Weekly newsletter: April 2, 2024

Hi everyone!

I hope you had an enjoyable long weekend. I spent the weekend in Toronto visiting my mom, who noticed that I gained some weight and also told me I should eat more all in the same breath. Hmm…

Curb weeds

Transportation Committee unanimously approved my motion for staff to determine if/how other cities proactively address vegetation in cracks and gaps in sidewalks and curbs, including details on staffing, equipment, and budget requirements. Next would be to propose a pilot project location and regime.

Regular readers may recall I raised the issue of weeds in the gaps and cracks of our sidewalks and curbs last year, and my general surprise about the fact there’s no formal program to maintain them.

I discussed the item at length with staff last autumn after a particularly wet spring and summer made the issue much more visible.

From that discussion, we attended a demonstration in December of available equipment to do that sort of work, currently used by some airports across Canada and the United States.

All that culminated in a motion I brought forward to Transportation Committee last week to ask public works staff to undertake a municipal scan to determine if/how other Canadian municipalities proactive address weeds in curbs and sidewalks.

The motion also asks staff to determine the feasibility of such a program in Ottawa, including what staffing, equipment, and budget would be required plus a proposed pilot project.

I am grateful to my colleagues on Transportation Committee who supported my motion, which passed unanimously. Staff will return with the information requested later in the year.

After a roadway is built and settles, vegetation growth through the gravel underneath and through cracks and gaps is inevitable. Good exposure to sunlight, moisture, and seed travel are perfect for growth.

Gravel typically holds vegetation back for 15 to 20 years, but where conditions allow, plants can be quite aggressive in growing through the gravel, finding any gap to poke through.

Current practice sees vegetation growing through curbs trimmed only when an adjacent area of grass, such as a boulevard or parkland, is maintained. That means only curbs adjacent to municipally maintained plots of land are proactively maintained. Otherwise, they are responded to on a complaint basis.

In fairness, 2023 was a very wet year, making the growing conditions for those plants very ideal. However, that fairness doesn’t extend to the fact we don’t regularly maintain them — nature is not an excuse for neglect.

Back in December, staff and I attended a demonstration of equipment the City could potentially use. The equipment is an add-on compatible with many construction-type vehicles that the City already has in its fleet, and features brushes that tear the weeds out and pushes them into a container which can be emptied into a dump truck.

The add-on was used or piloted in several Canadian cities in 2022 and 2023, generating positive feedback from entities like Pearson Airport in Toronto and the public works departments in Niagara Falls and Burnaby, among others.

Obviously, I am hoping staff will come back with information that is supportive of a program to proactively address the vegetation. The sentiment that appearances aren’t everything only go so far before it gives off an aura.

Earl Mulligan

Going back to the way it was.

Last May, the lane configuration of Earl Mulligan Drive was changed, primarily with the goal of improving sightlines for vehicles turning out of Long Gate, Shandon, and Woodgate, as well as minor traffic calming.

The lanes were narrowed and shifted to the south, and a shoulder was created along the north curb of the street, intended as a space for vehicles to use to improve their view of Earl Mulligan without encroaching into the westbound travel lane. In the summer, flex stakes from the temporary traffic calming program were added to better delineate the roadway.

Although general observations have shown the measures didn’t cause the mayhem and chaos predicted by many, it also didn’t make anything better. Staff finally agreeing to cut down the shrubs afterwards didn’t help the case for the reconfiguration, either, but it’s a good thing.

The flexible stakes will not be reinstated on Earl Mulligan this year. The current painted lines will be allowed to fade, after which a single yellow line in the middle will be repainted (but more centred in the roadway this time). The digital speed display at Woodgate will remain.

Staff will regularly maintain the height of the shrubs at the northeast corners of Earl Mulligan and Long Gate, Shandon, and Woodgate to preserve sightlines.

Moving forward with Earl Mulligan’s reconfiguration last year was my mistake, as my greenness at the time may have made me a bit too eager to do something quick and easy, so I accept that responsibility.

Earl Mulligan will generally be left alone for the next little while as I shift my focus to more effective traffic calming measures on other collector streets in greater need across the ward, though I am hoping to improve pedestrian safety where traffic turns off Earl Mulligan in the meantime.

What that looks like is currently unknown, but if it’s anything major, it will be shared through newsletter and social media for feedback before implementation.

Speaking of Earl Mulligan, I randomly remembered the black bear that made a visit to the street back in June 2021. Do you?

Until next week!

-Wilson