Okotoks Town officials stressed they will communicate better with residents affected by proposed changes to Veterans Way to enhance pedestrian and bicycle traffic.
“I will be the first to acknowledge that on our side we had a breakdown in terms of communication,” said Town of Okotoks CAO Rick Quail during a public meeting Thursday. “Our practice is to consult on development matters. We believed we were consulting, flashing signs open houses, but we did not have direct communication.”
Approximately 15 residents near the Elma Street and Veterans Way intersection — directly north of The Royal Duke — met with officials to discuss the situation Thursday at the Okotoks town hall.
The proposal would have a multi-use pathway on the west side of Veterans Way for bicycle use from Centre Court to Elizabeth Street. At present, there is no sidewalk on the west side of Elma Street to Centre Court. The sidewalk on the east side would also be expanded. As well, Elma Street would be realigned to align the road west to east as it crosses Veterans Way.
An open house for the project was held in November of 2014. However, Elma Street residents were notified just last week of the construction program. The short notification triggered Thursday’s public meeting.
Elma Street resident Sean Buckley said while the Town has been thorough in communicating about the impact of Parade Day and the Show n’ Shine on parking along Elma, news the street could be dug up for construction was woefully lacking.
“Given that we even get notified of upcoming events that will impact parking on our street, the effort falls way short,” Buckley said in a prepared statement. He added communication so far has been arbitrary and lacked transparency.
The Town has since put a halt to the tenders and is taking a second look.
“We have suspended tender activities,” Quail said in an interview. “They have legitimate concerns, particularly with the impact on Elma with the realignment… I completely understand.”
Resident Chris Morrill is concerned with the realignment of the street.
“Why are we spending money on the realignment when it’s been there 100 years — nobody here has ever seen an accident there,” Morrill said.
He also said he was concerned about a plan to remove parking on Veterans Way, because it will place further parking pressure on Elma Street.
Roanne Van Beek opened kindercottage on Elma Street, just off Veterans Way, in April. She said construction in front of her new business for the re-alignment would be a death knell for the used children’s clothing store.
“I just started and this is going to put me down,” Van Beek said. “You are going to do this in the prime time of my brand new business trying to get off the ground… When we applied for a business licence we were never told what was proposed in just a couple of months.”
The bike paths are being considered to provide further access for Okotoks’ north side residents to the town’s extensive bike pathways along the Sheep River.
“Currently it’s hard if you live on the north side of town to get down to those pathways,” said Okotoks municipal engineer Marley Oness.
He said cyclists are using Veterans Way, most likely on the road.
“Going back to the whole objective, how do you make it safe for bikes, skateboards and vehicles?” Oness said. “The ideas that were generated were to widen the sidewalk on the left side (east) and a bike path on the right side.”
He said Veterans Way will be narrowed, but it would still be a safe standard for two-way traffic.
Some residents said the steepness of Veterans Way will be hazardous for cyclists, skateboarders and pedestrians.
The project is dovetailed with the pipeline that went up then Centre Avenue (Veterans Way) approximately two years ago.
“At that time we took a look at its (Veterans Way) surface design with particular emphasis on critical pedestrian linkage and the shortcomings of the existing narrow sidewalk,” Quail said.
He said the Town plans to have further consultation with the public concerning the project, including looking at other corridors to access the pathway system.
Morrill said while pleased with further consultation he still has concerns.
“I am pretty disappointed with how they went about the whole project — not communicating with the residents themselves,” Morrill said. “There were residents who went to the meetings (the open house) but their concerns weren’t taken seriously.”
One of his major concerns is with the loss of trees due to the re-alignment of Elma Street. The long-term plan is for a pathway system on Veterans Way going from Milligan Drive to the Okotoks Library.
