May 13, 2021 · 0 Comments
By Sam Odrowski
Orangeville Council took another step towards building a transit hub at the Edelbrock Centre during their Monday night meeting (May 10).
In a 4-3 vote, Council endorsed Town staff’s Transit Transfer Terminal Plan and directed staff to engage an engineering consultant to complete the terminal’s final design.
The plan includes building a dedicated drive through road that’s 6.5 meters in width for Orangeville transit buses from Centre Street to Dawson Road, a pedestrian crossing to link the two roads together, and provisions for future expansion that provide space for six buses. The endorsed plan also notes that a simple bus shelter will be built with no washroom or parking facilities.
The costs of the final design, hiring of consultants, and construction will be covered through an Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program (ICIP) grant secured by the Town from the federal government, totalling approximately $359,000.
Orangeville Council initially had plans to build a transit transfer station on Broadway, but following significant backlash from the local business community who operates on that street, Council reversed its initial decision last November.
Coun. Grant Peters, who opposes the transit hub being built on Centre Street by the Edelbrock Centre, noted that one of the arguments made by proponents of the Edelbrock location was that they couldn’t build sufficient washrooms on Broadway. He then asked Town staff if it would not be better to build the washrooms now in the early stages of construction, since the hub will eventually grow larger, thus preventing a retrofit later on.
Orangeville’s community services general manager, Ray Osmond responded by noting that washrooms have never been an issue at the current transit hub.
“It’s not been something that’s been brought forward by our ridership. It was certainly a complaint that was brought forward by those opponents of the downtown transfer hub, but it wasn’t a concern that staff shared,” Osmond explained.
In the final vote to approve the Transit Transfer Terminal Plan and endorse the hiring of a consultant, Mayor Sandy Brown, Coun. Andy Macintosh, Coun. Joe Andrews, and Coun. Debbie Sherwood were in favour, while Coun. Grant Peters, Coun. Todd Taylor, and Coun. Lisa Post were opposed.