Transportation Committee
	TO:	Mayor and Members of Council
	FROM:	Alan Brown, Director of Engineering
	PREPARED BY:	Arup Mukherjee, Manager of Transportation
	DATE OF MEETING:	2004-Sep-27
	SUBJECT:	Unionvillle Coalition - Funding for Road Improvements

RECOMMENDATION:

That the report entitled “Unionville Coalition – Funding for Road Improvements” and dated September 27, 2004 be received;

And that funding for improvements along the Highway 7 interface be provided from development charges;

And that prioritization and funding of internal roads in Unionville be dealt with in accordance with the Safe Streets Strategy.

PURPOSE:

As requested by Council (see attached extract), this report outlines the funding sources available to implement the measures outlined in the Traffic Management Strategy prepared in consultation with the Unionville Coalition to reduce traffic impacts from existing and future development surrounding the Unionville community.

BACKGROUND:

In 2001, staff initiated discussions with members of the Unionville community to discuss potential solutions to manage traffic impacts from both existing and future developments. Specifically, there were a number of concerns expressed regarding the implementation of the Markham Centre plan. A consultant was retained and workshops were held with residents. Two formal public meetings were held in January and March of 2003 to discuss the findings of the consultants report and to seek additional input. Council directed staff to undertake further consultations with selected representatives from the public meeting. This group, called the Unionville Coalition, held additional meetings with staff and the consultant and a final report was presented to Council on June, 2004. The report included a comprehensive traffic management strategy to address the traffic concerns related to future development at the interface with Highway 7 in Unionville. The draft report was reviewed and endorsed by the Unionville Coalition at their last meeting in May, 2004.

Council endorsed the staff report in June, 2004. There were discussions regarding funding of the measures in the traffic management strategy for the internal roads. Council recommended (Attachment A) that an appropriate reserve (with money from the Markham Centre Developer’s Group) be established for improvements on local roads and requested staff to report back on the commitments to the Unionville Coalition, solutions and funding sources for internal roads.

DISCUSSION:

Highway 7 interface is the key operational issue

The focal point of discussion with the Coalition was related to traffic infiltration from Markham Centre. It was determined that the best approach to address these concerns was to align the roads from Markham Centre with existing roads intersecting Highway 7 from Unionville and develop an effective traffic management strategy to monitor and implement controls as needed over time. The traffic management strategy included both physical (islands, medians, landscaping, traffic calming) and operational controls (through traffic prohibitions) at the Highway 7 intersections.

Funding of solutions at the Highway 7 interface

Given that the key issue was infiltration from Markham Centre, it was agreed that the design and construction of the Highway 7 intersections would play a vital role in managing traffic impacts to the community. In this regard, staff have committed that the detailed design of these intersections on the north leg will include measures that convey the residential character of the community as motorists travel north of Highway 7. These measures include median islands, landscaping, lane geometry and reduced lane widths. For the design of Village Parkway/Birchmount Road, staff have anticipated and estimated additional costs to include geometric modifications on the north leg to mitigate traffic operational concerns. In addition to these measures, $240,000 has been allocated in the area specific development charge to implement appropriate traffic calming measures immediately north of the Highway 7 intersections to further reduce traffic infiltration and speeds into the Unionville community. These measures include possible treatments such as road narrowings, bump-outs, speed humps and roundabouts and were identified as part of the traffic management strategy prepared by the consultant.

Operational concerns on internal roads were reviewed

Coalition members also indicated that they were concerned with existing operations on many internal roads north of the Highway 7 intersections. A workshop was held to review the various types of solutions available and how they are used in the industry to reduce traffic impacts. Members were asked to prepare representative plans, using available traffic calming tools to solicit input on any other operational concerns on internal roads. These plans provide a framework for potential solutions on internal roads.

Funding of internal road improvements

The improvements on roads north of the Highway 7 interface were identified as a result of existing traffic concerns and general growth across the Town. Many of these roads currently experience speed and traffic operational and several of them have already been addressed as part of the Town’s Traffic Calming programme. Given the distance from Highway 7, and the fairly local nature of many of these streets, it is unlikely that a significant component of future traffic will be related to the Markham Centre development. It is recognized that a portion of these operational issues may be related to general ongoing growth across the Town. In this regard, the Town has allocated $4.0 Million over 10 years in the recent development charges by-law update for the Markham Safe Streets Strategy. This is funded 35% from town-wide hard development charges and 65% from non-growth (tax rate). This has been allocated in the Town-wide hard development charges since overall growth impacts many communities across Markham. The process to deal with these local community issues and the prioritization of projects has recently been developed by the Markham Safe Streets Task Force. Therefore, staff recommends measures to address operational issues on internal roads in Unionville will be prioritized and addressed in accordance with the Markham Safe Streets Strategy.

Markham Centre Developers Group

Negotiations of the Markham Centre Developers Group Agreement are ongoing and are considering an allowance to mitigate any traffic calming impacts generated by development of Markham Centre. If the final agreement provides a financial allowance it would help supplement funding currently provided for in the ASDC and Safe Streets Budget.

SUMMARY:

A comprehensive traffic management strategy has been developed in response to concerns from Unionville residents about both existing operational concerns and the impacts of growth surrounding their community. These strategies were prepared with extensive consultation with the community. Staff has included the appropriate means to fund the improvements based on allocation to non-growth (tax rate) and development charges by laws (Townwide Hard and Area Specific) to meet the commitments made to the Unionville Coalition.

FINANCIAL CONSIDERATIONS:

Both non-growth (mill rate) and development charges by-law (town-wide and area specific) include allocations for improvements to deal with existing and future traffic operational issues in Unionville.

ATTACHMENT:

Attachment 1 – June 22, 2004 Council Extract

Alan Brown, C.E.T. Director of Engineering

Jim Baird, M.C.I.P., R.P.P. Commissioner of Development Services

P:\Development\Engineering\REPORTS\2004\September\Coalition_funding.doc