Resident concerned about truck traffic from Bolton operation

October 29, 2013 · 0 Comments

The following letter, to Mayor Steve Pellegrini and members of council was submitted to the King Weekly Sentinel.
Did you think that the new warehouse proposed by Canadian Tire to be located on the west side of Bolton was going to this location, partly because of access to the rail yards to distribute their goods?
That is what I thought, but I was wrong. All of the transportation is to be done by trucks, great big ones. The tractor trailer’s average payload from the Brampton plant in 2011 (the plant is being moved to Bolton) was 28,379 pounds and that 99.8% of those outbound trips had payloads under 50,000 pounds. The inbound loads were only 19,048 pounds on average.
This plant will operate for 20 hours a day. So trucks will roll out and back from 6 a.m. to 2 a.m.
BA Group did a Transportation Study for Canadian Tire called “Bolton Distribution Centre, Coleraine Drive & Holland Drive, Transportation Considerations, December 2011, November 2012.” One of the truck routes shown (Appendix Figure 7) is going south on Coleraine from the plant, east on Mayfield Road, north on Highway 50 and turning east on the King Road through Nobleton on its way to Highway 400. Since Caledon does not allow trucks to turn at Highway 50 and the King Road, the trucks would really go north on the Albion Vaughan Road and then east on the King Road. In that way, the Bolton residents will be unaffected, but not the Nobleton residents and businesses.
In this study (p. 24), it states “BA Group reviewed the truck routes and turning restrictions on area roads to determine the most direct and logical trucking routes allowed by the Town and Region.” I guess that they missed that restriction at Highway 50 and the King Road.
What can York Region and/or King Township do to protect Nobleton from very heavy tractor trailers barrelling through Nobleton at all hours of the day and night?
Nobleton United Church was not built to withstand this type of traffic. It was built in 1896 and is very close to the newly widened King Rd. Heavy tractor trailers such as these from a new Canadian Tire plant will likely damage the church. Many of the buildings in Nobleton are very close to the King Rd.
King Township should:
• Hire a transportation consulting group to look at the impact that a big warehouse like Canadian Tire will have on the truck traffic through Nobleton (including reviewing BA’s report) and have this group propose solutions to limit this traffic.
• Advocate for a bypass for Nobleton.
• Impose restrictions on truck traffic so that tractor trailers not allowed on the King Road early in the morning and after 9 p.m. at night and not at all on Sundays.
• Make restrictions on trucks turning at Highway 27 and the King Road. I note that Caledon does not allow trucks to turn at Highway 50 and the King Road.
• Write to the Honourable Linda Jeffrey, Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing to ask her to revoke her Minister’s Zoning Order which bypassed due process. With public input, the right decisions on transportation are more likely to be made.

Nancy Hopkinson
Nobleton