Proposed Sandy Court sidewalks to be cancelled

Jeff Helsdon, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

It was one win and one loss for residents of Sandy Court at the Oct. 14 meeting of council.

Two residents of the street, which is west off the northern end of Tillson Ave, spoke to council against a proposed zone change that would allow two semi-detached buildings on a piece of property that was formerly a park.

The application by E & E McLaughlin Ltd. was to change the zoning on the property at 10 Sandy Court. The property would be subdivided into two separate lots in the future.

Karolyn White, speaking on behalf of the residents, questioned when the open space was transferred to E & E McLaughlin Ltd. She also said property values would decrease with the loss of the green space.

Development Commissioner Cephas Panschow said the property went through a public process in 2020 for property sales. This included advertisement in a number of places and notifying neighbours, some of whom commented. The deal was finalized in 2023.

“We did follow the process prescribed by our land disposition process,” Panschow said.

Resident Courtney Booth said the lot was smaller than required and the addition of the semi-detached buildings will created parking challenges.

“There is no indication this will provide any public benefit,” she said.

Council passed a resolution allowing the zone change.

A win

Navdeep Kaur, a resident of the street who wrote a letter before he spoke to council, asked for reconsideration of a plan to install a sidewalk on the street as part of plans to install sidewalks across the town.

“We understand the city goals but this project doesn’t reflect our needs,” he said.

Surveying his neighbours, he found all were against the sidewalk. With no sidewalk for it to connect to on Tillson Ave., he said it would make a Sandy Court sidewalk “incompatible and incomplete”.

Kaur also pointed out many courts don’t have sidewalks, there would be a loss of green space, it would result in more snow clearing and a cut through driveways will force residents to park on the road.

Saying it was a waste of money for unnecessary work, Kaur asked, “This sidewalk is unwanted and unnecessary, I ask council to pause and reevaluate.”

Council granted the request and won’t go ahead with the sidewalk.