Hello Helen,
Here is the submission from River Systems Advisory Committee (RSAC) on the Goldie Mill project. Hugh Whitely, a committee member, sent the attached submission to me as well. I am forwarding it on to you.
I am not planning to attend either meeting this week. Should you need further RSAC input please let me know.
In formulating plans for the re-design of the Goldie Mill parking lot, the River Systems Advisory Committee recommends that:
1) a permeable surface be considered for the parking lot;
2) careful consideration be given to storm water management. A good option would be for storm water drainage from the site to be directed to a vegetated infiltration facility (rain garden) with underdrainage. This location could provide a good opportunity for the management of storm water through infiltration and could be a working example of the use of this kind of passive design feature. An oil/grit separator would be a second option.
3) the configuration of new tree plantings around the parking lot enhance viewsheds of the park and Mill from the surrounding roads and neighbourhood, and promote a pedestrian entryway that leads people towards the Mill site. The two Austrian Pines do not add much value to the local landscape. If they are to be replaced, the use of native shrubs and trees of sufficient size should be used.
The River Systems Advisory Committee is willing to provide assistance during the re-design process should it be needed.
Regards,
Jeremy Shute
Chair, River Systems Advisory Committee
August 31, 2009 at 5:11 pm
Comments on Wolfond Park/Youth Music Centre Alterations
Hugh Whitely, River Systems Advisory Committee (RSAC), committee member.
(1) I do not see in the current plans the required breadth of consideration necessary to achieve a plan that produces benefits for Wolfond Park and its place in the public realm. Because the intention of the current plan is single purpose – provide better parking arrangements – the other aspects of the public realm are dealt with through a minimization of detrimental effects rather than making positive contributions .
(2) In particular I see an important role for the portion of Wolfond Park near the London Road/Cardigan intersection in providing an enhancement, from the upriver side, to the Goldie Mills heritage centrepiece and the mill setting at the rivers edge. To maximize this potential the planners need to have some alternate view scape design concepts from several imaginative landscape architects ( readily available in Guelph) to find a configuration of plantings and an alignment for a major pedestrian entryway that combine to lead the viewer to the Goldie Mills monument. Once these alternatives have been examined and a concept-plan selected, the parking arrangements need to be coordinated with it.
(3) I anticipate that when the Wolfond Park enhancement perspective in added to the planning this will mean that the parking lot intrusion into the park should be limited to the two parallel lines of parking along the entrance road to the Youth Music Centre. The space occupied by the interior two rows of parking spaces and the access lane between them is likely to be the preferred location for a curvilinear entrance walkway and the flanking plantings that will provide the Goldie Mill highlight view on the diagonal from the London Road/Cardigan intersection.
(4) The change in depth of the parking area mentioned in (3) eliminates 24 parking spaces. Six of these can be replaced using the space occupied by the entrance and exit openings to the second row – these openings and the islands at each end of the exterior row of spaces are eliminated by the removal of the second row.
(5) The stormwater system for the parking lot should be drainage to a vegetated infiltration facility (rain garden) with underdrainage. The infiltration facility can be located most easily as a border strip on the river side of the parking area. A central island configuration might be possible for a portion of the lot. Design specifications for these facilities are well established and several have been built in the Metro Toronto area. Infiltration facilities are more effective in making water-quality improvement , and have a broader spectrum of treatment, than oil/grit separators
(6) The lost parking spaces can be replaced, and much more than replaced, by making Cardigan one way toward Norwich from the London Road intersection to the entrance to the Music Centre. There is ample width on Cardigan , with one-way traffic, to have a maximum of 45 parking spaces at right angles to the curb along the sidewalk in front of the Music Centre ( in the 128 m between London Road and the entrance to the Music Centre). From the Music Centre entrance to Norwich the traffic direction on Cardigan could be either two way or one way toward Norwich with parallel parking on the river side of the street to provide additional parking spaces.
The decisions on configuration for Wolfond Park and the parking arrangements are important, given the potential that exists for making major improvements to both. Making decisions with long-lasting consequences on an emergency basis on a issue with many complexities is very unlikely to produce an optimal solution. I strongly object to the rushing-to-a-decision process that has been adopted by city staff. If a change in parking is truly an emergency I strongly recommend making the change to one-way Cardigan with parking on a trial basis. This would be low cost, easily reversed, and would provide ample parking.
hw