When I talk to residents in Briarbrook and Brookside, we talk a lot about their lovely brook! Shirley’s Brook is a lovely waterway with trees and wildlife offering residents so many enjoyable moments. However, beavers love the brook, too. With occasional beaver dams creating water flow challenges, the residents would like to live in harmony with nature but not have flooded basements or stagnant areas where mosquitos breed. There are a number of city staff initiatives underway to keep the water flowing, I can attest to that. The Mosquito Program is working, but cannot compete with stagnant water that accumulates when it is stopped by dams.
Residents also want to be able to send their students to school without unsafe traffic situations around their schools. They want their older students to access quick and reliable transit to get to college, university and co-op placements. They love that they can walk to work in the Tech Park, but are not happy with the lack of bike lanes and, again, the traffic on March Road. They love their toboggan hills, their outdoor rink and the puddle rink, too, but they want their sidewalks cleared right to the pavement to improve accessibility in the winter for everyone.
No one in Briarbrook, Brookside and Shirley’s Brook is loving the significant infrastructure work that has meant closed roads, construction night and day, and the ongoing noise and congestion from it. They understand that upgrades have to be done to deal with the significant infrastructure required to service the developments up March Road, but want to be assured that March Road is widened as well to handle all of the new development that is planned. They are looking forward to the construction of their new mosque.
As with most residents in Kanata North, they do not want to see their taxes increased. With the rising cost of gas and groceries (and just about everything else!), taxes need to be kept low. I hear you!
