[All] Strasburg Road extension to be reassessed

[Kevin Thomason]

John,

Indeed!  It was wonderful to see so many GREN folks at the recent Kitchener City Hall meeting and so many people from the community speaking up for the protection of this wonderful remaining natural area.

It is too bad this is only a delay for 10 months to look at alternative routes to build the road.  Perhaps the considerable trouble and expense trying to find a suitable route that doesn't cause widespread environmental destruction is indicative of the fact that this spectacular part of the Waterloo Moraine isn't suitable for any sort of urban development - be it high volume roads or the ensuing subdivision developments over the following decades that the City of Kitchener plans.

It would be nice to see Kitchener not so determined to develop every single square foot of lands within the city limits and see it follow the City of Waterloo's lead - designate these SouthWest Corner lands as part of the Protected Countryside, repeal the urban boundary, and protect the environmentally sensitive lands and ground water charge ares like what the City of Waterloo did in its NorthWest Corner along the Moraine.

The City of Waterloo chose balance and the environment over development despite having far less developable lands remaining than Kitchener.  Unfortunately, developers have the upper hand in Kitchener (I'd love to see campaign contribution records of area politicians to see to who has accepted developer campaign contributions and how much) and these lands, our aquifers, the Protected Countryside, the Countryside Line concept, and even our entire Regional Official Plan (ROP) are facing considerable risk because of the determination to develop this SouthWest corner regardless of the construction and environmental costs.

It is nice to see the road delayed for further study but it would be even better to see this entire area permanently protected from development and the tens of millions of dollars that would have gone into roads and considerable new expensive infrastructure required here spent on more sustainable development elsewhere within the city - enhancing the quality of life for everyone with better urban neighbourhoods/communities balanced by more protected greenspace benefiting everyone.

Kevin.

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On 2012-12-08, at 9:04 AM, John Jackson <jjackson at web.ca> wrote:

> Congratulations to everyone who has worked so hard to get Kitchener to reassess its proposed Strasburg Road extension that would have destroyed environmentally sensitive lands and a heritage farmstead. And a special thank you to councillor Yvonne Fernandes.
> 
> http://www.therecord.com/news/local/article/849792--city-goes-back-to-drawing-board-on-strasburg-road-extension
> 
> John
> 
> -- 
> John Jackson
> 17 Major Street
> Kitchener, Ontario N2H 4R1
> 519-744-7503
> 
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