Thanks to the Gazette's article ("Condo development sparks safety concerns," July 17) most residents of Elise and Edinburgh cul de sacs will now be aware that the bulb turnabout ends of their streets will be opened up for construction and access for the bare land condominium project between their streets and Neil Ross Road. The article left the impression that a decision will be made right after the July 25 deadline for submissions. That is not correct because since I brought this issue to the attention of City Manager Kevin Scoble he moved promptly to open up a planned internal meeting set for 1 p.m. on Aug. 12 into a public meeting to which residents can appear and speak to council, provided of course they take action and register five days prior.
I encourage residents to get their concerns before the Planning Department prior to July 25 and they can do this by sending a letter to Planner Sajid Sifat or emailing him at [email protected]. Some councillors are trying to wash their hands of this development but I note that Coun. MacKay recognizes that there are serious issues respecting this development and that it is not too late for residents to make these concerns known because the City Manager has ruled that no final decision or action by Planning will be taken until after the special Council meeting on August 12th.
This project has been plagued by poor communications with the residents as a notice dated June 25 was not received by many of the residents until after the July 1st weekend and too late for residents to speak at the July 8th final council meeting before the summer break and the new rule that requires five days notice.
I have visited the area four times in the last few days and attended two meetings of residents and have concluded that this project should not proceed with access through these two narrow cul de sacs. Firstly as resident McKnight has pointed out, for safety reasons since there is already a traffic congestion problem at the school which fronts onto Everitt Drive. And council should also realize that these cul de sacs had a very slow build-out period and for some residents they have put up with construction and dirty streets for four years. Now they are faced with another set of years with heavy trucks hauling out the agriculture top soil and then trucks of gravel, building materials and concrete mixers driving through their street to reach the condo development.
I will be appearing to speak at the August 12 meeting representing the residents who have contracted me. People can reach me at 780-459-8274 if they wish.
Bob Russell, St. Albert
