New Road Now Has a Name

The following appeared in this morning's Standard Freeholder newspaper:

Kaneb being immortalized

Posted 17 hours ago

CORNWALL (Staff) — A popular former Cornwall mayor is getting a road named after him.

Nick Kaneb, who served a number of years as a member of city council, will have a new east-end artery designated in his honour. Nick Kaneb Drive is currently being constructed.

Kaneb was married to the late Charlene Kaneb and passed away Sept. 7, 2008 at age 92.

The 1.2 km two-lane roadway will feature a centre median and will include two sets of traffic signals, street lighting, sidewalk, and recreational path. It connects Cornwall’s busiest east-west arterial roads, Second Street and Marleau Avenue. The roadway is expected to be completed next month at a cost of approximately $2.8 million.

“Mayor Kaneb was committed to the growth and prosperity of Cornwall, and he donated much of his time to serving his fellow citizens,” said Mayor Bob Kilger. “I am very pleased that council chose to recognize his contributions in this very appropriate way.”

Kaneb served on Cornwall city council as an alderman from 1955 to 1958 and as mayor from 1961 to 1964 and from 1967 to 1971. He was a respected businessman and a member of the Cornwall Lions Club. Kaneb took over the mayor’s office at a time when the city’s economy was under pressure from the closing of the large Canadian Cottons operation.

Updates and Documents

We have received an update on the design of the mounds. This has been given to the contractors. The plan can be seen at: Updated Mounding Plan. The plan meets all of the requirements we have discussed with the city.

In my next post I will tell the story of the stranded turtle we found in the back after the contractors installed the new drainage system.

Meeting with Landscape Designer

Yesterday, we attended the initial meeting with the landscape designer.  It was an introductory meeting to scope out the work he will do and the objectives to be achieved.  We spoke about the history of the neighbourhood and how it has looked after the area behind our homes, and the engagement of the community in the process.  We also passed on comments around using xeriscaping concepts and the need to maintain the common, and passive use of the space.  The designer will be touring the area to see what is required.  A design will be developed and we will get a chance to see and comment on the proposed landscape solution.  The City anticipates that being completed over the next month or so.   It will be posted here when we get it.  Planting will be done in the spring of 2010.  It was a good meeting and we are looking forward to being part of the collaboration.  Thanks for everyone's support and comments.

Guest Post on Xeriscaping

The following is from Laura and Mani who suggested that Xeriscaping would be an excellent option for the mounds and landscaping design. They offer the following information:

Xeriscaping Techniques

• Xeriscaping to conserve water and reduce maintenance
• No need to use fertilizers or pesticides
• Use of mulch to improve soil and eliminate need for mowing grass in certain areas (mulch protects plant roots from heat, cold, and drought, improves the soil and controls weeds)
• No plastic liners as these restrict the flow of water into the soil.
• Use drought-tolerant plants

Examples of drought-tolerant plants:
Trees: Russian olive, maple, Pine, smokebush, ginkgo, oak, and linden are very drought tolerant once established
Shrubs: Sandcherry, Lilac, Potentilla, Barberry, Quince, Spirea, Mock orange, Caragana, Juniper, Yew, Pine, Spruce, Fragrant Sumac, Siberian Pea shrub, Rockspray Cotoneaster, Red or Black Chokeberry, Flowering Quince, Northern Bayberry, Butterfly-bush, Spirea
Low growing perennials: Artemesia, Spurge, Heuchera (Coral bells), Creeping phlox, Lamb's ears, Dianthus, Bergenia and Lady's Mantle.
Tall perennials: Aster, Bee balm, Baptisia, Coneflower, Yarrow, Verbascum, Russian sage and Helianthus.

More info on xeriscaping:
http://www.landscapeontario.com/c?c=1123
and from City of Toronto:
http://www.toronto.ca/compost/xeriscap.htm

Landscape Designer Hired

The City has selected a landscape designer to help assist in the development of the final look and feel of the land around the new road. (By the way, the working name for the road appears to be Courtalds Dr.) We have been invited to meet with the designer on Tuesday, September 22nd to give him our ideas. I will report back following the meeting. If you have any comments, please hit the comments button below to the right to post.

New plans now available for viewing

I have been out of town for the past few days and have not been able to keep things up to date.  The revised plans for the berm are now available for viewing.  Please click on the links below:

Berm Plan

Berm Sectional View

I am trying to arrange to get print-outs from the City to share.  This is much better and shows that the City is listening.  The cross-section shows a 2.5 ft high mound with trees and shrubs.

I will be circulating a brief survey door to door to get feedback on the concept.

Updates and Documents

New documents are now available for viewing.  Please click on the links below:


Update Letter #3

Survey Analysis and Noise Observations Presentation


Feel free to leave comments by clicking on link below this posting.

Dirt and Earth Mounds

A quick update on the dirt mounds being piled up by the contractor behind some of the homes on the southern sector.   I spoke with the construction foreman this afternoon, the City has asked them to mound the dirt up to only 3 feet high.  This dirt will be the raw materials for the contouring approach agreed to last night.  Once the landscape plan is finalized, the contractor will come in and remove the excess and create the contours as directed by the plan.  Please feel free to leave comments by clicking the comment link below if you have any questions.

We also have several volunteers to assist in working with the City on the next steps.  If anyone else is interested, please send an email to glengarryblvd@gmail.com.  Thank you again for your support and continued community interest.   Well done Glengarry residents.

The Berm is gone!

Good Morning.  The meeting with the City last night was very successful in convincing the City to revamp the design of the land between our homes and the new sidewalk.  Twenty-five people showed up for the meeting, many thanks to everyone who attended, especially the children and young adults.  A number of issues were discussed, a fuller report will be posted here later in the week. 

Briefly, the outcome is that the original berm concept is now history.  A new concept including contouring, trees and shrubs will be developed by the City and will be posted here for review.  Mature trees and the existing shrubbery will be included in the new landscape design. The contouring will be 2 - 3 feet high with a width of probably around 10 feet.  There will be access routes for pedestrian access to the sidewalk. 

Over the next few days I will post further details.  One item of note, the contractors will be piling dirt up along the new sidewalk.  This is not a berm, but a means of storing the dirt to be used for the contouring, so that it stays on the site.

Thank you for everyone's support on this issue.  More details to come shortly.

Survey Update #2

Good Morning:

I analysed all of the surveys last night, and put together a brief slide deck with the results.  This morning there are five more surveys in the mailbox, so it will be updated this morning!  We now have 46 responses out of 56 residences.  That is an 82 % response rate.  I think we can demonstrate we have consensus.

A reminder of the community meeting tonight, 7:00 pm at Public Works on Ontario St.  See you there.

 

Survey Update

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of meeting just about everyone in the Glengarry neighbourhood.   We have now received 38 completed surveys.  Details of the analysis will be presented at the community meeting tomorrow, and will be posted on the blog here.

Reminder:  the community meeting will be at 7:00 pm, Tuesday, September 1st, at the offices of Public Works on Ontario St.

Thanks to everyone who has submitted a survey.

Berm Options

On Friday, August 28, the construction crew started building the berm according to the current plan.  We are told that this is only to "store soil until a final decision on the berm design has been reached".  However, the crew has done an excellent job of showing how the proposed berm will look.

Here is the completed berm in profile:

This berm is 5 feet high and roughly 15 to 20 feet wide.

This is how the berm looks when viewed from the property line - you can see how close it comes and leaves no opportunity for passive use of the land.

This is a view from a backyard into the berm - nice huh?  Imagine the run off from this berm into the back yard?  Furthermore, since the main living space is on the second floor, this berm does not create privacy at higher elevations.

As an alternative, here is the border of trees and shrubs behind 742, 744, 746, 748 Glengarry.

This demonstrates how we can create privacy and allow passive use of the space.

Here is a photo of the same trees from where the sidewalk will be.

This demonstrates that with creative use of trees and shrubs we can accommodate the needs of the neighbourhood, public use of the sidewalk and maintain passive use of the space.  With cut-ins spaced every 500 feet or so, we can also ensure access to the rear.  This alternative also alleviates run-off and drainage and water management is enhanced.

Feel free to leave your comments.

Map of the roadway and berm

Map of Courtalds Road Development at Glengarry Blvd.
To see the PDF version of the map, click on the link below:
http://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B9sv--Ft4f_2M2I3NjdhZTctZDhhZi00MTJiLWE1NTgtZDBlOTc3Y2M0ZDFj&hl=en_GB

Kudos to City of Cornwall Engineering Department

Just a quick note to express my thanks to Steve Wintle and the C of C Engineering Department.  They have been very open with copies of reports, maps, photocopies and information.  The level of co-operation is a strong indication of of their willingness to interact with Glengarry residents.

Thumbs up.

Coming tomorrow - a summary of the Acoustic Consultants report.

FAQ: What is a Berm?

This afternoon when I was distributing the update letter, one neighbour asked me what a berm really is?  A berm is a natural barrier made up of dirt, rocks and vegetation like trees and shrubs.  The purpose of a berm is to create a more "natural" barrier than a fence or a wall.  Here are some samples taken from Google Images.

Berm Fundamentals

A berm with trees and plants:

This is a rock garden berm:

This is a berm with plants, shrubs and mulch:

If you have any more questions, leave them in the comments section and we will get the answers.

Wednesday August 26th

Updates for today.  An e-mail account has been created, it is glengarryblvd@gmail.com   Feel free to send comments or questions to the e-mail account.

Upcoming posts will include:

• extracts and commentary on the acoustic consultants report
• comments on the berm alternatives
• updates on communications from the City of Cornwall Engineering Department.
• with luck: photos and a copy of the detailed map

A letter to neighbours will be finalized today and distributed.  I will be following up with face to face conversations with neighbours over the next few days.  

Last week the surveyor stakes went into the ground outlining where the berm between our homes and the new road would be.  The inner toe of the berm is approximately four feet from our back property line.  For those of us who have been tending to the space and enjoy using it this is not on the cards.  I took the opportunity of contacting City of Cornwall Engineering to see what options we have.  No decision has been made on how the berm will ultimately look and the City is open to input.

This afternoon (Tuesday, August 25th, 2009) I met with representatives from the City of Cornwall Engineering Department.  We have received a copy of the plan, I hope to have a pdf version posted to the blog in the next few days.  They have also suggested a community meeting on Tuesday, September 1st.  Details will be confirmed shortly.  A number of options are open to us.  I will post details of the options over the next few days.

If you have any comments, please post below.

My name is Francis Loughheed and I live on Glengarry Blvd. This blog has been established as a forum for discussion on issues affecting Glengarry Blvd. in Cornwall, Ontario Canada. In particular, the construction of the arterial road on the former Cortaulds Right of Way behind our homes. This forum will post comments, photos and other items of interest to this discussion.

The first item of business is the proposed berm that will end approximately four (4) feet from our property line, destroying the green space we have enjoyed for so long. Please feel free to post your comments.