Chelsea City Council approved a motion on Tuesday to ask the Ministry of Transportation and Sustainable Mobility (MTMD) and the developer of the Ruisseau Chelsea residential project to add certain requirements to the layout of the roundabout, including a pedestrian crossing with flashing lights.
The project has been in the pipeline since the previous administration in 2018, but the work, which is expected to take several weeks, is due to begin shortly.
“Imagine, we’ve had a project in the pipeline for years, and it’s only now that we decide to pass a motion to adjust security,” lamented Jacques Michaud, president of the District 2 Residents’ Association.
The residents’ association deplores what it calls “failures” by the urban planning and sustainable development advisory committee, Chelsea City Council and the MTMD in the planning of this important intersection.
The latter is located near a highway exit, near a municipal library, the cultural and sports center, a large residential area and a primary school, among others.
The association is asking for the work to be postponed so that “failures” in terms of signage and safety, for example, are added to the project plans and specifications.
For Mr. Michaud, this is above all a “missed opportunity” for the municipality and the ministry to do the roundabout properly. “It’s as if we were doing [la motion] to look good, added Jacques Michaud. We think there will be other intersections along Old Chelsea Road. We hope that these will be better planned.”
Within the ministry’s remit?
The District 2 Residents Association assures that it has transmitted its grievances to the general management of Chelsea, to elected officials, as well as to the MTMD.
In interview with The LawChelsea Mayor Pierre Guénard says he did not receive the email sent to several of his colleagues. “At some point, I can’t know what I’m being accused of if I [ne suis pas avisé]”I will definitely follow up with this association,” he says.
Mayor Guénard said he did not understand why Chelsea was seen as the bad player in the story, “when it is not even the responsibility of the municipality.”[Le chemin Old Chelsea] is a provincial road, he recalls. The developer must do a traffic study which is submitted to the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry indicates what must be [installé].»
He recalls that the roundabout project initially had no plan for active mobility. “What the previous council did was to discuss with the ministry and the developer to add multifunctional paths in each of the four quadrants of the intersection. […] So when we say that the municipality did nothing, it is not true,” he assures.
He specifies that pedestrian crossings have also been added. “We have made requests to the ministry to also lower the speed to 30 km/h because there is a school nearby, but that is conditional on the construction of the roundabout.”
The Law requested clarification in the file from the Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility on Friday, which indicated that it needed more time to respond precisely to the request. The MTMD, however, maintained that it made road safety its priority.
The promoter of the Ruisseau Chelsea project did not respond to our request.
“Criticism” of the process
Although adopted unanimously on Tuesday, the municipal council’s motion to the MTMD still raised the eyebrows of district 2 councillor Dominic Labrie, who, like Jacques Michaud, deplored the fact that the request came just a few days before the start of work on the intersection.
“At the political level, I criticize the process,” said Councillor Labrie. “I don’t understand the previous council and why we didn’t have [été] seized of this issue before approving a roundabout. The main problem, from what we have seen, is the fact that there will be no flashing lights for pedestrians. […] We will support this resolution, but I admit that it has no credibility to arrive two weeks before the work and ask the developer whose teams are probably all mobilized.”
Pierre Guénard maintains that the motion to request the MTMD was carried out on time.
“The councilor of district 2 was already aware of this,” he maintained. “But he never said anything to bring up possible solutions. These are[autres conseillers] which brought about the suggestion of flashing lights. […] We will continue to discuss with the ministry, but it does what it wants with its own paths. Some requests have been accepted and that has been good progress, but we are trying to have the whole thing, with the signal lights in addition.”
