After a long delay, The Blue Mountains council has settled on a direction for the reconstruction of Louisa Street West in Thornbury between Bruce and Elma Streets.
The Louisa Street work is part of the Thornbury West Phase B reconstruction project that has been ongoing in Thornbury for several years. The Louisa Street portion of the work was significantly delayed in late 2023 when council sent town staff back to the drawing board to redesign the proposed work. Council’s decision to start over came after multiple members of the public opposed the loss of many mature trees on Louisa Street that would have been part of the work.
At council’s committee of the whole meeting on Oct. 29, council unanimously approved a project that would see Louisa become a one-way street, parking spaces would be maintained on the south side of the road and an urban forest would be planted on the slope on the street. The project will not include a seating area in the urban forest/parkette that was originally considered. In addition, the project will also include underground infrastructure upgrades.
The redesign of the project also anticipates that multiple mature trees will be saved during the work. However, a number of trees will still need to be removed in order to connect homes on Louisa Street to the upgraded underground services.
Council arrived at its final decision after a significant discussion about the staff report on the matter that stretched for more than an hour.
At the time council made the decision to reconsider the plans for Louisa Street, staff were directed to include options to eliminate parking on the street altogether and the elimination of a parkette proposed for the street.
As part of their research and public consultation on the project, staff found that the parking on Louisa Street makes up approximately nine per cent of the total parking available in Thornbury. Staff subsequently recommended the parking spots on the street be continued.
The major sticking point during the discussion about the project was a seating area in the proposed parkette/urban forest, which had been included in the report as an option for council to consider.
Coun. Paula Hope wondered why the parkette/seating area continued to appear in the staff report when council had directed its elimination.
“I think council made itself very clear: eliminate the parkette to preserve as many mature trees as possible,” said Hope. “I’m not totally sure why staff is handing this back and looking for clarity.”
Michael Campbell, the town’s senior infrastructure capital project coordinator, explained that staff understood the earlier direction on the project meant they were to bring options for the project for council to consider and make decisions about.
“Once we understand what’s in and what’s out then we can proceed with finishing the design and finishing the drawings and working towards a tender and a construction process,” said Campbell. “If (council) wants the seating area out - it’s done.”
Mayor Andrea Matrosovs moved the resolution to approve the design of the project that did not include the seating area in the parkette/urban forest. The mayor thanked staff for their efforts on the report and noted that they had taken time with individual councillors to show them the scope of the proposed work and had conducted public outreach on the issue.
“This has been a culmination of the timeline,” said Matrosovs. “I believe staff did exactly what we asked them to do.”
