Fairlane Drive subdivision faces opposition

A major construction company in Sudbury will go before the city's Planning Committee on May 14 looking for approval for a 15-unit development in the Lo-Ellen Park area of the city.

But Dalron's plan to build homes on Fairlane Drive is running into strong opposition from area residents who say the development would harm Bennett Lake, which is close to where the company wants to build, and because of increased traffic the project would bring to an area with already crumbling roads.

The city has received two letters supporting and 24 letters opposing the developments from people who live in the area.

About 75 residents packed an April 12 public meeting at R.L. Beattie Public School to oppose the plan. A similar turnout is expected at the May 14 meeting.

City staff is recommending the planning committee approve the development, but in recent weeks, councillors have shown a willingness to favour public sentiment over the arguments put forward by staff. A much larger development in Minnow Lake received the blessing of city planners, but vociferous opposition from residents to that 192-unit development led the Planning Committee to reject that advice in a vote in April.

In that case, residents said the huge increase in traffic the development would bring – about 3,500 vehicle trips per day – would make an already overloaded Howey Drive even more of a nightmare to navigate. Councillors agreed, saying that the city can't afford to expand Howey to accommodate the extra traffic in the foreseeable future.

And a proposal to allow limited parking along Elm Street during the summer months was rejected by staff, but earlier this month the committee approved the plan anyway, albeit on a trial basis.

City staff recommended against allowing parking on Elm on the grounds it would worsen chronic traffic flow problems caused by, among other things, train tracks that intersect the street. The Downtown Sudbury Master Plan calls for parking on Elm Street, but only after St. Anne Road has been extended to College Street to ease traffic congestion in the area. But support from Downtown Sudbury and businesses on Elm convinced councillors to ahead with the proposal for this summer at least, and to re-evaluate the situation in the fall.

When a much larger development Dalron planned for Fairlane Drive ran into similar opposition, the builder reduced the scale of its plan to 15 lots. The land has been zoned for future development for decades; now Dalron wants the city to rezone it for low-density residential use and have met the conditions laid out by staff.

However, residents say the walking trails and undeveloped land along Bennett Lake is something that attracts residents from all over to the area to come and enjoy. They say the proposed development intersects with the Laurentian and Lake Laurentian trail systems.

Part of Dalron's property in the area includes parts of the shoreline, and access to and enjoyment of the area would be seriously affected by the new homes, residents argue.

A lobby group opposed to the plan, Friends of Bennett Lake, is encouraging people to turn out for the Planning Committee meeting to support them. Specifically, the group is asking the city to:

- Protect the Bennett Lake Watershed by securing the land at the southwest end of Bennett Lake as a city owned natural park;

- Preserve access for city residents to Laurentian University and Lake Laurentian Trails as outlined in the Greater Sudbury Official Plan; and,

- Only allow development that will not further tax aging infrastructure in the area, including roads, intersections, and storm sewers.

“I urge you to attend this public hearing and voice your concerns about this application that threatens the Bennett Lake watershed,” wrote Philippa Spoel, a professor at Laurentian University and a member of Friends of Bennett Lake.

“Please also encourage your friends, neighbours, family, co-workers, or anyone else you know who cares about Sudbury's environmental and human health to come to the Hearing as well … Simply having many citizens present will send a very strong message to the Planning Committee.”

The group has also created a Facebook page to keep members updated. It can be found at www.facebook.com/pages/Save-Bennett-Lake-Sudbury-on/195454407212906.

The meeting is scheduled to begin at 5:30 p.m. on May 14 in council chambers at Tom Davies Square.

Posted by Mark Gentili