Dear Ms. Kaufmann,
This email is in regards to the upcoming expansion of Dalron homes in and around Forestdale Dr and Montrose
Ave. Specifically the extension of Forestdale Dr, to expand North from it’s current end of the cul-de-sac. As
residents of <> along with being parents of 5 children (ages 1-16), our concern is in regards to the safety and feasibility of the extension of Forestdale.
If you ever visit the area, you will witness many cars having to accelerate up Forestdale to make it to the top of the street, many vehicles do this to main momentum to be able to climb this hill. As they come to the top of the street, there is very limited sight line as you rise over the peak of the street. While there is already a risk for collisions between vehicular traffic and pedestrians, this is mitigated due to the low volume of traffic. If you go at any time, you will see many people accessing Forestdale due to the slope of the hill and the cardio benefits of walking up that hill.
If the extension were to move forward, based on the topography of the area, there will be another large hill to climb to drive south and then east. So you are now having more vehicles accelerating in the opposite direction, which is causing increased traffic volume but also increased acceleration in this pinch point.
At present, people do not come to the cul-de-sac for the most part unless to turn around, and this happens 3-4 times a day. But now that this will be open and accessible, you will have vehicles coming from both directions accelerating at a higher rate of speed going from a wide road to a narrow road, on a 80 degree turn angle. I am not a traffic cop or an accident investigator, but this is just calling for some form of accident, whether it be vehicle vs. property, or vehicle vs. pedestrian.
As parents of youth who live at this cul-de-sac, and these youth play with other youth at the end of the cul-de sac
who all live within a 50m to 100m radius. The nearest park in proximity to this location is approximately 850m away on Grandview Blvd. There is no easily accessible recreational areas for these youth to go to. To get to the park, would include walking down metal stairs to another area, then down a medium density road (Grandview).
Let’s also look out the infrastructure of the current site plan. I am looking at the new re-draft of plan dated March
2024, along with the current Forestdale Dr, both in person, and in the draft plan. You will see the current
Forestdale is a narrow undivided road. While there is space for cars to drive in opposite directions if the road is
clear, there isn’t when there is a car parked on the side of the road. If a car is parked on the street, then it is not
capable to pass a car, and a parked car at the same time. There is a large blind spot as people come up, and the
typical car coming up Forestdale drives in the middle due to cars being parked on the street.
Forestdale is also void of any sidewalks. So now you are adding people walking up and down the street, increased
vehicular traffic, increased speeds, and narrow roads. If you plan on putting a redlight there, fine, but people will
blow through that stop sign, and any child or pedestrian that gets hit, is calling for a lawsuit due to poor
infrastructure planning.
But let’s look also at the physicality of the street and it’s components. Will the street hold up to the increased
traffic? If you look at that cul-de-sac, in that 20m radius, we have had multiple city of Sudbury crews come in and
2 fill in potholes in the past few years. Now why is there potholes? There is very limited vehicular traffic. So this gives way to natural elements during the freeze thaw cycle, in addition to the high volumes of water that go the area from run off based on the slope of the hill.
In addition, the new extension will have wider streets, which is great, but this is not continued from where the new extension starts. So we are going from a wider street, to a more narrow street. Logically this doesn’t make any sense in a safety sense.
In general we aren’t against any development of the area, what we are against is the extension of Forestdale. We do not agree with the development plans for Forestdale based on street size, traffic volume increase, safety of
residents, and capability of the street to handle the volume of traffic.
Sincerely,
Chris B., RN