Doug Whicker wants to help prevent the city from “wasting” a lot of money on an “ineffective” noise barrier planned for the Front Street Mews.
Whicker, a retired engineer with 40 years of experience in acoustics, said it appears the city plans to build a three-metre high barrier between Front Street traffic and the new mews in front of shops. He suggested the height of a noise barrier along Front Street may need to be increased substantially to provide better sound relief in the areas, or eliminated so the city can save taxpayers a lot of money.
Whicker said one concept put forward at an open house in June was for a three-metre high barrier between the Front Street traffic route and the muse. Whicker said he requested a copy of the engineer report on which options being considered are based, but was told he’d have to file a Freedom of Information request to obtain the document.
“I see no reason why I as a taxpayers should have to file an FOI request to get a report that taxpayers should be able to get,” he recently told city council. “I wonder what hidden secrets must be contained in the report if it takes an FOI request to get it.”
Without that report, Whicker tried to interpret the graphics and information that was presented at meetings earlier this summer. He said both of options do show the three-metre high noise barrier.
“While I have not seen the cost estimates for the proposed noise barrier, it is conceivable that a three-metre high, freestanding noise barrier running from Sixth Street to Begbie will cost in the neighbourhood of $300,000 to $500,000,” he said. “That’s a lot of money to spend to get maybe a just-noticeable noise reduction and still have to shout to be heard.”
Whicker, a downtown resident, said he was told he wasn’t welcome to attend a Sept. 2 stakeholders’ workshop about the mews project.
“I requested and was declined an invitation to attend this meeting because, apparently, I am not a stakeholder in the immediate vicinity of the project,” he told council Aug. 31. “It’s unfortunate because it’s not the stakeholders that are funding this, it’s the city. That means all taxpayers are stakeholders.”
Mayor Jonathan Cote said any decision would be made at an open council meeting. He said council hasn’t yet received the report that Whicker sought from city hall.
Eugene Wat, the city’s manager of infrastructure planning, said noise mitigation is just one of the design elements that will be considered as part of the project, along with items like parking. Staff will report back to council on the issue.
City Clerk Jan Gibson said it’s quite routine for the city to send items that are not routinely available to FOI for processing, as it could contain third-party information which may not currently be available. If a person files an FOI request and the information is cleared with the owner of the information, she said it can be released.
Following his appearance at a recent council meeting, Whicker spoke with Jim Lowrie, the city’s director of engineering, who said he’d provide information the city had received from the sound consultants that was used to on the display boards at the Front Street Mews Open House. Once he gets that information, Whicker plans to speak to Lowrie again about his concerns regarding the proposed noise barrier.
The city is creating a mews along the Front Street frontage road - the area between Front Street and the buildings. It’s envisioned as being a pedestrian-friendly area that includes a narrow drive aisle, angled parking, a wide sidewalk and a landscaped boulevard with trees.
