BRENDA O’FARRELL
The 1019 Report

Despite another delay in approving a contract to rebuild and widen a quiet secondary avenue in the heart of Hudson, hope of convincing the town’s elected officials of scrapping – or at least reducing – the plan is fading for residents who have mounted a groundswell of opposition to the project.

“It’s super-upsetting,” said resident Julia Schroeder, who spearheaded a movement to block the proposed plan for Lakeview Street, a $3.7-million project to widen the crumbling thoroughfare to include a multi-use path for cyclists and pedestrians separated from the street by a green strip designed to accommodate improved drainage. “I feel utterly unrepresented. It’s not fair. It’s not OK.”

Approval of the contract for the work, which includes rebuilding the road’s foundation, was withdrawn from the agenda for Monday evening’s council meeting because, as Mayor Chloe Hutchison explained, the council is split, and one councillor was absent.

A special meeting will be held Monday, June 16, where the contract will be put to a vote. Based on council’s deliberations, Hutchison expects the vote will be tied. But she made it clear, she will cast the deciding vote in favour of proceeding with the plan.

“This has not been an easy file for us,” Hutchison said before explaining her intention to approve the original proposal.

For several weeks, amidst a clamorous and unrelenting campaign on social media, residents of Lakeview, a 900-metre stretch of broken, bumpy and uneven pavement, have been requesting changes to the plan that would see the width of the space for the street double with the addition of a path and drainage strip. The plan would necessitate a total of 18 trees be removed along the street, along with several hedges. It would also reduce the area between several houses and the edge of the built area of the street.

All residents are in agreement that the street needs to be repaved, but many are adamantly opposed to the scope of the proposed plan. At a special meeting to explain the plan in early May, several suggestions were put forward by residents, including eliminating the pedestrian and cycling path and reducing the road to a one-way to narrow the width of the artery.

Hutchison said she rejects both suggestions.

If the path is eliminated, the town would lose a $2.04-million federal government contribution announced last July that will cover more than half the cost of the project to rebuild the street, including its foundation and drainage features. The grant, provided by the Canadian government’s Active Transportation Fund, comes with two strings attached – the cycling-pedestrian path must be a minimum of 2.5 metres wide and the project has to be completed by March of next year.

Adding to the complication of changing the scope of the project, Hutchison explained at the information session, is if the drainage plan is redesigned that would force the town to reapply for provincial approval, and that would push the completion of the project beyond the March 2024 deadline.

“We have sufficient support to move forward,” Hutchison said Monday evening in response to one resident’s question, referring to a majority of the entire council. She also pointed to support coming from residents who live in other areas of the town who support taking advantage of the federal grant.

Hutchison also confirmed the town is not looking at the option to turn the street into a one-way route.

In a letter to the editor of The 1019 Report, councillor Mark Gray, who did not attend Monday’s council meeting, said: “I agree that it is hard to imagine how Lakeview will look after the work is done, but I’m not convinced it will look like a boulevard.”

“The Lakeview project includes adding 91 trees after construction,” he added.

But a handful of residents on Monday continued to press their case for the project to be reconsidered.

“We have an opportunity to redo it – redo it properly,” said Oakland Street resident Rob McMaster, as he took to the microphone during Monday’s council meeting.

Council did approve a motion Monday to seek a possible extension from the federal government to complete the work without jeopardizing the grant, but Hutchison admitted in an interview an extension will not be necessary.

As for Schroeder, she has not yet given up all hope.

“People can always change their mind,” she said in an interview yesterday morning. “We just need one more vote.”

“It’s never too late,” she added. “We have to take a breath. There is an alternative. It’s way too big. It’s not a major artery.”