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City politicians have brushed off the concerns of a citizen advisory committee that wants them to slam the brakes on the process of gathering public input on London’s polarizing new transportation master plan.
The integrated transportation community advisory committee is a volunteer body that offers non-binding advice to city hall and city council on all things transportation. Its members recently issued a scathing report against the city’s new long-term blueprint, asking that the collection of Londoner feedback be halted until the group’s concerns are addressed.
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Presented to city council during Tuesday’s strategic priorities and policy committee, the report reads that the proposed networks lacked information behind key decisions, and that presentations and reports received contained “factual errors, contradictions, and gaps.”
“We feel that our feedback has been largely ignored or discounted to date,” Ralph Buchal, a member of the advisory committee, told politicians while appearing virtually. “We have never seen a detailed response from the (mobility master plan) team addressing our concerns.”
No details were provided about the study and analysis the city did to arrive at the recently unveiled networks, Buchal explained, and none of its previous recommendations were addressed.
The mobility master plan, in the works for two and a half years, is a document that outlines priority road, transit, biking, and sidewalk projects that London wants to pursue over the next 25 years.
Despite the pushback from the advisory body, politicians voted 11-3 to receive the report but take no action. Councillors David Ferreira, Skylar Franke, and Sam Trosow voted against, while Coun. Susan Stevenson was absent.
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City staff maintained the transportation plan follows best practices for planning, and was drafted through expert analysis.
They noted the advisory committee was tapped for feedback, but explained the buck ultimately stops with them and council about what’s included.
Ward 8 Coun. Steve Lehman took issue with the implications of Buchal’s comments, particularly that they were ignored.
“I believe that’s not true . . . there’s a process that we’re going through,” he said. “At the end of the day, it’s going to be up to this council to provide direction based on everyone’s comments and feedback.”
Acknowledging the long timeline, councillors who voted against taking no action said while they didn’t wish to stop the plan, they were interested in more information behind the published maps.
Trosow said he “rejects” the idea of halting the process, but added that not addressing any of the advisory committee’s concerns wouldn’t reflect well on council.
“I think we have to be very careful about the signal that we’re sending to the community, about our value of citizen volunteers on our committees,” he said.
After public meetings wrap this month, city hall will take the feedback and bring tweaked networks to council in the spring for approval, with the entire plan coming to politicians for approval in the summer.
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