Project update: Email exchange with Marie Lemay, NCC CEO
The following exchange has recently taken place between John Forsey, MPCA President, and Marie Lemay, NCC CEO. A few facts have come to light about the next phase of the study:
- There will be no public consultation while defining the terms of reference for Phase 2 of the study. However, the consultant’s statement of work, once finalized, will be posted on the NCC website in the coming months.
- Alignments beyond the three that have been selected for further analysis may be considered in Phase 2, although this seems unlikely. The extent to which other options will be assessed will become clear through the Terms of Reference (which will not be publicly disclosed) and the consultants’ Statement of Work.
- The NCC is fully prepared to ammend its traffic policy on parkways to accommodate trucks, in the case of the Aviation Parkway, if required.
- The NCC states that public consultation will be an important component of Phase 2 as the project evolves, and that comments related to the project (even without a formal public consultation) will be submitted to the project team for consideration. Please share any of your thoughts or concerns with the NCC.
This message is sent on behalf of Marie Lemay, Chief Executive Officer, National Capital Commission.
June 01, 2009
Mr. John Forsey
President
Manor Park Community Association
Dear Mr. Forsey:
Thank you for your e-mail of April 21, 2009, in which you provide additional comments on the Interprovincial Crossings Environmental Assessment (EA) study.
All comments are being collected and will be considered as part of Phase 2 of the study. We have also sent a copy of your comments and this response to the Phase 2 Study Team.
With regard to your concern of the Consultant’s mandate, the National Capital Commission (NCC) believes that the first step in the Consultant’s work program will be very important. It will lay out a study design, which will be subjected to a full public consultation, as well as guide the study to its conclusion. The Consultant’s terms of reference will not be subject to a formal public consultation. The Consultant’s Statement of Work will be posted on the NCC’s website, at www.canadascapital.gc.ca, in the coming month, and your comments will be welcome.
Rest assured that the NCC and its partners are committed to a comprehensive, participatory and transparent public consultation on aspects of the Phase 2 EA and that public and agency comments, concerns and issues will be taken carefully into account and addressed effectively and appropriately by the Phase 2 Consultant.
Although there will be further consultation in Phase 2, we wanted to provide comments on the alignment alternative presented in your letter of February 11, 2009. This option considered an alternative alignment for Corridor 6 in Ville de Gatineau, utilizing an alignment at Lac-Beauchamp Park to a new interchange on Autoroute 50.
As part of the Phase 1 work program, each of the alternative crossing locations assessed available alignment alternatives to provide access between the two provincial freeway road networks. Corridor 6, which is centred on Lorrain Boulevard in Ville de Gatineau, considered environmental constraints and the technical feasibility of other alignments both to the east and west. In fact, a previously identified alignment using the park had been identified in the JACPAT study in the early 1990s. This alignment was revisited as part of the Phase 1 work and not carried forward because of substantial residential development that has occurred in the north end of the Corridor 6 study area since the 1990s. Several hundred homes have already been built on the previously identified corridor, as illustrated in the attached Figure 1.
The new alternative identified in your letter proposes a more westerly interchange connection to Autoroute 50. This would be a new interchange. The freeway design constraints utilized as part of the study on every corridor maintained the standards of the provinces of Ontario and Quebec of having a 2 km spacing between interchanges on a freeway. This interchange spacing is a North American standard that allows for signing and the spacing of acceleration and deceleration of vehicles on speed change lanes (ramps) to and from the freeway. The alternative identified in your letter does not comply with this provincial freeway standard.
As indicated above, this alternative, and your comments, will be documented for review in Phase 2 of the study.
The NCC Board of Directors’ decision included the statement that “It is understood that amendments may be needed to the Traffic and Property Regulations and NCC Policy on Parkways and Driveways (1984) or to the Greenbelt Master Plan (1996) in order to proceed to the construction of the Bridge.” These amendments, if necessary, will be undertaken.
The “participant funding” as defined in the Act is administered by the CEA Agency.
Thank you for providing these comments. We look forward to your continued participation in Phase 2 of the study.
Yours sincerely,
Marie Lemay, P.Eng., ing.
Chief Executive Officer
——————–
From: Forsey, R. John
Sent: Tuesday, April 21, 2009 9:31 AM
Subject: RE: Response from M. Lemay, CEO, National Capital Commission to your letter of February 11, 2009 and your e-mail of March 4, 2009
Dear Ms. Lemay,
Thank you for responding to my letter of March 4 and for forwarding a copy to the NCC Board members.
I have also taken the opportunity to review the Phase 2 Next Steps and Frequently Asked Questions posted on the NCC web site and I would like to make the following additional comments:
1. It appears that no public consultation will occur until 2010. As I noted in my March 4 letter, the Terms of Reference under which the Phase 2 consultants will be engaged are critical. Once the overall direction and scope of the study is set, it will be very difficult to change, no matter how valid the points raised during public consultations. Manor Park Community Association therefore urges the NCC to allow public comment on the draft Terms of Reference.
2. The NCC website indicates that “Corridors 5 (Kettle Island), 6 (Lower Duck Island) and 7 (Gatineau Airport / McLaurin Bay) will be evaluated in Phase 2 of Study.” As also suggested in my letter, the actual corridors to be studied in Phase 2 should not be strictly limited to Corridors 5, 6 and 7 (as defined by Roche-NCE) since some flexibility could allow the determination of the optimal solution.
3. The NCC website indicates that “Input from the Greenbelt Master Plan study and its public consultation will be considered by this study.” This is appropriate, given the location of Corridors 6 and 7. However, as noted by the NCC Board, selection of Corridor 5 would require a change in the NCC policy concerning NCC Parkways. Hence equal consideration must be given in Phase 2 to the implications for the future of the NCC’s scenic parkways.
4. It appears that Phase 2 will be a “screening study” under the CEAA. Will there be any provision for participant funding?
I urge you to give consideration to these points and to share them with the Phase 2 study team.
Yours sincerely,
John Forsey
President, Manor Park Community Association
——————–
Sent: Wednesday, April 15, 2009 2:19 PM
To: Forsey, R. John
Subject: Response from M. Lemay, CEO, National Capital Commission to your letter of February 11, 2009 and your e-mail of March 4, 2009
This message is sent on behalf of Marie Lemay, Chief Executive Officer, National Capital Commission.
Dear Mr. Forsey:
Thank you for your letter of February 11, 2009 and your e-mail of March 4, 2009, which included a letter addressed to Mr. Russell Mills, Chair of the National Capital Commission’s (NCC) Board of Directors, regarding the Interprovincial Crossings study.
As requested, we have forwarded your letter to the NCC’s Board of Directors.
The Interprovincial Crossing Environmental Assessment (EA) study is part of long-term transportation planning by the federal, provincial and municipal authorities in Canada’s Capital Region. This EA Study is lead jointly by the NCC, the Ontario Ministry of Transportation (MTO) and the ministère des Transports du Québec (MTQ), with technical support of the cities of Ottawa and Gatineau. ROCHE-NCE provided consulting expertise to the study partners during Phase 1 of the EA study, which has now been completed.
Phase 1 of the EA study recommended Kettle Island Corridor as the highest ranked and technically preferred location for a future interprovincial crossing. It also recommended carrying forward a number of important planning strategies.
The summary report, the technical studies and outcome of the public consultations of the final report on Phase 1 of the EA study were made public on January 5, 2009.
In order to proceed to Phase 2 and complete the Interprovincial Crossings EA Study in conformity with the Partnership Agreement between the governments of Canada, Quebec and Ontario, unanimity amongst NCC, MTO and MTQ, on the number and location of crossing corridor(s) and alignments is required. Our funding partners, MTO and MTQ, in a letter dated January 27, 2009, informed us of their interest in doing more detailed study of the first three ranking corridors instead of only the first ranking corridor.
On February 13, 2009, the NCC’s Board of Directors approved the recommendations contained in the January 5, 2009, Interprovincial Crossings EA Study – Summary Report, by Roche-NCE, with the following amendments:
In addition to the consultant’s recommendation to assess in detail the Kettle Island crossing, the corridors at Lower Duck Island/Lorrain Boulevard, and Lower Duck Island/Gatineau Airport/McLaurin Bay be included in Phase 2 of the study, subject to approval by the three funding partners, NCC, the MTO and the MTQ.
The Board also approved that the commercial vehicles planning study to review interprovincial crossings and the ability to meet forecast demand be started in parallel to the EA study.
The Board’s decision has been communicated to the MTO and MTQ in a letter asking that they confirm their commitment to provide additional funding, in order to proceed to Phase 2.
Phase 2 of the study will involve the following steps and targeted dates:
Choosing and contracting consultant services, through a Request for Proposals process – completion by September 2009;
Phase 2 of the Study – completion by July 2012; and
Environmental approvals – completion by October 2013.
Phase 2 of the study will evaluate in more detail the environmental, social, economic, heritage and transportation effects of the corridors and propose mitigation measures to address these effects. The analysis, as per our partners’ request, will include impacts on communities, economic development and transit.
The NCC will continue to manage and administer the study in a collaborative effort between the three funding partners, the City of Ottawa and the Ville de Gatineau.
Once Phase 2 is initiated, we will invite all interested parties to actively participate in the consultation process. I encourage you to consult the NCC’s website at www.canadascapital.gc.ca for information regarding the Interprovincial Crossings Study.
Thank you for your interest in this important initiative.
Yours sincerely,
Marie Lemay, P.Eng., ing.
Chief Executive Officer
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