May 6, 1998
To:Etobicoke Community Council
From:Commissioner of Works
Subject:Request for the Closure of the Municipal Walkway
Between Goa Court and Edilou Drive
(Lakeshore-Queensway )
Purpose:
To respond to a petition requesting the closure of a municipal walkway between Goa Court
and Edilou Drive.
Recommendations:
It is recommended that:
(1)this report be received; and that
(2)Community Council convene a public meeting to obtain the views of the local residents
regarding the closure request for the municipal walkway between Goa Court and Edilou
Drive.
Council Reference and Background:
A petition dated June 1997 from the residents of Goa Court and Edilou Drive was received
by Council at its meeting of July 11, 1997 (Attachment No. 1). The petition requests the
closure of a municipal walkway between the above-noted roads, as shown on Attachment
No. 2. The 3 metre wide paved walkway is constructed on municipal property, and flanked
by a 1.5 metre and 2.2 metre easement leading to Goa Court and Edilou Drive, respectively,
as denoted on Attachment No. 3 .
Upon receipt of the petition, Councillor Jones convened a community meeting to obtain
further comments from residents in the immediate vicinity as well as from the broader
community. The meeting was held on January 15, 1998. Although not well attended,
perhaps due to inclement weather, those present were generally in support of the closure to
prevent littering, loitering and other offensive activities.
Comments:
The municipal walkway traverses two separate plans of subdivision. Prior to the
development of these lands, a creek traversed the properties in a northwest to southeast
direction. The Edilou Drive subdivision was the first to be constructed in 1971. At that time,
the lands to the north (now Goa Court) were vacant and owned by the Metropolitan Toronto
Separate School Board (MSSB). As part of the Edilou development plan, the creek was
filled and lands leading to Edilou Drive were dedicated to the City by the developer (south
portion of the subject walkway), to accommodate a large diameter storm sewer and sanitary
sewer to service the development.
In the early 1980s, the MSSB decided that the vacant property was surplus to their needs
and it was sold to a developer who constructed the Goa Court subdivision. The servicing for
this plan was designed to complement the existing infrastructure. As part of the subdivision
agreement, the developer dedicated lands to the City (north portion of the subject walkway)
to accommodate storm and sanitary sewer facilities, and to provide a surface overflow route
for the 100-year storm event. The grades of the paved walkway and the side yards of the lots
in this area were specifically designed to channel water away from the homes in the Edilou
and Goa Court subdivisions.
In addition to ownership of the paved walkway, the City has easement rights over four
strips of privately owned land along both sides of the walkway. These easements allow the
City to maintain the walkway and below grade storm and sewer facilities. The existing fence
on both sides of the walkway are required to preclude encroachments into the storm
overflow and utility area.
The paved walkway was also designed to provide pedestrian access to nearby school
facilities. A pedestrian count was undertaken on January 14, 1998, to ascertain the level of
pedestrian use. These counts are provided on Attachment No. 4. A total of 237 people used
the walkway between 7:45 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. This represents a significant volume of
pedestrian traffic. Approximately 50% of the users were children/youth using the walkway
before 9:00 a.m., suggesting a high student count travelling to the Father John Redmond
Catholic School and Douglas Park Junior School.
In summary, the subject walkway has a three-fold purpose:
1.to accommodate the below grade storm and sanitary sewer facilities;
2.to channel stormwater away from the Goa Court and Edilou Drive subdivision in a
100-year storm event;
3.to provide pedestrian access to the Father John Redmond Catholic School and
Douglas Park Junior School.
Conclusions:
A petition has been received to close the 3 metre paved walkway between Goa Court and
Edilou Drive. This petition appears to be premised on the nuisance created by users of the
walkway, particularly littering and loitering problems. However, this walkway serves as an
important pedestrian link to nearby schools, was designed to accommodate a large diameter
storm sewer and sanitary sewer to service the Goa Court and Edilou subdivision, and
provides an at grade storm overflow route to channel water away from the homes during a
100-year storm event.
In order to gauge the community's desire to have the walkway closed for pedestrian
purposes, it is appropriate that a formal public meeting be held by Etobicoke Community
Council prior to staff making any recommendations on related technical issues.
Contact Name:
Dominic Gulli, Director - Transportation and Engineering Planning Division
(416) 394-8409; Fax: 394-8942.
T. G. Denes, P.Eng.
Commissioner of Works
JD/jd*
Attachments
ccStreet File: Edilou Drive
Goa Court
