected for for Princess Street and we also have
Used the um uh the opportunity to look at and develop the concept of what a Green Street is so principles of what a Green Street is and how that could be applied to our neighborhood streets because we were having that conversation with the community uh there’s a direction to support green
Streets as part of the Williamsville secondary plan that’s in the official plan and this is an opportunity to integrate all of those elements together so th those are the three main um deliverables that are that are before you in the information report tonight no decisions tonight just information um
That so we can talk about everything that is available and has been considered and answer any questions that um the public in committee may have so and I apologize that is a little bit small but um I think it’s important to understand a little bit of the process
Um where we’re where we are as well so the the updated secondary plan was completed in December of 2020 we started the technical work for the transportation study in the spring of 2022 and began engagement with the public in um uh early early 2023 and in the spring of
2023 at that initial engagement we brought forward alternative one which we’re going to talk about in a minute um and um explained why that would be the concept that would best address the principles that were that the study was based on there was a lot of concern um
That we heard from the public about wanting to understand what the AL other Alternatives were concerns about the removal of the cycling lanes and a a strong desire to understand what other Alternatives would be possible and what those trade-offs would be and so hearing those concerns we that’s where we
Changed the study scope and extended the timeline so that we could do some more work um that included developing the uh one of the other Alternatives alternative five uh related to cycling Lanes being retained on Princess Street into more detail so that we could directly compare them it also um we
Expanded the bicycle um concept to include what type of facilities we we could build so looking at different different types of cycling infrastructure um that could be built in the neighborhood to support that and as I said expanding the the Green Street concept so that we could integrate those
Pieces as well uh in October of uh last year uh we held an open house and provided all of the information relative to those two Alternatives but also to the broader study as well um and provided summaries of that feedback so we had a great turnout at the open house
We had great Engagement online and to receive comments on all three aspects of of the study uh Princess Street the bikeways and the green streets a summary of all of those that engagement was provided in January and we published the draft report um which is exhibit a in
Your study uh in in the middle of January um supporting um documentation and other exhibits are also included in in tonight’s information report and the comment that we received tonight um from committee and others will be incorporated into a final report that will go to Council in the spring likely in
April so that’s the process that we’re following right now uh just so that everyone’s um familiar with it and understands what our next steps would be okay so um let’s talk about the the design of um uh Princess Street in the alternative I bet you thought the first
Slide would be a picture it’s not it’s just a bunch of words so the um the the the pieces related to the design alternatives for Princess Street we began that study in 2022 uh it looked at the existing conditions of Princess Street and looked at some of these um the principles
Around creating a pedestrian focused area um a pedestrian focused public realm meeting accessibility and design standards for the public infrastructure that we’re creating or recreating prioritizing Transit and active Transportation users and supporting the continued growth of the Williamsville neighborhood and the Princess Street Corridor as part of this the analysis
Had to consider how we were going to uh deal with the constraints that exist here so there are a lot has been talked about about the relative narrow width of Princess Street um it’s also an area with um a number of inter so there’s 13 intersections within that Corridor
They’re relatively short blocks and there was limited opportunities for us to acquire additional land there’s a lot of development that has occurred in the corridor in the in the last decade and a number of opportunities are not there for us to acquire additional space or additional land to be able to address
Some of the constraints that we have so this is just an image of of the section of of um princess street that we’re talking about and you can see this this represents the existing conditions that are on Street and you can see in the bottom left corner um some
Discussion of the the width of the roadway and the section WID of the RightWay it varies along the corridor it tends to be it’s wider closer to Princess Street we get a little more width back um closer to division but the central section in particular is um is on average less than 20
Meters oops my apologies so when we then are looking at the space that we have and building out some alternatives for what that crosssection or what the street is going to look like um we had some con some design pieces that we considered uh for all of the Alternatives so looking at
Reducing the lane width for vehicles to encourage slower moving traffic and to maximize the space available for other amenities maximizing Street trees and Furniture to create a more welcoming streetcape and to build on that public realm that was spoken to in the policies having sidewalks there there that are at
Least 2 meters wide um and that’s to recognize the number of um pedestrians that should be in that neighborhood that are in the neighborhood now and are and are expected to continue to uh to grow with the development that occurs um Transit priority measures and where they would be appropriate for Kingston
Transit such that it could operate um on what’s called a five-minute Headway and so what that means is in the longer term the frequency of service so there would be a bus every 5 minutes we need to build to that and plan and protect for
That in the longer term um right now we we run a bus between every 10 and 15 minutes sometimes greater during Peak periods um and to also look at the way that two-way cycling facilities to enhanced cycling access so those are the principles that we built um and looked
At building the design with um we also took some common approaches with with across all of the Alternatives so we removed the parking so all of the on street parking was removed and the lanes were narrowed um between the the travel lanes were narrowed between 3.3 M and 3
And half meters we designed to meet the aoda um minimums where possible uh to make sure that we met the the minimum width of the sidewalks that are needed under the um uh under legislation um we used any additional space in the right of way for Street Furnishing and trees
To build upon those public real components that were identified as being so important important in the initial study um we maintained or added vehicle turn Lanes where modeling showed a benefit to Transit operations and we considered traffic signal changes where modeling showed a benefit to Transit
Operations so these are some of the a visual of some of those common elements um and some of the measurements sort of associated with those but you know we’re looking at how can all of these elements fit together in a right of way that is changing is largely constrained
Throughout so the travel Lanes um The Pedestrian clearance uh sorry The Pedestrian clearway um some buffer zones the frontage zones the cycling lanes and the furnishings and plantings how could all of these elements fit within um within the right of way that we were working with and we took those
Elements and there were six alternative designs that were developed so um and you can see them sort of listed along the side uh so so six Alternatives one alternative one being where The Pedestrian realm was the widest um widest sidewalks and widest areas for um uh benches um uh Greening elements and
Other amenities for pedestrians um the second alternative where we would put a cycle track on both sides of Princess Street so a one-way cycle track uh a bir directional um cycle track so cycling on one side of Princess Street but with cyclists going both ways in that widened
Area uh a one-way cycle tract on one side of the street so um providing a cycle track in Only One Direction uh on Street cycling Lane so maintaining the on Street cycling lanes that we have right now so a 1.5 meter cycling Lane on either side of the
Roadway and the sixth alternative was looking at a continuous Transit Lane so a dedicated Transit um priority Lane um traveling westbound um from the downtown out and and what those components were so these were the six um Alternatives that were looked at there’s details about all of those Alternatives the
Measurements and all of those pieces in the exhibits um exhibit uh C exhibit B and C um but from these Alternatives we’ve shortlisted two and those two Alternatives alternative one where we have the wider pedestrian realm and alternative five where we have on Street cycling lanes are the ones that we’ve
Developed further to the concept level that we’re we’ll be talking about in comparing tonight so and I think just as a visual and so that so that there’s kind an understanding when we’re talking about the the way in which the space is constrained this this is a A visual
Representation at a high level of how each of those Alternatives could fit into the space available on Princess Street and as you can see alternative one um can fit with the least number of constraints or concerns um the next the next um and then you can
See all the way up to Alternative six that um shows some of the greatest conflicts um with with space availability and the ability to meet some of our um um guidelines required so a few details then about the two Alternatives that we’ve developed further so these are the two
Alternatives that were presented um in detail in October um and form sort of the the options that um that that we’re looking at for how Princess Street could be created so alternative one is the alternative with the widest public um realm so it prioritizes the space for pedestrians it includes benches spaces
For um trees and other sort of landscaping um and encourages that other aspect of the official Pol official plan policies about creating space for businesses um and Commercial activity to um be supportive and to encourage pedestrian activity um in this in in this alternative there is no cycling
Infrastructure on Princess Street so the cycling lanes are removed cyclists on Princess Street would be in the travel Lane with um other vehicles um or they would use the other network that’s created in in the Williamsville neighborhood um the the travel Lanes or the through Lanes here are narrowed um
So they’re 3.3 to 3.5 m in width uh there are turn Lanes at at um at various intersections um to enable us to do Transit priority so in alternative one there’s Transit priority um uh on at uh Princess Street in Albert and Princess Street in Drayton where there’s a
Dedicated Transit Q jump um this through the modeling showed the greatest uh advantage to travel time for transit in the corridor but that’s with left turn Lanes kept at um inter intersections in this in this Corridor as well that all vehicles would use so that the corridor continued to flow as
Well so these are some visual representations of What alternative one would look like midblock so midblock would be um between intersections uh there’s a lot of intersections so there’s not there’s not as many midblock expansive midblock areas as you might expect but this is a typical sort of
Representation of what could look like with the wider sidewalk areas um the areas for benches and plantings and then the narrowed travel Lanes with a single travel Lane in each Direction This is a a an a rendering of what an intersection could look like so this is the intersection of uh Alfred
And princess and you can see that here there you can see the um the two travel Lanes but also where where we’ve maintained the left turn lane and then The Pedestrian Crossing elements and then pedestrian realm that sh the other alternative that was considered was um was the on Street
Cycling Lane alternative so this is and again here’s the the and I should sort of explain that the image that you see here the the central image um you can see on the legend is where areas are green that’s where we can accommodate um the the full
Sort of 1.85 Furnishing area along with the sidewalk width of 2 m the yellow areas are where the minimum sidewalk width has been met and then the red areas are where we cannot meet the 2meter sidewalk and where we actually have conflicts that might be even less than
That so in alternative five um in this alternative the the the cycling Lanes on street are maintained so we have a 1.5 met cycling Lane and where possible we provide A3 meter buffer but we can’t provide that continuously uh it it impacts the um The Pedestrian realm in
That there is not as many areas to provide um benches or Street trees um or locations for other things like street lights and other components that would fit in that area beside where the sidewalk is and there are there are areas of concern um particularly around um well certainly drton duron’s a
Concern for both Alternatives but the sidewalks between M denell Smith and the areas between Victoria and Nelson uh we have are are constrainted um in what we can provide in providing all of those those elements so we have limited Greening enhancements especially to the
West we gain more of it back as we get um closer to Division Street um the through lanes are narrowed to the same um narrowing as we talked about in alternative one and in this alternative we also we do keep the left turn Lanes so that we have traffic flow to support
Transit and it includes both Transit Q jumps as well so the transit um elements between alternative 1 and alternative 5 are the same uh the the difference really between these Alternatives is how wide The Pedestrian realm is um or if the on Street cycling Lanes um are
Retained um so these are some visuals of of what that so those same blocks could look like um you can see the the travel Lanes the cycling Lane beside it it’s at the same level at the same grade and then the um sidewalk area and then narrower um public
Realm the the conflicts that we see through the corridor are most pressing at the intersections um that’s because of those um those extra features with the with the the Q jump or the turn Lanes um but this is the same intersection and what it could look like
Um with the on Street cycling Lanes retained so um just in thinking about then the two Alternatives I think just and comparing those and understanding what the trade-offs are um the so when we think about when we look at it from the policy direction of what’s in the
Opop from the secondary plan uh alternative one is most consistent with what’s in the secondary plan it prioritizes The Pedestrian realm and it gives the best opportunity um for a pedestrian oriented design which is what’s in the neighborhood’s Vision um alternative five is most consistent with our higher level policies what the
Official plan says and what the active Transportation plan says relative to um where the cycling spine should be and how those should be maintained the corridor analysis um uh uh that was completed so what we understand for how the corridor will work uh it alternative one is most consistent with prioritizing pedestrian
And Transit elements that are identified as important in the mod share goals when you talk about Transit elements we’re we’re speaking not to Transit priority but for waiting areas for where um Riders would would be or for shelters provided um and um alternative Prov alternative five allows for Transit priority um but
Does not maximize those elements of course um from an aoda standpoint um alternative one is is most compliant with the uh the sidewalk width and our requirements um to to sort of rebuild and provide that continuous um pedestrian area we can meet the minimum sidewalk widths in alternative five but
There’ll be compromises um there may need to be land that needs to be acquired we’re not sure if we can acquire that land and there may be impacts on the left turn and the transit um cues as well to build out those minimum sidewalks um The Pedestrian infrastructure similarly we can we can
Build um in alternative one we estimate that 98% of the corridor will have a 2 meter wide sidewalk and that 60% of it will provide that that Furnishing realm that’s at least 1.85 MERS wide which is what we need to be able to plant trees
Um alternative five can get you a 2 met sidewalk in 85% of the corridor um but it does have the fewest opportunities for those other public real elements so that we can prioritize the cycling elements um from a cycling infrastructure standpoint certainly alternative five it provides a a uh um
It maintains the existing cycling lanes and the continuity that can be built into that whereas alternative one doesn’t provide any features for cyclists it requires them to be on road um but there would be some opportunity for some shared um symbols and some um and and um along that to sort of
Reinforce that Transit priority is is treated similarly in both Alternatives so transits Q jumps and other features are recognized in the design um in in both instances the travel lanes are minimized um there’s concerns that because the um travel Lane in alternative one it is only a travel Lane
There is no parking Lane and there is no cycling LAN Lane that can act as a parking Lane for vehicles um so there’s concerns that some Vehicles may stop in the actual travel Lane and back vehicles up um but that that similar concern exists in alternative 5 where the
Vehicle would can also and may feel more confidently to park in the cycling Lane uh while vehicles are moving around it um and then from a constructibility and operation standpoint um both of them have some space limitations constraints um alternative one relative to where the underground utilities may be in the
Roadway alternative five relative to some space where we need to put Street lighting and traffic signals um there’s snow storage capacity um removals will still be needed in both Alternatives um we don’t have as much space for storing snow in alternative 5 because we would also clear the snow from all of the
Cycling elements um but um alternative 5 also provides um uh for Emergency Management standpoint um space for vehicles to move over or quickly so that um they can move around um um uh down through the travel l so those are the relative trade-offs between those two Alternatives that we can talk about more
When we’re getting some questions okay so we also I talked a little bit we heard a lot of um public input on this um a lot of concern about the removal of the bike lane on Princess Street in alternative one strong support for um uh Greening the corridor support for the transit improvements
Support for removing the on street parking um concerns about illegal parking um and a general support for narrowing of the lanes um but really that that what we heard from members of the public was there’s support for The Pedestrian oriented design but not at the expense of the cycling Lanes um when
Are speaking with our our our project team with Mac um there’s some con certainly concern raised by Mac um that the reduced sidewalk width and The Pedestrian realm in alternative five would impact access but you know seemingly also concerned that removing the cycling Lane could could move cyclists Into The Pedestrian realm which
Is also an issue from an accessibility standpoint okay so that’s all we’re going to say about part part one and then I’m going to cover part two and part three and then we’ll get into some questions so um building a a neighborhood cycling network was also a
Key part of the 2012 um uh Williamsville plan and reinforced as part of the 2020 um Williamsville Main Street update and it’s also supported in all of our um active Transportation um master plan and implementation plan so um in the initial consultation that was completed in
Spring of 2023 an a variety of roadways were were discussed with the community about what would be important and what are the roots that they use and in the fall we started talking about what are the features that could be included on that network of roadways that you would
Be comfortable using and that would help encourage and support cycling so we have uh neighborhood Bikeway features so a few different ways that we’re approaching this this is you know adding high visibility Crossings making sure there’s pavement markings making sure we’ve got the right signage in place and
Then really creating a a neighborhood Bikeway shared Bikeway um use on some of our streets so these are two examples of renderings that have been done one for n Napier Street which has a Rel a very narrow right of way of 15 meters and the
Other um a more typical R of way on on Albert Street you can see the shared aspect some on street parking is retained in these examples or um using some of the Greening elements that we developed with Green Street Concepts um bul boats um uh narrowings traffic
Calming measures again with a shared um aspect of the cycling uh on those roadways the other facility that we’re looking at is is a relatively New Concept to Ontario it’s called an advisory bike lane um and we I’m not an expert on that but we do have experts
Here tonight that can speak to the operation of that but it largely re revolves around narrowing the travel Lane that a vehicle would move in uh and creating um well I’ll show you um creating dedicated cycling facilities and requiring the vehicles to move into the cycling facility but to yield the
Right of way to the cyclist so it Narrows the travel Lane for vehicles and provides cycling uh on-road cycling space for cyclists and requires that the vehicle um is yielding the right of way to the cyclist so through all of this work we’ve identified the network of where
The cycling um Network would be and developed an recommendations around whether those streets would be a bike way or an advisory bike way or or a neighborhood bike way or an advisory bike way and so those are the streets they sort of listed and then we’ve
Created a network um that um will form part of the recommendations that come forward uh the engagement on the neighborhood cycling network was uh was completed you know finalized in in at the end of 2023 and again I think wide support for um the proposed network uh a
Lot of discussions around the types of facilities a lot of design to see additional traffic calming measures or different treatments added in on some of these streets to to further encourage um uh all cyclists to be able to use these areas um Mac was very supportive of the
Um of creating this and of creating infrastructure that could be used by um everyone certainly a more robust infrastructure versus um signage and paint um we’ll look at the constructibility aspects of that you know in in the coming months but um in in either alternative that’s chosen
For Princess Street this network of of um cycling uh this cycling Network can be implemented with whatever um uh is chosen for ultimately chosen for princess stre the last component of the report speaks to Green streets and developing concepts for green streets so again the
The notion of green spee has been in the Williamsville secondary plan since uh 2012 um there through the work with the community there was an opportunity to actually further Define what that would be and we started with uh because we needed to get to a common understanding
Of what a Green Street was and so that began with developing five principles I won’t read them but um those are the five principles that that were uh developed for Kingston for what what a Green Street in Kingston would be and we use that to develop three concepts that
We engage with the public on so there’s a light a medium or a mid and a heavy and this was really testing what what features um people were supportive of um and so the light as you would expect sort of has less of a less of an impact
On the um on the the existing roadway it it involves bul boats at either end of the either end of the street um some additional plantings where they can occur uh the mid concept uh adds additional elements removes um parking in certain sections of the street creates some ball boats and enhances
Kind of that pedestrian um area to allow for um greater pedestrian safety but then and uh walkability but also other spaces where additional uh trees could be planted and the final concept that the heavy level um spoke to sort of all of those elements but then also adding in things like
Um a a raised crosswalk or um a raised um Crossing where pedestrians would be and and uh proportionally even more of the on street parking excuse me being removed so that those elements could be accommodated so um there was strong preference amongst the public for the heavy concept so a a really aggressive
Approach on on the Green Street elements um the the most important elements were being able to plant more trees and to provide wider sidewalks um there was also support for bubo for bump boats and bu boats on the street um that that sort of ranked quite high it was it was
Number three but there was also a lot of discussion um and comments that came in about the concern about parking being removed so a desire to have all of these elements but also to continue to have the parking that’s if you were with me for part one where we’re talking about
Trade-offs and constraints this is an important thing to understand and to consider and weigh so the space that we would be Greening is largely space where there is existing on street parking and so that is fine but we um we just need an understanding of
What that is because if we are if we Implement at a at a at an aggressive or a heavy capacity it there will be an impact on the parking and we need that to be understood um so that we can proceed um and with also with the understanding that we are not then
Creating parking elsewhere so it’s converting that parking into something else um these elements of course are also can be integrated in with our our cycling Network that we’ve talked about um and can all be supported in those ways okay so that’s that’s where we end off so we’re at the next step section
We’re going to as I said incorporate all of the input that we’ve received from um uh that we’ll receive from the committee that we receive from members of the public and we’ll bring bringing a report forward in the spring uh we’ll use the direction that’s provided by Council to finalize the design of
Princess Street we have a project in the capital plan to reconstruct Princess Street from Alfred Street to division there’s a need to to reconstruct that area it also has provincial and federal funding um that has a timeline associated with it but we need to know what the overall design of Princess
Street with the concept of it is going to be so that we can rebuild that section and then incorporate that into the other sections of Princess Street later um we’ll be looking for direction on how the cycling Network can be incorporated into capital projects and the ways in which green streets um can
Be incorporated into capital projects there is no Capital funding approved for those aspects of it that will be part of the discussion that would happen with Council uh when we take the the report forward to them okay that’s that so um with that I’ll open um or sorry I’ll turn it back over
To counselor uh to the chair and I’m going to move over there but we’re available for questions now or at another time thank you very much for the report are there any Committee Member questions councelor too thank you Mr chair through you I’ve got several questions uh first is on a
Portion portion of the report you mentioned that if we did that option five that we would require land Acquisitions to meet with our aoda requirements can you elaborate a bit more of what type of land Acquisitions dollar values or what that would look like uh thank thank you for your
Question so it there is the and I’m just going to I’ll just make sure I’m not speaking out of a turn so there’s a a minimum requirement of 1.5 meters for a sidewalk width uh we’re looking to create a 2 meter sidewalk in this area given the The Pedestrian volume that we
Would expect uh so when we’re talking about meeting the aoda requirements we’re trying to meet that 1.5 meter the there there may not be sufficient land uh to provide that in all areas a in as an example in in the area around Drayton um you know there’s there the available
Sidewalk width could be less than say a meter on publicly owned land so there’s ways that we can do that we can acquire land um directly from a neighboring property um or we can work with the development that’s coming in so we can get an easement or a right of way across
Those um pieces in order to maintain that access in the long run the challenge we have in Williamsville is a lot of development the the a lot of development is underway or is approved and so opportunities to acquire land are more limited given given what is already
Being built or what is or what is approved to be built so that is why um and and so in some of those very constrained areas and keeping in mind this is a conceptual design that we’ve we’ve put together so far so this is you
Know there we you have to confirm all of these measurements there’s detailed design that would come after this um but I think what we are flagging in both Alternatives is that there are there are areas that are particularly tight where we will need to we will need to make
Some decisions about about how we can accommodate those pieces in detailed design and our ability to acquire land is limited okay thank you um there was something you on a chart earlier that said meet aoda requirements were possible can you just elaborate it’s an aoda requirement isn’t it a requirement
Or Can Am I just miss understanding the report and what’s here okay I can okay all right so I’m going to take that one aoda is a requirement it’s not negotiable so the the components up there that said where possible meant within the available RightWay so that’s where the issue was there’s no
Negotiating that of of all the things that are in the right of way that’s the one piece that’s not negotiable good um the other question I have a few more um when you said EMS could possibly if we went with option one park on a sidewalk um in the
Experience that you’ve had doing other work research of areas without a bike lane or parking Lane is that commonly used that EMS Vehicles do in fact Park on a sidewalk you did mention that um Mr Simple in PR of your presentation thank you so I’ll speak to
I think that came up as part of our constructibility review uh so there is I think it’s the concern is that um if there’s vehicles in that travel Lane how would EMS how can they pull over to allow EMS to go by and so some of the
Considerations for that is there may be um a mountable curb rather than a barrier curb so a mountable curb that other vehicles would pull up to allow um uh EMS to continue through there’s also concepts of you would develop an alternative route um the blocks are relatively short so vehicles are able to
Make a turn down to allow EMS to continue through those those details would need to be looked at further but it’s a it’s a fair consideration in that in alternative 5 um the vehicles could pull into the cycling Lane um uh to allow EMS to go
By thank you and just again I want to clarify this again because it’s in my notes several times uh any option we’re meeting our aoda requirements as a city that is not non-negotiable certainly for me but it’s non-negotiable for the city is that correct so that is non-negotiable that’s a
Requirement so aoda meeting aoda compliance needs to happen in this Corridor as soon as we touch it um meeting that either requires removal of left turn Lanes at certain locations or acquisition of property and that’s just the way it needs to be yeah so the providing non aoda compliance sidewalks
Can’t be an option once we touch this so I found that language bit ambiguous in the report I don’t know if the other counselors felt that as well um okay so what kind of delays are we talking about with eliminations of left turn lanes because you did talk about in
The report do talk about the some delays in traffic without left turn Lanes like how much time are we talking about or is it still in the preliminary stage where we wouldn’t have any estimate based on that or have we done any modeling on that I’ll take that question that’s
About 3 minutes of delays uh for vehicles and transit for buses 3 minutes in the West bound Direction during the PM PE hour for buses and uh Vehicles yes okay thank you any other questions from committee members councelor Steven thank you Mr chair through you um thanks for that
Lengthy briefing and uh all the work that’s gone into this so far I know your team’s been working very hard I’m just I just have one question so for alternative one could cyclists somehow be prioritized at intersections like I’m trying to visualize this and short of having a VR
Situation it’s kind of difficult so are cyclists I understand they’re in with traffic with buses and whatever cars are left over from people who aren’t switching their mooch chair or their their method of travel so are they cyclists queued up with cars like at a stoplight for example or is there a way
That they have I don’t know just a slip lane or something um thank you for your question and I’ll so the cyclist would travel in the same Lane as vehicles um the lanes are narrowed so um uh there will so we expect vehicles to move slower especially during peak times um but but
Cyclist would be within the lane of travel I think some of the elements that you’re talking about might be um sort of related to um like an an examp example like a Division Street where we have a bike box and some of those other elements um I’ll I’ll just maybe ask our
Design Consultants to speak to the Fe feasibility of those elements um relative to Alternative one yes so I can hop in there so typically when we put bike boxes at intersections it’s so that uh bicyclists in a cycle Lane can move ahead of traffic and have an option to to turn
Left and be visible to through traffic but here we’re not there’s not enough space for them to drive up beside vehicles and then move into that priority lane or that priority space so that it doesn’t make sense to provide a bike box there um are there other you
Know ways we can provide safe spaces for um cyclists to wait we can provide bike Pockets but we’d have to look at whether the overall benefit would be there so that’s like just a little spot off to the side of the intersection for cyclists to move if they want to do like
A two-stage Crossing um but when you’re when you’re a cyclist and you’re in the middle of traffic and there’s cars ahead of and behind you that the benefit of those extra features disappears okay thank you through you Mr chair so what I’m hearing is that for
Any kind of sort of cyclist I don’t know Advantage option five would be the better fit because you could use bike boxes you could have that priority Jump Ahead kind of situation that’s correct y okay thank you are there any other questions from community members councelor
OS thank you Mr chair and through you so I just want to clarify one more time on the aoda in any option that is being considered under no circumstances will the aoda be compromised so basically any option that you have put forward the aoda will work the the two options you’re looking
At now the way they’re designed within the existing right of way we cannot uh accomplish the 1.8 meter it’s it’s 1.8 so it’s 1.5 for One Direction aoda it’s 1.8 for bidirectional so you can have space for two wheelchairs to pass each other in those options whatever uh alternative gets pushed forward or
Decides to be moved forward we need to be making compromises to to accomplish that so we City cannot construct something that doesn’t have that and that means you’re acquiring property proper or you’re removing left turn permissions and left turn Lanes right I I I understand what you’re saying I’m
Going to take another Avenue then in in my district or the edge of my district there’s been a Perpetual construction of a certain Bridge um over a number of almost a decade but over a number of years it’s now wide open but utilities Kingson is going to have some fun sometime this
Year and that will happen again and there was bike integration that took place in those Lanes so it went from a cycle Lane westbound or eastbound inte the bikes then had to integrate into the cars and then back out to a bike lane I repeatedly watched bikes trying
To integrate into these Lanes with cars riding them hard and safety concerns and this is my concern for option one is that we’re going to move all of our bikers into these lanes and we’re now putting them at risk I what based on volume projections for Princess
Street in the data you’re you’re you’re bringing forward are these safety concerns able to be addressed in option one cuz at least option five keeps them safe and on to the side and in their own area are they completely safe no we don’t have the there’s you’ve made it clear there’s not enough
Room but they have at least a bike lane to keep them safe in option one volume projections do we have any data on safety integration of bikes coming into those Lanes I think that’s a that’s a question that we may need to take away and bring back some information for you I think
Um you know what you’re describing on Front Road um it also was a a construction condition as well um and and so I don’t know that we would do a direct comparison to that some of what are so I think counselor we can we can certainly take that away and provide
Some data about the volume and and the the um the appropriateness of of that feature some of the some of the other elements that we’ve looked at though relative to Alternative 5 um is the prevalence of when we of the prevalence of a parked vehicle in the cycling Lane
Which has been a concern in in this section of Princess Street since the lanes were added and um so that there’s a there’s a balance there as as well relative to um a cyclist being in an in a protected area coming across a parked an a legally parked vehicle and then
Having to go out and and move around too that is that is part of that so um we can provide a more detailed answer about about the volume and the relative safety to that I think for both options thank you that would that would address some of my concerns with this
That front Road yes I recognize 100% it was Construction there it was well signed there were signs for the motorist to understand there was bike integration there was painting on the roads that said bike uh merging and bike had priority uh motorists didn’t care they just didn’t care so I’m this
Is my concern about going with option one is we’re going to have a number of cyclists that are potentially literally taking their life in their hands with no protection at all and in a high high volume area we’ve all traveled on Princess Street whether it’s rush hour or non-rush hour or event uh
Whether it’s major events happening downtown Princess Street gets jammed up throw a cyclist in there right in with the cars we’re going to have issues did I read in the report that there was a possibility that we are eliminating lights or we’re adding more lights on into this
Corridor yeah so one of the recommendations relates to signalization at um Drayton uh and that’s related to the transit signal priority or the transit um Q jump that’s provided will there be a removal of Lights uh in any of the in any of the intersections to compensate for
That the reason I ask and I hear this all the time Kingston has lots of lights so it’s if to have any sort of flow either for cyclist or motorists and we’re now adding another light another concern yeah thank you for your question so no signals are anticipated to be
Removed um the signals you know do um provide provide for that flow management um that’s also very important to transit in that corridor especially as we move to the to uh higher frequency service um the the transit um Q jump components as Mr Stewart talked about is you know a
Two to three minute Time Savings you know when a bus is coming every 5 minutes that’s very important so that particular signal at Dron is is important for that westbound Direction um it also these are the locations where we um provide signalized or pedestrian Crossing as well so The Pedestrian um
Crossing aspect of that is an important component of those signals too understand fully agree with that statement um I think that’s it for now thank you for the report it was very lengthy detailed uh it was good thanks are there other questions from counselor shaves that’s all that stickering
About um thank you for the report I got uh several questions more than the other several so first with removal of on street parking along prin Street how would this affect deliveries and to the businesses in Long printer street so with with um the removal so the on street parking on Princess Street
Would be removed the expectation would be that um any parking need short-term parking needs would be accommodated on the side streets that would be for for both residential needs but also the businesses okay that goes into my second question is there a plan to increase on street parking off- street parking long
Printer Street and or related side streets uh no there’s no um committed plans to provide additional off street parking um and I think as part of you saw in my section three of my my lengthy report is there there likely is additional on street parking removals on the side streets if um green
Street um concepts are applied in that area but there is no committed plan to provide additional off street parking from a from a public capacity that can be built into developments but not into not in current plans thank you sort touched on um but on page 9 of
25 would it not be difficult for both vehicles and cyclists to share the road if it’s is reduced sorry could you repeat the I just missed part of your question would it not be difficult for both vehicles and cyclists to share the road Prince Street if it’s
Reduced yeah so I think that that’s um a part of what we’ve been talking about where the the the cyclists and the vehicles and I think Miss King spoke to it is they would likely they would not travel side by side it would be um a cyclist in between cars travel down that
That roadway is that correct Miss King yeah okay I know on page 925 second paragraph um I think it mentions about uh separate Lane but uh or the illegal parking of drivers uh would probably Park if there was like a dedicated bike linee as you touched there’s um probably
IL legal parking and would it not be uh if there was a barrier separating the cyclist that would alleviate that that is there room for that uh generally no so there’s so it’s a painted onroad cycling Lane there is not a plan for space for buffer um where
Ballards like you would have seen on Johnson and Brock Street and I think um I think also relative to the the relatively short nature of the blocks uh we’d have to transition and trans transition in and out of those those buffered or Ballard areas relatively quickly so you likely get you might get
Four ballards and then we’d be heading back in as we’re kind of coming back into an intersection I think that’s fair to to characterize it in that way correct we’re most constrainted at intersection so in between where we’ve got turn Lanes if we maintain them it would be challenging to provide a
Physical barrier but you’re correct a physical barrier like a raised curb or some sort of flexible Ballard which are not not ideal but that that would provide some sort of protection to prevent vehicles from moving into that space between the two options which one which one is more compliant with the a
Aoda there we go so with both options when we advance them right now um alternative 5 is showing that we’re not as aod compliant but that’s because we’re within the existing right of way and we’re maintaining left turn ultimately it comes down to a decision to either acquire property or remove
Left turn Lanes where alternative five is not showing that it’s able to comply but it’s very limited it’s very it’s very limited the non- compliance because there’s nothing else we can do it’s 86% of the corridor so there are a couple of blocks like Victoria to Nelson is extremely
Constrained so without taking out the left turn lanes that will be there you won’t meet aod compli clients I think based on the fact that it’s fully developed right up to the property line there okay um to confirm will there be a cyclist travel route system throughout the side streets of
Williamsville uh yes so that I think that the intent is that we develop a a full Network for Williamsville some of the there’s certainly we would create excellent connectivity North and South um between Williamsville and and queens and other communities and other use destinations to the South uh there the
There is not as as good an East West connectivity right that’s the importance of Princess Street that’s there it’s the only street that that travels um with in a continuous fashion through there there are some Alternatives with using Park Street and Ma Street and um uh on the southern section in particular that
Allow for that to be created yes does the city have a legal requirement obligation to follow aoda yes we do yeah and I think that we would as Miss King has noted there would be tradeoffs that would need to happen um most likely from a a turn lane or a
Transit priority Lane standpoint and that those trade-offs would then impact the transit operation thank you how would the Planters and Furniture affect the Skywalk snow removal so in speaking with our our Public Works colleagues so there’s between the two Alternatives there is more snow storage uh available in alternative one
Uh because that that public realm area is where the snow would be stored and then removed in alternative five they would also need to remove they would plow and remove the snow from the cycling Lanes of course and the storage area uh the storage area is much less because
You would be AB buding either the sidewalk or a very narrow public realm aspect of it so there is more snow storage available in alternative one under the current design uh that would allow for uh removals um uh and a removals in a in a more predictable way uh alternative five would require
Additional um additional removals or more or more scheduled removals in order to in order to keep both the cycling Lane clear with the snow storage available and on the same notation uh would the street snow removal be easier with the removal of the on street
Parking yes I think um we also plow the parking Lanes so we don’t use those as snow storage um they certainly they can function as snow storage during the initial um snow clearing but we we as a city also need to plow the parking Lanes
Into then a snow storage area so um the on street parking is temporary snow storage and then full and then are fully cleared afterwards thank you uh not sure if in regards to the green mid and heavy Concepts I’m not sure with losing of parking on printer street I’m not sure
Could actually afford losing on street parking along the side streets would that be correct yes so th this is why I brought it up a lot in the presentation is that there we’re not we’re not adding parking places um this is these are Concepts that are being considered for
Williamsville overall um there are there are real benefits to the Green Street Concepts that are very that are consistent with council’s strategic priorities and consistent with all of the plans that are in place but they’re needs there needs to be an understanding that that that will come with on street parking
Removals thank you in regards to the green heavy concept uh raise Crossings was mentioned not in the other two so could they be used in all three concepts ye yes so I think um there are some elements in each of the the concepts that that are somewhat interchangeable
So raised um raised crosswalks can be included in other Concepts y thank you I think that would add to the safety under the Williams Transportation study um on the cross-section study alternate one would the option be better for Access accessibility and and also cooling cooling effects of the
Pavement so um alternative one provides the um the the most consistent sidewalk WID but also provides the largest um what we’re call the Furnishing zone or public realm so it is the area that would provide it that area is available for um additional sort of queuing or
Waiting benches it allows for rest areas it allows for um waiting areas you know for local Transit stops so that that public realm is most alternative one has the most space available for those users in the public realm to to not only walk or roll or move but also to wait and
Congregate and and sort of enjoy that space so that is um where so that is more in keeping with a variety of users that could could be in that area and to further that if someone had mobility issues it be they’ have several um spots
To stop and rest yes the area that those those are the areas that would provide rest areas and it would allow for um those users who require more space you know to be side by side with who they’re walking with or rolling with so yes and this is the only option which has
Vegetation along the sidewalk right which would cause a cooling effect uh so it’s the option so alternative one is the option that provides the the most ability to provide um Greening elements uh there are areas particularly east of uh I don’t have the map directly but
East of um Nelson um in where some Greening elements may be able to be added in alternative five okay here’s a question what’s the possibilities of removing some of the traffic lights and putting in roundabouts so yep so I think um we’ve not looked at replacing the intersections with
Roundabouts um I know we had that question um earlier today I know we we talked a little bit about the the the footprint of what would be required um and what that would mean from a pedestrian um an accessibility standpoint but no we’ve not looked in detail at at what sections could be
Replaced with roundabouts we don’t expect many okay thought I put out there are there any trees in our inventory which will not cause damage to our infrastructure I think um we have a we’ve got a variety of trees that we use in in more urban settings so we would
Use similar kind of um trees and infrastructure as like what we have in the in downtown lower princess that would be appropriate in there if there’s insufficient space to accommodate some of those things we have other types of plantings grasses um planter boxes and others that would be considered in those
Areas thank you uh in regard and Within part to Neighborhood bikeways uh it was mentioned and I saw the slide uh the sample of an advisory bike lane facility I know I just mentioned that mentioned roundabouts however drivers have a difficulties with roundabouts because I know I have two in my district
They can’t seem to know what to do with these so I I believe drivers aren’t aren’t going to know what to do in these advisory bike Lanes when basically it’s only one car car withd and you have two bike Lanes on opposite sides so I I do acknowledge the advisory
Bike lane is a New Concept it’s relatively new um in Ontario um I can get you know if you’re asking about the operation of it we can explain that but I would say in general with any New Concept that becomes available to us as part of our toolkit um that we can use
In Ontario it requires education it requires monitoring and it requires enfor enforcement but if we are to move some of these elements forward and to and to deprioritize motorists and shift um the priority to our other users we do need to use and begin using these tools it’s
Similar to the way in which the city is is beginning to use the the The Pedestrian crossovers that are a relatively recent tool that we have available to US versus only using signals to cross so this it is a New Concept um but it’s a it’s a a tool that
Is available for us to use that allows us to prioritize cyclists on those roadways and and we’ve studied it and it looks appropriate thank you last question maybe under the section green stre streets um are we using these Concepts in new development would cuz I would believe it
Would be cheaper to include within a new development rather than an established development yes so we would um we we can use these for both new developments and Redevelopment I think the um intent would be to have these Concepts available to um to our engineering team such that when a road is being
Reconstructed we could look to see what level of of Greening what what what green concept could be applied if it would be appropriate but that also can be a component of what’s discussed as part of development in subdivisions or in in new areas thank you thank you um any other questions councelor
Hanan thank you Mr chair and through you um Mr Ian can you elaborate about when you mentioned that for some of the um challenges we going to have it’s going to require probably uh more land but as I see and I know the Princess Street corridor from uh Division Street to all
The way to Albert or nson uh if I can recall and I can visualize the picture I don’t see that any land will be available to you to acquire even you you need the land it’s a lot of construction going on so can you just share that if you have any idea
Where which piece of the Princess Street is possibly have a land which we can acquire uh thank you for your question so um I don’t I can’t identify the specific components your characterization of it is generally correct though so the city like our ability to acquire to acquire um uh
Pieces of the RightWay is is very limited um if if new development applications come in or modifications to developments come in we would use that as an opportunity to try and incorporate some of those needs into either into acquiring land or to having having private space available
To the public um the the in the in both Alternatives alternative one and alternative 5 one of the most the most critical area is at the is in the drton Avenue areaa um so we’re most restricted um on what’s available and what the city RightWay is relative to the space that’s
Needed so if we are not able to acquire land um it’s as Miss King outlined we would need to make decisions about maybe you know are we we must we need to provide an appropriate sidewalk with uh what needs to be removed at that point is it is it narrowing of of
Um this the amenity space that’s available is are we not able to accommodate a signal there anymore is the is the transit priority Lane removed we would need to understand what those those components are but that would likely occur in the the detailed design stage in your opinion during this study
Did we include the the business businesses on the Princess Street um during the consultation and or public consultation and and the study period did we present these both plans to the business Community as well what they think about it uh so not directly but as part of the
Secondary plan I know the I know the business communities I know the the businesses and I believe the chamber were involved in discussions as part of the Williamsville secondary plan completed in 2020 um and all of the the contacts that are Avail I think those that are interested in the project it
Was widely shared um with the Community Association and um to and and through um news releases so that they could be involved and the last question is um um maybe to Mr Miss King that uh in your expert opinion the both plan which plan is more family friendly um and and the
Kids friendly uh can be to so can walk you know and they they can use they can rest they can enjoy and U it seems to be um not seems to be that’s put this way and provide more beautification to that Corridor for the tourism purpose okay so this is
Familyfriendly isn’t exactly a technical piece that I can comment on um if you’re asking me about where do we like obviously alternative one has the greatest potential for beautification right alternative one provides the like when we look at pedestrian space we are looking at space that benefits every single person every
Person is a pedestrian first and a cyclist or a driver second so that is alternative one provides that um in terms of like options to move families alternative two is you’re not like I’m I’m a parent I’m not going to put my 14-year-old in a shared Lane on princess
Street but will use the neighborhood bikeways to get to my destinations so it’s a it’s a decision thank you okay uh viair Stephen could you take the chair I have the chair councelor chanan go ahead okay so I have a few questions um so with I guess the expected result result
Would be in the future would be to that there would be reduced traffic um in the long run uh so would removing turning Lanes if you were compare it to right now and say 10 years from now when you would expect less uh cars traveling um would there be a
Change in transit times that you would expect um if there were less traffic as we’re hoping for director SLE thank you so I’m going to maybe just preface this and I’ll ask Mr Stewart to to speak to that so um because I think it’s important to understand I think the
How the what the volume of vehicles how that’s been modeled I don’t know that there’s a a reduction is that correct Mr sh uh so with regards to the reduction in Auto traffic that would happen because we’re having increased active transportation and increased Transit usage but some of that so that would
Result in lower Auto traffic demands but that is somewhat offset by uh the increased development that might be happening further out in the city where we don’t have as much Transit service we don’t have as much uh active Transportation um uh to those areas so
It’s it it’s kind of a wash in the end it’s kind of a net you know there’s some decreases for existing traffic but increases in other traffic um so ideally But to answer your question directly if there was lower traffic volumes in a quarter that would be an improvement I
Would expect that to be an improvement for Transit okay so um so say if option five uh were selected um and if we discovered that cycop paths or even separated bike Lanes could be used um even if it’s like intermittent um could they be considered in some
Sections okay so I’ll take that one um typically when we design cycle facilities we want to use a consistent cycle facility type so providing a a cycle track so something that’s physically separated either you know physical barrier or vertical barrier um it’s the highest level of uh cycle
Facility comfort that we can provide and so it’s not at all ideal to go from a cycle track to an on Street cycle Lane to a shared Lane so the that mix uh whatever option we pick uh I wouldn’t suggest that we should be looking at a
Mix unless we’ve got like a a section at the end that’s extremely highly used and people are just detouring in and out but I wouldn’t suggest that um not using a consistent cycle facility type along there I think one of the other things I want to just dial back onto your other
Question with alternative five when we’re looking at removing Lanes I think it’s important to consider that uh removing a left turn lane in this Corridor means that we’re prohibiting left turn we’re not just removing a left turn lane and people are still going to turn left at those intersections that’s not going
To happen so it’s the consideration is that it’s a much bigger Network issue so obviously Transit travel times will get improved there but what happens where do the vehicles until that change happens until people’s habits change you’re going to end up with much more traffic diverting around Princess
Street okay well I have another question based on what you just said um so say if we only remove the turning lane and prohibit it from the the ones that are more constrained are the problem and then people use since there’s the intersections are very close together so it’s you’re not traveling
Far uh to turn left intersection where you could would that be a possibility to have a more continuous um uh cycling infrastructure that could be improved in a certain way think we’ve modeled that right Eric so so I think um it’d be difficult to answer that question I think without without looking
At some calculations and and having Mr Stewart do some modeling for us but I would if I was to come back to some of what what our Direction was from the 2020 um is uh certainly Transit ensuring that transits um could operate in the way that it
Needs to now and in the future um but there was there’s also a lot of concern about not about um the surrounding neighborhood ensuring that there wouldn’t be uh we would limit the vehicle infiltration into the other neighborhoods so not not creating additional traffic on the neighborhood streets because people
Because motorist were leaving Princess Street and not and also not shifting all of Princess Street’s traffic to um streets like Johnson Brock and Concession so it was it it was about Princess Street still providing two-way traffic and two-way traffic in a way that allowed transit to to operate with
A five-minute Headway that’s the scenario that was that was directed and run and that’s what was that is what was established to be able to support the development um the the development that was approved for the the neighborhood okay um guess just about parking um so you talked about parking
Being off to the side the side streets are they going to be I guess assuming metered parking uh so I think it would be we would recommend uh we would develop a a a parking regulation plan for for all of the side streets and it it for sure
Would the initially would be we would be looking at short-term parking so that would be metered parking but it also we also may need to provide um other types of parking regulated spaces so uh commercial loading zones there might be access this is where we would provide
Accessible parking spaces so all of the all that that sort of full network of short-term parking spaces would would exist on the side streets uh and meter parking would be a component of it but likely the lower priority the higher priority would be accessible parking and loading zones okay thank
You I return the chair to you okay so now um we’ll move on to um public portion of uh the questions so members of the public will have 5 minutes to speak so you need to state your name and I will give you a 30 second um Mark when your time is almost
Up and you can give more details all right so there is quite a lot of people in the room and most of the staff have sat in where we usually uh orientate people so I’m going to ask members of the public who are to my right or the
Left of the chamber I’m going to have you come up to where councel osterhoff and councel McLaren normally sit at the front of the horseshoe I’ll move their name plates out um and the members on the my left of the chamber your right to come to where there currently is a man
Sitting there and we’ll kind of alternate between the two uh as per the call of the chair and if you would like to speak just raise your hand so we can know and we can make your way over thank you okay so I see you’re already sitting
Down so just state your name and you have five minutes and I’ll warn you when there’s 30 thank you uh my name is Gavin Anderson I live on um um I live in Kingston uh I’m retired now but before I retired I commuted to work by
Bicycle um every day that I could and I for the most part enjoyed it uh people at my work I was the only person that commuted by bicycle to work and people so it was a curiosity and people noticed and uh they complimented me on my choice they recognized that it was
Cheaper healthier better for the better for the the planet but they also commented quite regularly that I was courageous and when I asked them why they didn’t uh uh bicycle to work ever they said that it was too risky and that they were afraid um and when I looked at my own
Commute which was probably uh a little less than 5 kilomet for the most part it was safe but there were a few points I had to go over the uh Division Street overpass over the CNR uh rail line for instance and that was dangerous and my
Point is that that uh a bicycle trip um is only as safe as the most dangerous part 4 and 1 12 kilm of that 5 km ride could be in dedicated uh bike trails absolutely safe from collisions but if there was uh 500 M of congestion high
Traffic volume um no protection then the whole ride is rendered unsafe and that’s why I um I’m concerned about the alternative one reaching this stage of uh of consideration because it’s actually subtracting from our Network our our bike uh path Network um it’s making it more likely that people will
Choose not to ride their bicycle if that trip includes um a passage along Princess Street through Williamsville um and in terms of meeting our objectives of more people riding bicycles then we have to um uh expect that we’re not going to make progress on that until the
Network increases we can put more and more dedicated Lanes but as long as we’ve got dangerous sectors it’s not going to show up in the statistics so we need to we need to have faith and confidence and stay the course and that’s why I think that uh alternative
Five is the better option it’s not the best option in fact I was a bit surprised when I saw one uh as an alternative and elevated to the St you know this that it’s actually under consideration I thought well then why didn’t we consider having the option of
Having it as a pedestrian uh mall with no cars at all I thought that would be kind of radical but then again uh from my point of view uh alternative number one is radical to Retreat from bicycle lanes and to expect cars to uh to compete or uh bicycles to compete with
Cars if you were going up through Princess Street and past the old uh traffic circle onto the next portion of Princess Street that is truly dangerous without dedicated Lanes with nothing you’re just in there cars are roaring by go up Sir John A McDonald the same thing
Why do that to Princess Street as it is now I think one of the the the issues with uh alternative five however will be that cars will park in the bike lane and my question is is there any consideration being given to upping the consequences for cars parking in bicycle
Lanes most parking infractions um are a result uh it’s because of inconveniences people overstay their their meter people Park um when it is Rush Hour it leads to more congestion so there are consequences um for for double parking or or parking for the city and they then they’re fined appropriately but for a
Bicyclist somebody who’s parking in a bar in a bike lane that is not just an inconvenience that is putting me and other cyclists at risk when we approach a parked car and have to pull out into traffic uh while other cars are also having to to go around that parked car
Uh it will bleed into the uh into the road so the question is if you’re going to go with with five and it is not the best but Superior to one then I think we also have to get serious about recognizing that cars parked in dedicated bike lanes are a dangerous
Hazard and should be treated uh much more seriously than uh a small parking uh fine thank you thank you and next person so um we’re going to take five like questions like total and then we’re going to do answers and then we’re just going to take a break after that
And then we’ll come back to um other sets of five questions and then answers and then five questions and answers and I would ask that hopefully um you try not to repeat questions that have already been asked oh it’s there thanks very much uh my name is John Grenville I live at
24 Jenkins one block off Princess Street uh Jenkins runs between frack and Alfred and although I live in wonderful Williamsville uh I’m I’m not speaking on behalf of the Williamsville Community Association my wife and I were part of the consultation for the Williamsville Main Street study in 2010 and 2011 and
The subsequent review in 2020 um and although we had concerns about aspects of The Proposal we saw the green streets The Greening of Princess Street and the proposed parquets as positive contributions to our neighborhoods here we are 12 years since Council unanimously approved the Williamsville Main Street study and I
Certainly am pleased to see the Green Street Concepts that staff uh have presented in in tonight’s report since the willville Main Street secondary plan was approved by Council over 2,000 units with over 4,000 bedrooms have been built and more are proposed and approved I’ll just say that again over 2,000
Units with over 4,000 bedrooms we have seen no parquettes no Greening to Princess Street yet uh some are on the way green streets were in the are in the official plan today in one place um in section 12E which is the section on Williamsville Main Street so
When I refer to Green streets I am referring to Williamsville uh while recognizing that green Streets Could ultimately be anywhere um certainly it’s my contention that um there needs to be priority to looking at developing green streets in Williamsville in the in the report um there is no schedule for the development
Of green streets even a rough schedule for the implementation except to say that um green streets will be implemented on the various neighborhood streets when those streets are slaved for reconstruction in the city’s capital budget I was six when we started this discussion on green streets I’m hoping to see green streets
Ultimately in Williamsville but at the rate that we’re going um I’m losing faith in the possibility when this report goes to council um I’d like to see the schedule for construction of at least one Green Street in Williamsville now it may be five years
Out I I don’t know but but surely we can say uh at that in in at some point in the future there’s going to be a Green Street in Williamsville since frond street from York to Mack it’s only two blocks long um has been identified as a priority um in the secondary
Plan uh which actually is then referenced in the um official plan I would like to see when the Green Street concept will be put in place for front next stre thanks very much thank you so can we have someone else just as a r anyone on the left side oh there you
Go five minutes thank you my name is Anette burot I too live in Williamsville and have lived here for 30 years um I’m speaking as co-president of the Williamsville Community Association I think it’s important to provide some sort of on the ground experience and what the Community Association feels about Transportation
Last spring we had a town hall very well attended over 50 people on transportation and we had proponents speaking about green streets about bicycling and active transport and about Safe Streets and before we began that se those three sections in the town hall those presentations there was a brief
Description of what is the district and I think it’s important that members of the committee I know one knows this but that the rest understands Williams bill as a very particular District which is the densest populated in Kingston and the smallest and it is characterized by three very busy streets running through
It which are threeways it is also an old neighborhood so the streets are narrow it was built for single family houses primarily so when people say gbly we’ll just put the parking on the side streets I’m not sure they totally appreciate what that means so for example Victoria
Street would be one of those side streets it’s a very dangerous Street to cycle on because of the parking the same holds true for Max street so the notion that somehow the side streets offer some Sanctuary to those lovely families with their children cycling down the streets
Is not true I can’t tell you how many times I’ve almost been hit by a car door flying open one of those small streets then there is the snow clearance then there is the condition of the roads Etc so Mr Simple is absolutely right it’s a very tight situation in
Williamsville so is Mr Anderson absolutely right in that if we do not show courage in encouraging active transport it’s not going to happen so my question I guess is do you have the courage to actually support what is claimed in policies what’s been approved by Council and so on thank
You thank you there’s no clapping in the room sorry thank you just state your name and you have five minutes and I’ll let you know when there’s 30 seconds left thank you my name is Carol Russell and I am the President of the Kingston valow club
And I’ll refer to them as kvc from this point forward in addition to speaking on behalf of kvc I’m also speaking on behalf of Dr Patrick Lynch a longtime and very experienced cyclist and member of kvc if he could have Patrick would have been here tonight but he could not be here because
On November 12th 20123 he was killed by a car while cycling on tayor kid bullet Boulevard in a section where there is no cycling Lane he was a few kilometers from home kvc is a very old Cycling Club we’ve been here for 52 years and recently we have seen a very huge growth
In our membership we bike a lot to the tune of 12 120,000 kilm every single year but it’s not safe and safety matters it matters every single time we hop onto our bikes on every single road that we pedal on safety matters our members tell us that they
Feel safer cycling in Toronto than they do in Kingston we want solutions for Kingston transportation to be inclusive of of cyclists we need an infrastructure where car doors will not open on us when we’re cycling through where there will be no speeding cars passing Us 2 feet away rattling our
Nerves where we can safely turn left when we need to we have members who do not own cars we’ve heard from some of those folks tonight they go about their day-to-day business by bike neighbors who shop by bike Towing their children in a bike behind in a trailer behind them
Neighbors who bike their kids to school after Patrick’s death we organized a ghost bike ride nearly 300 cyclist showed up and participated in spite of the fact that it was November and the temperature was 0 de we do not want any more cycling injuries we do not want to organize another ghost bike
Ride thank You sorry I’ll repeat you can’t clap in this chamber I’m sorry I know people do this sometimes so yeah unfortunately and I actually did Clap the other day without thinking all right go ahead you have H five minutes Hugh McKenzie uh dund Street Williamsville I’ve worked downtown until
I sort of recently semi-retired since 1991 when I arrived in Kingston I bought a mountain bike that was ugly and would never get stolen and have it outside tonight I rode to work this morning my observ ation is the bike lane down uh Princess Street is is good uh my
Only challenge really is the potential for for the park cars to open their doors and I’m always Vigilant about that going down Princess Street is great because it’s downhill I get to be in the middle of the lane and I can go as fast as anybody the challenge is coming up Brock
Street and today coming back up Brock Street I’ll do again tonight uh it is cars that pass too fast and too close that make you nervous before you get to Beyond Division Street where the bike lane starts I know that it’s a commuter traffic and it’s it’s uh uh
Congestion and everybody’s in a rush to get home and whatever but that’s that’s the scariest part of of my my 32 years of biking downtown that really hasn’t changed too much my other observation and it’s really disappointment about the development on William Street the re re-envision of what that Community with
That that section of town would look like I know Vancouver because my half my family is out in Vancouver and I look at Fourth Avenue or a Commercial Drive what I see are Street engagement reasons for people to shop and be and move slowly down the street and I’ve been watching
This for as I say 32 years in anticipation that with the Redevelopment of Princess Street and the Williamsville reinv Vision that there would be more grocery stores more antique shops more funky places the stuff you see on on Commercial Drive In in Vancouver we have the population density as was just said
Williamsville is the most densely populated with a mix of of students and families and all those elements it just behooves me ever since John’s Del is closed that there aren’t Street side grocery stores with their produce out on the uh on the front porch or whatever
You want to call it and as a consequence I really don’t think it’s a pedestrian Community congregating Point uh where option one we would add a lot of greenery but we would take away the practicality of the uh of the important bike Lanes thank you thank you very much so I propose
That we take a recess for like for 10 minutes to go to the bathroom and do what you need to do so we can reconvene here in at uh 8:29 For e For E E e e e e e e okay everyone it’s 8:29 if the members of the can please return to their seats thank you so since we’ve had five members of the public speak we will move to staff or the present whoever presented to answer questions and then we’ll do another five and
Then so Mr Simple and your team if you I’m not sure if you took down the questions that were asked uh thank you Mr chair yes we did so um I think the first uh the first question was related to you know consideration about uh changing the the penalties Associated
For Parkers and cycling Lanes it isn’t uh it isn’t an active item on a work plan but it’s certainly a consideration um that that we can take into account both for this location and others um we recently completed a review um a similar review regarding stopping in in school
Zones so um we there’s precedent for us to do that work um there were questions about um uh about if the report to council would include schedules for green streets um uh in Williamsville and about and would it include the schedule for a Green Street to be put in place for
Front neck so there are no um there beyond the sort of conclusion of this study there are no committed projects directly related to The Green Street Concepts but that would be part of the discussion that would occur with Council when the report um decision is being
Made so there would uh need to be Direction about projects um capital projects that can be included it is the intent that if the Green Street concepts are adopted that staff would use those concepts for um projects currently approved in the capital plan and apply those measures in that way uh but there
Is no Capital Project Specific to front NE Street at this at this time um and I think those were the the questions that were directed to staff that I had okay and also if you have courage sry oh I sorry and that just and relative to the timeline I think that
Would form part of that discussion as well so it would be relative to council’s decision uh capital projects and where those factor into other capital projects okay thank you so now we’ll move over move on to the next five questions so you have five minutes state
Your name and I’ll let you know in when you have 30 seconds left am I on yeah my name is Margaret kton I live actually in Skelton Park area but I frequently ride through and I’m a cyclist through the uh Princess Street Corridor I have a a number of sort of
Questions but I broken them into three categories number one is in regards to the proposal for option five with the bike lane um our prefixes by the fact that I literally have ridden on every continent in the world and I’ve ridden in many big cities and I’ve ridden in the back woods of
Africa I’ve seen lots of solutions to keeping cyclists safe that aren’t addressed in any of their proposals and I’m just wondering you know have you thrown out the question about things like um instead of just having painted Lanes in auction five have a raised curb that in an emergency an emergency Fe can
Go go by but your average car isn’t going to want to bount it um if you want the Green Space which would be lovely maybe what we need is bards that have Planters in them and you move the bike lane next to the sidewalk which requires less of a concrete barrier to protect
Both the pedestrians in the cyclist other options like that have they been looked at and uh if they’ve been rejected why seeing as space is at an option here obviously my next question has to do with money and I think I got this right but I’m not absolutely sure I understand
That there is capital funding approved for the improve for improvements on Princess Avenue that include provincial and federal funding what wonderful if we went with option one I also understand that there is nothing approved for improving cycling infrastructure outside of Princess Street and so the whole idea that you
Take away the cycling lanes because the cyclists are going to go into somewhat mythical lovely maybe down the line we’re going to get Capital funding improvements elsewhere do I have this right is that really what part of this option is one is funded and one isn’t
And the one that is is where you want the cyclist to go in regards to Winter cleaning and obviously snow cleaning is an issue and the maintenance of the roads is on many levels an issue in Kingston many cities as close as Montreal who have narrow streets don’t
Plow the streets and then store the snow they plow the streets and blow it into a truck that’s right behind so when they plow a street it is already clear a quarter of the street isn’t left covered with snow until you there is time to come back at in my case 5:00 in
The morning and lift the snow maybe 3 weeks later is there anything in Kingston’s snow removal plan that might allow a similar type approach for a specific area like the princess Corridor that might require a little bit special treatment and a different approach to snow
Cleaning and the last point I had has to do with treat and I’m all for green spaces do not get me wrong but because of the height and of the buildings that have already gone up at the most southern part of that stretch of Princess Street from division
Two they I don’t know what the cross street would be where it gets wider but the buildings have gone up very tile and as we all know they have encroached upon what used to be setbacks and so the street is narrower than it perhaps was originally intended to be
A problem of our own creation or previous Council or whatever but it is what it is in that scenario having walked down that street and ridden down that street often it seems to me that trees aren’t going to grow on that stretch of the street anyway because frankly it doesn’t
Get any light for the vast majority of the year except for late in the afternoon in the summertime and I’m wondering if that’s gone into your Greening plan in terms of how much space you actually need for Greening and what would be appropriate plantings thank you okay thank you just state your name
And you have five minutes and I’ll warn you when you’re at 30 seconds my name is Lizzie Morland I’m a student at queens and I live at Barry and Earl so just outside of Williamsville but I frequently bike on Princess Street I have two major concerns about the removal of bike Lanes
On Princess Street the first being safety which we’ve discussed in in extensively this evening uh my second is the adherence to the goals that you set out to achieve with this plan increasing active Transportation increased cycling routes and the goal to make our streets more environmentally friendly in terms of the safety issue
I’m worried that worried that this will most affect those who commute by bike out of necessity uh low-income individuals immigrants people who deliver for delivery apps such as Uber Eats disabled individuals I also work at a local bike shop and we have a lot of customers who have mobility issues and
The best way to get around for them is by bike uh they can’t afford a car they’re on ODSP uh and their bike is really their form of Freedom um as well as students who most of which don’t have cars um on top of that we want more
People biking though than just those who have no other choice and we know that increasing cycling infrastructure really allows people to use it uh and it’s a huge barrier for people to begin biking by choice the lack of infrastructure we need to make it safer so everyone can enjoy the positive
Impacts active Transportation has on our lives those of us who cycle regularly know it’s better for you your health better for the environment safer for your neighbors car hitting a person at 30 km an hour does substantially more damage than a bike traveling at 30 km an hour
As well as the increased stopping distance of a car the risk of the risk of injury and the risk of accidents is much higher um I know one of your priorities was five minute bus frequency which is fantastic I had some question for some questions for the engineers about how
You modeled the flow of traffic I was wondering if you accounted for the estimated amount of reduction in car traffic brought on by implementing usable cycling infrastructure and did you account for the reduction in flow that will likely come from Cy sharing the Narrow Lane with the cars thank You thank you when anybody else wish to ask Questions hi um I haven’t really thought of my words too well I mostly just want to introduce myself as the weird complication everyone’s plan of a cycling We Exist I live downtown and I can bike and walk I my bike I’ve got these little training wheel sort of
On it because I bike kind of like a six-year-old right now I struggle to get my feet on the pedals but at least it doesn’t hurt as much I can rotate around round with the pedal every single step hurts like my bone literally doesn’t fit
In the socket so every time I don’t have to step is a is a win for me my question kind of goes further than so for those of us who are too disabled to drive and too disabled to take the bus I will dislocate going over the bumps and it’s
Really unpleasant I don’t like to have to go to hospital and get all that put back in and I mean frankly that’s that’s a bit much to ask so we’re looking at these improvements for the people who are in the vehicles but for those of us
Who through no fault of our own are excluded from Vehicles how are we going to be kept safe in our neighborhood I mean the bik lanes option at least provides some space on the road but for people like me who this is it this is our options is walk or bike to places
That are close enough to do so and right now my my radius is pretty darn limited so I’m was curious what the uh what’s the intent to accessibility when it comes to things like Crossings when things like left turn Lanes End danger vulnerable Road users and enhance the
You know movement of traffic for the people who are safe in their cars thank you oh and I’m uh I’m Megan Quinn I live uh Baran princess downtown thank you is there anybody else who wish to give comments or ask questions through the uh through the chair there
Is a member on Zoom so the member on Zoom if you would like to speak to this item please raise your hand on in the uh lower part of your screen it’s a little yellow hand and they’ll let me know that you like to speak and then I can uh let
Your there we go so I recognize Gordon Smith Mr chair thank you you have 5 minutes and I’ll let you know when there’s 30 seconds Left we can hear you Mr Smith you can hear me now okay thank you uh I was just in the middle of dinner here so I’m still swallowing uh first of all I’d like to just uh mention I that I have seven items that I would like to speak no
Particular questions really uh number one is that I am surprised uh that we have been working on this particular issue for 14 years at least uh and that in 2018 we had the act of Transportation plan which is approved by Council and all of a sudden in 2020 uh a report
Appears that uh questions the act of transportation and now we’re looking after transport Transportation plan and now we’re actually looking at various uh Alternatives and options the act of Transportation plan in my opinion was something that would have some endurance over the years but it was only two years
When we’re now looking at uh changes the city itself uh once the transportation plan was approved uh created the bike Lanes on Princess Street uh painted the painted the lines and they are acceptable slightly somewhat acceptable that but they’re really not what I would call a first class bike lane by any
Means so the question is why this change in perspective and for and and exactly and for whom uh I think that we you know we’re a little skeptical as to why we need to change direction so quickly when we’ve had 10 years where de cycling Lanes have been uh acceptable to
Everybody secondly uh the king Coalition of Act of Transportation has presented a proposal uh which has provided some solutions uh to the uh dilemma that we’re in today um the the proponents of this particular letter uh have a lived experience some of them are uh active cyclists some of them are
In Engineers some of them are urban planners and pretty well all of us are car owners and we have provided to the city uh a number of suggestions as to how bike Lanes can be accommodated on a princess Street cities around the around the globe as you know in Paris uh Montreal
Uh Toronto and so on have all uh develop cycling Lanes in their downtown areas why is it that Kingston can’t do that or why is it that Kingston is considering even considering Alternatives my third point is that there is an expansion of the ebike movement and it’s actually quite
Substantial where I am right now ebikes uh outnumber uh regular pedal bikes by 10 to one that is a significant uh a significant difference my point number four is traffic on princess I don’t know that there are any hard statistics but in my observation traffic on princess has been
Reduced substantially since the opening of the bridge in fact I actually wonder why route two now uh follows Princess Street when really most of the traffic from Route two comes up Route 15 across the new bridge and along John counter number five uh is the appearance of prin Street decisions have been made
That princess is going to have some some tall buildings on it but we also have 30 seconds thank you we also have to remember that Princess Street was designed for a horse and buggy the the speed limit of a horse is around 50 around 7 to8 kilometers per
Hour and we’re jamming all these other services into it number six I am number one supporting the retention of cycling Lanes on Princess Street thank you that’s five minutes all righty thank you very much didn’t get into any so is there anybody else in the room
Who would like to say something or ask questions this is your final chance I’ll give you one another few seconds oh if you’ve already done a delegation you can’t speak again yeah all right anyone else last call no okay so since this was just an information report
Uh oh yes the answers to the final questions thanks thank you Mr chair um so um I’ve just made some notes on the questions uh please let me know if I’ve missed any um uh committee Clerk and and chair um so the some questions about uh potential measures such as raise curves
Um physical barriers and others have they been you know considered or rejected um so there is a variety of uh features that were looked at um as part of the different Alternatives we also work from um the uh otm book 18 which is a the Ontario um guidelines for what
Cycling um features and infrastructure needs to look like and use those um as part of our design considerations particularly at the cons at the concept level um some of those elements that could be included would be looked at at the detail design um the and then there was a question about um uh
Funding um funding as it relates to um cycling so there’s a portion of the project that is funded on Princess Street a section of Princess Street that is funded in the current capital plan uh but if that moves forward without cycling Lanes what is the plan to fund
Or build build um the other portion of the network that’s considered for the neighborhood um that’s correct that that that the the neighborhood bike network is not yet funded um it’s not yet approved so that’s what this study is about so as part of the the the conclusions that would come to council
Uh the recommendations that would flow from that typically then feed into Capital plans uh if we were moving forward on that section of Princess Street um there’s also considerations for how that um how the existing infrastructure west of that is going to transition into that new design and what
Other Alternatives would be put in place that would be part of the the um project scope that we would look at as part of that uh and the third question uh was related to is uh related to the snow removal process that the city uses again
I’m I that’s something that I would need to speak with our public works department about but there are minimum maintenance standards and procedures that we that minimum maintenance standards that we need to meet and there are procedures that we do that we follow to meet those and there are different
Procedures and different different types of equipment and different processes that are used um in different areas of the city uh so we expect with um with either alternative um that’s been explored that the type of snow removal and snow clearing that we would use in that area would be similar to what we
Used in lower on Lower Princess and the side streets within the downtown and are the trees going to grow with the limited light and new higher buildings uh so we again I think I I’m not um a specialist from a landcap landscape perspective but uh we would be looking at um trees that
Would be suitable for that area but also other types of vegetation and Greening um would be considered so the lighting and access to space and all of those components would be part of that design uh and then there was a question about um if the traffic modeling accounted for
The reduction in the flow from the shared uh cycling or shared Road use I think I captured most of that sure I can answer that there’s two questions about the traffic modeling did we account for a reduced flow due to cyclist in Lane with the traffic uh we did not I think
For that’s for alternative one we’ have cyclist in line with vehicles and I think at this point we’re thinking uh there would be a reduced speed so cyclist wouldn’t really affect the traffic flow very much uh and the other question was do we account for the reduction in traffic due to increased uh
Cycling and we did account for that um based on um the mode share targets for the city in the in the mall that we use thank you um the next question about um given the you know how will how will those of us that are excluded from
Vehicles now how how will it be how can we be included in the design and how will the accessibility and safety of The Crossings be addressed so um I think relative to that first question I think there’s there are considerations for both I think in the Alternatives that
We’ve looked at uh one is um provides a more expansive public area uh public realm area that would be um more suitable um for pedestrian uses rest areas Etc the other provides and the maintains the existing cycling Lanes Z on road which can also um increased
Access for those that are able to cycle um The Crossings the accessibility of The Crossings is something that would be looked at in the design as well so um ways in which you know depending on what the configuration of the intersection is what The Pedestrian crossing times need
To be how the signals would be modified to allow Crossings uh there was also a lot of discussion in the study about how people could safely cross princess at front neck Street and that would be a component that we look at as well and then um there were a series of
Questions from uh the last uh member of the public um so first question I think as in given all the work that has been done and given the priorities that were set in the act of Transportation plan um why the change in perspective so I think
The best way to answer that is the there’s um that there is a a vision that has been developed for Williamsville that speaks to how many people will will live in this area and then how that area will function and what is important for that for that neighborhood and from those priorities
That were set for that neighborhood that is where those priorities were um reviewed uh and the principles that were set for the designs that were considered so there’s a more refined vision for Williamsville that comes as part of the secondary plan and the Alternatives were
To develop to to reflect that as best we could with the space that was available um some questions about you know the city hasn’t developed cycling Lanes in within the downtown again I think there’s the city has a a a an active Transportation master plan it’s a multi-decade plan to build cycling and
Active Transportation networks across the city uh there’s an implementation plan that is building um uh it’s currently building a 5 K segment of separated cycling facilities on Bay Ridge Drive and is filling in connectivity in the west and central part of the city as a priority uh the downtown area doesn’t have any
Identified projects beyond the work that’s been completed on Brock and Johnson and a plan and some on-road cycling lanes that have been completed on Division Street and planned for King Street um but those the the projects although not specific to the downtown there is an implementation plan to build
Out an entire network for the city um some obser just general observations that were made around ebikes and traffic on Princess Street um we certainly are monitoring the way traffic patterns are changing relative to the wobin opening but also with changing travel patterns post pandemic um and then uh just a
Point that Princess Street was designed for the horse and buggy and we’re jamming a lot of other services in there uh so yes um the princess this section of Princess Street has has a great history to it and um and as I think we discussed tonight there is only a
Certain amount of space that is available to us now to accommodate all of the needs that we want to accommodate there so some decisions need to be made about that and that’s why we’re completing the study and sharing all of this information so that we can provide an informed decision for how we
Proceed okay thank you very much and like I said before there’s no decision being made tonight is just uh information report okay so now we’re going to move on to the next piece which is item D which is oh c or C yeah item C Street patio program update so you’re
All welcome to stay for that too um so can I have staff introduce their report uh thank you Mr chair um try and keep this brief uh the report that’s uh before you tonight um reflects the work that uh that staff have carried out to date with the downtown Bia and with
Businesses that operate patios in the public realm with the intent of addressing some concerns that had Arisen since uh the patio program was updated and adopted by Council in March of 2023 there’s a number of aspects of uh the standards that have been Revisited uh since being adopted in March that are
Laid out in the report staff for recommending some amendments uh to provide some additional flexibility for patio operators while still maintaining um the critical requirements in areas of accessibility and safety along with the uh amendments to the standards document uh that was previously adopted temporary relief from uh specific Provisions within the
Standards is also recommended for existing non-compliant patios under um active license agreements with the city while also ensuring that these patios are brought into compliance with the current standards at the next available opportunity lastly the uh the report highlights the successful piloting of uh patio platforms that occurred in
2023 and outlines the recommended approach for uh for the 2024 season so I’m happy to take any questions uh you have along with um director SLE and commissioner chice okay committee members do you have any questions questions councilor OS thank you Mr chair and through you
Just a couple of quick questions on page 13 of your report under um pedestrian clearance requirements the report indicates a temporary exception be provided to patio operators that meet a minimum of 1.5 meter clearway until such time that the patio is reconstructed or ownership changes so
Does that mean that that patio is now grandfathered in for indefinite period of time until those two criterias kick in through you Mr chair uh that’s correct so I’m going to go back to the previous presentation of uh what we just discussed in aoda requirements so at no
Point is a city under any obligation to ensure that there’s aod a requirement for this type of setup uh through you Mr chair um so staff’s understanding of um the Oda requirements for sidewalks is that a minimum of 1.5 M um is met however in the downtown area um
In the previous sidewalk bylaw there was a requirement for a minimum of 1.83 meters recognizing that in the downtown area there is higher pedestrian activity and um you know the pedestrian realm um is is is critical in that area so the 1.83 that was in the sidewalk byla
Previously has been carried forward in the standards now um with the consideration that there are a number of existing patios from our reviews that when installed do not necessarily meet that 1.83 so this is a reflection of that those patios would be able to continue to operate in their current
Configuration so long as they’re meeting that aoda minimum of 1.5 meters if there are patios that do not meet that 1.5 meters we would not permit those patios to continue in their current configuration until they were in compliance okay so we’re grandfathering them in um on page 14 of your report
It talks about the platforms that were used and just a quick question how much how much so sorry my I’m jumping in my head $100,000 the city uh assisted businesses downtown businesses to utilize these platforms last year um we’ve made it clear to the businesses this year that
We can’t subsidize that and can’t do that again um so now we’re saying to the businesses if you want the platforms you’re going to have to pay for it or rent them and I couldn’t find anywhere but is the downtown ba going to be assisting these businesses if they want
To move down in that direction how much is a platform is this a viable option for even businesses to go without some sort of subsidization through you Mr chair um thank you for that question so yes the intent is that the downtown Bia would support in the roll out of the popup
Program the popup program being that program that um involves platforms being installed in on street parking um the the cost per platform for us last year with the procurement that we had and the lease that we had was approximately 4,000 per platform um for the patio season we are also providing an option
This year for patio operators and going forward to um to construct their their own to submit an application to the city with uh with an approved plan to construct their own platform which they would be able to use um in in subsequent um patio Seasons as well perfect thank you councelor
Too thank you thank you Mr chair three um so one of the issues I think this is related to was about umbrellas is the downtown Bia satisfied with the current updated policy and we’re not going to get any sort of media attention about umbrellas in the next year Hopefully thank you and through you um yes so part of um part of the uh amendments to the standards did include um clarification of uh of the the policies um around umbrellas and um as part of this broader process uh the downtown Bia was involved um all the way
Through sorry culmin culminating in uh the downtown Bia um supporting the consultation that took place throughout the year and um and the amended uh standard so um from all of our conversations and um what we’ve officially received from the downtown Bia um our understanding is that uh the
Concerns that had come up previously have been addressed thank you I am looking forward to my inbox not being filled with this particular issue again thank you okay any other questions councelor shaves thank you councelor amamos asked my one question about the uh platforms that uh don’t meet the
Standards I do have a few others what happens when an on street parking patio is put is put in but never used because I ran into a couple of those last year uh through you Mr chair thank you for the question so uh there is a
Minimum use uh policy that the city has put in and maintained in the standards that requires um any patio that is occupying a parking space uh to be using that patio at least 5 days a week um that would typically you know be enforced on a a complaint basis so you know we’re
Not out there monitoring that per se but certainly if we received any concerns that would be something that staff would follow up with any patio operator on and try and understand um if that patio is not being used or if that on Street Park working space is not being used why um
Why that’s the case thank you what happened to the old platforms uh through you Mr chair um the platforms that were Le leased last year are um are being stored on City Sites um we are looking for direction um from you tonight um to carry forward but the plan
Would be that those plat forms um as I mentioned in my earlier answer would be made available through the downtown Bia um to businesses uh this year at Cost okay thank you any other questions seeing as none so I will open the public portion um so you can come up
To the mic and uh you have five minutes and tell us your name and your remarks or questions thank you um actually this is the real reason I came out tonight was not to talk about bike Lanes although I think it’s important uh Hugh McKenzie uh Kingston destination group with the
Operators of Kingston Thousand Island cruises Kingston Trolley Tours Waterfront gifts and apparel and and others um first of all I just like to really appreciate and and thank the really detailed effort that staff did in coming out to listen to operators of patios um throughout the throughout the
Downtown and relooking at at at the guidelines I I it was a terrific process and the outcome I think was uh was very good uh I do have a question um it’s sort of a top level question on economic activity generated by the patios over
The last number of of years is has the city done some type of estimate of uh how much economic benefit this has brought to uh to hospitality and tourism in our in our community second of all the do the guidelines apply to outdoor food and beverage operations that are not on city
Streets and not infringing on sidewalks or or parking locations which is um uh of the process of the patio uh guidelines are related to um traffic flows pedestrian flows and and parking revenues and so on and I’d also uh suggest that the um some concerns about exceptions being
Temporary um on what circumstances would they be revoked and what notice might be provided to uh to operators that their operating conditions uh for their patio uh would be changing and finally in that discussion process that we had with uh with City staff um I did bring up the issue of
Continuity on ownership changes the Enterprise value of a business is based on the amount of business that they can do their profitability patios can often add a lot of profitability when you go to sell a business uh that Enterprise Value uh changes about what a what a business can
Sell for um so I think it’s it’s prejudicial to current operators if you say well you can operate your patio now but if it changes ownership then we’re going to remove those uh those exceptions that we have made so should there not be a a process of saying those
Exceptions really have not impinged on safety or on on um traffic flows or pedestrian flows or so on and would one final amendment I know you’ve made a lot of amendments which have been terrific uh be a consideration of removing uh the penalty for an ownership change where a
An exception as uh has proved to be not an operational issue thank you thank you thank you uh would anybody else like to speak to this file seeing as none will move on to staff to answer the questions uh thank you um so I have a
Few questions noted here and I invite um my colleagues to jump in if I miss anything with respect to the first question about economic patio uh economic activity related to um to public patios um no not to my knowledge there hasn’t been a specific study in in Kingston there’s certainly broader
Studies that um you know that that detail the economic impact and that’s certainly um part of and reflected in uh the the patio program that we do have um do uh do the guidelines uh apply to patios outside of kind of the street context um so this specific set of
Standards in patio program is uh is intended for um the right of way the city is right of way um there are certainly elements that may apply um or be relevant in in other contexts but um these specific standards are are designed for our patios in the right of
Way um in terms of the exceptions and uh cases where they may be um revoked um staff’s intent certainly with uh with what’s been laid out in the report is to outline the circumstances under which um those exceptions uh would be removed which is that if um patio ownership changes um or if
There are any substantial changes that are pro that are um uh recommended or that are put forward to us in an application uh to change the footprint of a patio to change the uh the fencing to make a maor major modification to a platform a natural opportunity where
There would be um an opportunity to come into compliance that’s that’s that would be the intent in terms of when those um exceptions would would fall away and I think the last question just about um ownership uh change um and and why that was included so uh license
Agreements with our patio operators are with the owners of the business um they’re not um they’re not related uh or with the actual space itself so our current this is not new our current license agreements have always if ownership changes require a new Li license agreement to be put in place
With that new owner um so that is a natural Point again in which some of those exceptions would fall away and where we would need to see um compliance with the standards that have been adopted okay thank you so now we’ll see if they can have a mover and a second
Moved by councelor too seconded by councelor Hassan is there any discussion seeing as none all in favor and that passes so um now we’ll move on to motions there are no motions no notices of motion no other business uh the correspondant was in the agenda addendum
So the date of the next meeting uh for eitp is uh special meeting scheduled for Tuesday March 26 2024 at 6 p.m. and adjournment can have a mover in a secondary moved by councelor too and seconded by councelor Steven all in favor and that passes with two not wanting to go
So all right so see youall next time