Wilmot Council had every right the pave the Wilmot line, even without fair and open public notice to its own constituents. Unfortunately they did so without regard for the City of Waterloo’s concerns.
To set the record straight, starting is 2004 the City of Waterloo undertook a number of key initiatives when it approved the West End developments, which also involved Wilmot County. 1) It set out a process with the Region and the Townships of Wilmot, Woolwich and Wellesley to establish a long term vision for the area, which led to the establishment of the Laurel Creek Environmentally Sensitive Landscape (ESL). 2) It required the developers to build an internal collector road to Columbia Street to prevent the Wilmot Line from becoming the primary access road into the subdivisions. 3) It provided an alternative access to the developments so that Columbia Street would not need to be connected to the Wilmot Line, by pushing ahead with a new road parallel to the Wilmot Line between Columbia and Erb street. 4) It implemented traffic count monitoring, so that should traffic on the Northern part of the Wilmot line exceed 1000 cars per day, steps could be taken to prevent traffic from exceeding 1000 per day.
Wilmot and Waterloo are neighbours. They should be working together to address the traffic, environmental and others issues between them, and not playing coy with intentions. With the Region growing as it is, especially the commercial development on Ira Needles Blvd, and more and more people wanting walk, cycle or ski in parts of the Laurel Creek ESL, traffic will increase. It’s time to put together a plan for the entire community rather than acting unilaterally. The political leaders need to talk to each other and come to a common understanding on how to ensure the long term environmental integrity of the Laurel Creak Headwaters Environmentally Sensitive Landscape along the Wilmot Line and some of the most sensitive parts of the Waterloo Moraine.
It’s time for a community discussion.
