Residents living near a section of Dublin Street about to be closed to vehicles and pedestrians aren’t going down without a fight.
Metrolinx, in conjunction with the city, is closing off Dublin Street to all vehicles, cyclists and pedestrians at the rail crossing just north of Waterloo Avenue due to the fact it no longer meets safety standards.
The closure is expected next week.
The move was originally announced in February with an April date for closure planned. COVID-19 changed that.
An online petition started to keep the rail crossing open to pedestrians has garnered 1,300 signatures as of Thursday afternoon.
“People are really upset about it,” said Ward 3 councillor Phil Allt, pointing out that his vacationing Ward 3 partner on council June Hofland had been very active in dealing with those residents.
“But there’s nowhere to go on it, we’re spinning our wheels.”
Allt said the city was “put in a box on this one” by Metrolinx and railway laws in Canada.
“Closing Dublin should not have occurred the way this did,” Allt said, adding that the closure has “nothing to do” with future high-speed rail service.
“To me this is a violation of walkable city principles,” the councillor said.
People like area resident Greta DeLonghi are upset about the closure and upset about a lack of public input.
“It makes me sad … I’m grieving a little bit I guess,” said DeLonghi, a regular user of that route to do everything from shopping to attending church and going downtown for many years
“I realize there are more important things happening in the world right now, but there was no real true consultation about this,” she said, wondering out loud about what it will mean for the neighbourhood and if similar moves are planned for other crossings in the future.
Others, posting on the petition site, echoed her sentiments.
“I strongly believe that there is a better alternative to the plan put forward, and also believe that such major changes should not be embarked upon without consultation with the neighbourhood,” wrote Bonnie Knight.
It is essential to keep in mind the neighborhood first; children going to school, the coming and going of all the friends and neighbours. Are the reasons of Metro Link (sic) and the city of Guelph valid enough and without having had an open meeting at the city hall,” wrote Marie-Claire Recurt.
Allt said the public consultation was the responsibility of Metrolinx.
As part of the changes, Northumberland Street and Kent Street will become one-way streets.
According to the city, 2,000 people drive across the railway crossing each day and roughly 230 people walk across it.
Allt said that he hopes that in the future a pedestrian/bike underpass could be built at the location, but realizes that with the financial pressures brought on by COVID-19, at this point that “would be somewhat of a challenge” to get approved.
In the February news release announcing the move, the city said that upgrading the crossing to meet new safety standards would mean increasing expropriating land and houses, and closing large portions of upper and lower Kent Street, making such a plan “unfeasible.”
Also back in February, Metrolinx said that all level crossings in Guelph are being evaluated for safety as part of our planning for more service on the corridor.
Foot traffic and bicycle traffic will have to travel an extra 400 metres to cross at alternate locations, the city said.
