Anten Mills Development Proposal Creates ‘Safety Concern’
By Wayne Doyle, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
While generally in favour of a development proposal for Anten Mills, some members of Springwater Township council had concerns about how safe it would be for future residents to get in and out of the development.
Located at 1084 Coughlin Rd., the proposal includes 41 residential lots, one neighbourhood parkette, a stormwater management block, two environmental protection blocks, and two new internal municipal roads accessed via Coughlin Road.
Future residents would have to access and leave the development via the intersection at Coughlin Road and Horseshoe Valley Road.
According to two members of council, that’s not an easy task.
“I am very familiar with the property, as everybody is well aware,” said Springwater Mayor Jennifer Coughlin, who lives on Coughlin Road, just east of where the development is planned. “As it stands today, turning left off of Coughlin onto Horseshoe Valley Road is basically grip the steering wheel and give ‘er.
“It’s a safety concern that I do have,” she added. “I’m supportive of this, it’s always been a part of the settlement area, but that intersection…”
Coun. Danielle Alexander had the same worries.
“I’m not a traffic study expert,” she said. “However, living close to that area and often making that turn, from Coughlin Road onto Horseshoe Valley (Road), I would worry with that number of houses going in and making that turn safely.”
James Hunter, an associate with Innovative Planning Solutions, acting on behalf of the property owner Joseph Bubel, told council Wednesday night that a traffic impact study done by Tatham Engineering concluded the intersection was safe.
“Tatham reviewed the provincial guidelines for sight lines, turning radiuses and speed limits,” Hunter told council. “According to the standards, it’s a safe intersection for turning.”
The intersection in question sits about 100 metres east of the crest of a hill that rises 36 metres, according to Google’s topographic map of the region.
The speed limit on Horseshoe Valley Road travelling east to the intersection is reduced to 60 kilometres per hour about 500 to 600 metres before the crest.
Observing traffic at 8:30 a.m. on Friday, it takes between six and seven seconds for a vehicle to travel from the crest of the hill to the intersection. A vehicle travelling 60 km/h moves at 17 metres per second.
Various technical reports say it takes drivers approximately 1.5 seconds to see a hazard and recognize it, called perception time.
Next, it takes a driver approximately one second to physically react, take their foot off the accelerator and put it on the brakes, called reaction time.
This means the total driver reaction time, on average, is 2.5 seconds.
However, distractions and driver inexperience can greatly increase a driver’s reaction time.
A vehicle that crests the hill will travel about 43 metres prior to the brakes being applied.
Once applied, a vehicle travelling 60 km/h requires 43 metres to come to a stop, on drive pavement, under ideal conditions.
Technically, it appears, there are about 14 metres of grace under ideal conditions.
Those 14 metres disappear if a driver is going 10 km/h above the posted limit, as 70 km/h requires about 100 metres to come to a complete stop.
“I don’t see an easy solution to an intersection at the top of the hill that will get busier and busier,” the mayor said.
The proposed development consists of approximately 142 acres, with approximately 400 metres of frontage on Coughlin Road and 810 metres of frontage on Horseshoe Valley Road West.
Currently, the land is designated as rural, natural heritage, constraint and hazard land. Additionally, the land is zoned agricultural and environmental protection within the township’s zoning bylaw.
The Official Plan amendment seeks to redesignate the land from rural and natural heritage to urban residential and open space to permit residential uses and establish the limits of the abutting natural heritage and constraint land.
The zoning bylaw amendment proposes to rezone the land from the agricultural and environmental protection zones to residential one, open space and revise the limits of the environmental protection zone.
The development is proposed to be serviced by extension of the municipal water system and individual private septic systems.
Township staff will now prepare a recommendation report for council’s decision.