WINDSOR JUNCTION: Residents of a Fall River subdivision are a step closer to winning in their battle to see a proposed development not come to fruition.
At North West Community Council on Oct. 3, a Motion was put forth by Councillor Cathy Deagle Gammon and seconded by Tim Outhit to consider the proposed development agreement at the end of Ingram Drive in Fall River Village.
The proposed development was to see three multiple unit buildings with 120 units total built off Ingram Drive and a public hearing to be scheduled for residents to hear about the development.
What happened was Deagle Gammon asked the other councillors to defeat the motion because of a slew of reasons.
“I felt and the community felt that it wasn’t a fit at all for the community to have a multi-unit three apartment buildings at the end of a low-density residential community,” said Deagle Gammon in an interview on Oct. 6. “I think the other thing is that it was one way in and one way out. It would make it like it was land locked, and that’s not what we call a complete community.”
She also is steadfast in HRM having a helicopter view of what the traffic is within Fall River. Recently, a development agreement was approved in Beaver Bank, which is a really nice development, she said.
“The one contentious piece of that, though, is that there’s a cut through from that development at Elise Victoria in Capilano,” she said. “Beaver Bank is landlocked, so that’s another exit out of Beaver Bank. That’s more traffic that’s coming down the Fall River Road.
“We’ve got the proposal on the Fall River Road itself (Carr Farm). That’s up to 500 units and may or may not have a long-term care facility at this point. So that’s more traffic and it all funnels down into the intersection of the Fall River Road and Highway 2 at Sobeys, which is congested.
“Now, the other piece around the traffic is that you go out of the proposed development down Ingram Drive or down Winley, both of which are race tracks.”
She said besides the speeding that occurs on those two streets—even with traffic calming measures in place—there’s a host of other reasons that make putting the development there troublesome for her.
“There’s no sidewalks. There’s no transit. There’s no access to services,” said Deagle Gammon.
“Just in terms of safety, it’s not a safety fit.”
At the NWCC, Deputy Mayor Pam Lovelace pointed out that public safety was her concern as well as a concern for smart development.
“We do know that development needs to happen, and we need more housing stock, but we need it to be planned in the proper way and we need smart development,” said Deagle Gammon.
She said there is a need for more affordable housing but felt this development wouldn’t provide that.
“You put affordable housing where there is access to transit, whether there is access to services,” she said. “This is the end of a subdivision. There is one road into Fall River Village on the Fall River end and the other at Winley in Windsor Junction.
“That makes it a pretty compact subdivision without sidewalks, without transit, all of those things that would make for a complete community.”
Deagle Gammon said the public hearing on Nov. 8 at City Hall is being held to determine a policy change for the removal of the requirement for a road connection from Ingram Drive to Cobequid Road.
The Public Hearing is set to start at 6 p.m.
She said the HRM website is being updated with further information for residents, including the timeline for registering to speak and how to sign up to speak .
There is also going to be a mailout to those within a set jurisdiction of the development and those who participated in surveys that have already made their positions known to HRM planning staff.
