[All] Half of Wilmot Line Paved...

[Kevin Thomason]

Good morning,

I am extremely saddened to report that with no advance notice or warning on Friday the Southern half of the Wilmot Line was hard-surfaced by the Township of Wilmot despite our years of efforts of trying to keep this roadway gravel to reduce traffic volumes and speeds into the Laurel Creek Headwaters Environmentally Sensitive Landscape.

It appears that this paving right up to the boundary of the ESL has been done very deviously with no advance public notice to area landowners, no signage and no notification to the City of Waterloo Council who shares the maintenance and costs of this road with the Township.  In the past, the City of Waterloo has consistently refused Wilmot's requests to upgrade this road and there are several Waterloo motions committing to keeping this road gravel, limiting traffic to 1,000 cars per day, etc. 

Not only are there the issues of an upgraded tar and chipped road encouraging significant amounts of traffic into the ESL area - exactly where we want to reduce the volume of traffic and not create a new Westside Waterloo bypass, but there are also the issues of the significant amounts of salt that are now going to be required on these hills in winter that could particularly impact SubWatershed 302 - the headwaters for the pristine Monastery Creek cold water trout fishery - one of the best cold water streams in the Region along with the wetlands in this area.

As well, there are the safety issues of increasing speeds and volume of traffic on a road that is quite hilly, has limited sightlines, countless hikers, joggers, cyclists, horses, etc. and has already seen numerous accidents and a fatality recently.  The new pavement now ends abruptly at the top of Horror Hill and it will be quite the shock for motorists to suddenly find the road surface changing under them, exactly at the moment they find themselves plummetting down one of the steepest hills in the Region.

I will be presenting to the City of Waterloo Council tonight and will try to work with the Township of Wilmot and the Region of Waterloo to see what our options are and what can be done to address the safety and environmental concerns.  It is extremely disappointing to see Wilmot working against the efforts of so many to protect this area and ensure our roads are safe.

Please let me know any questions or ideas.

Thank you,
Kevin.

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Kevin Thomason

1115 Cedar Grove Road
Waterloo, Ontario Canada  N2J 3Z4

Phone: (519) 888-0519
Mobile Phone: (519) 240-1648
Twitter: @kthomason
E-mail: kevinthomason at mac.com

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