Neighbourhood worried traffic from Trainor Street development will be 'dangerous'

A planned development in a Charlottetown neighbourhood has some residents in the area concerned about the increased traffic it will bring.

The development on Trainor Streetwould be three buildings, a mix of townhouses and apartments. Each building would have 20 units, for a total of 60.

The buildings would be constructed behind Royalty Maple Cottageson Malpeque Road, at the corner of Trainor Streetand Katie Drive. The main entry and exit for the buildingswould be onto Trainor Street.

This has some residents worried about the rise in traffic their neighbourhood could see.

"I've not heard anyone who has objected to the three 20-unit apartment buildings. We've seen some plans that show the design of the things they look to be quite attractive and we wish the developer well," said John Barrett, a resident in the area.

"The problem is to feed those cars into a very quiet residential street where there's numerous children walking, riding their bicycle, as citizens walking. It's dangerous and it adds to the already congested exits that we have."

'Recipe for disaster'

At the bottom of TrainorStreet, there's also a community mailbox and a bus stop, said Barrett.

"So you add that morning rush hour traffic, the bus stop and the children, thesuper mailbox, the fact that it's already congested to get out of the neighborhood, you know, you get a bit of a recipe for disaster," he said.

Instead, Barrett said the traffic from the apartments should go out onto Malpeque Road.

Barrett held a neighbourhood meeting to discuss the development last week, and he said about 160 people showed up.

"We have registered an official request for reconsideration to city hall and we've also sent a notice of appeal to [the Island Regulatory and Appeals Commission]."

Traffic study done

Coun. Greg Rivard, Charlotteown's chair of planning and heritage, said a study done in the area found the building would haveno significant impact on traffic.

"They said that of course there will be additional traffic. There's just no two ways about that," he said.

"But they said that the road has capacity, the neighbourhood has the capacity to handle the extra load and that the turning lanes onto Malpeque can handle the extra load."

That traffic study was paid for by the developer. This is common practice, said Rivard, because of the expense associated with those studies.

In terms how safe it will be, Rivard said there are things the city can do to help out.

"You know, be it sidewalks, be it speed bumps, be it better signage, there's different ways we can look at it," said Rivard.

In order to have the cars exit onto Malpeque Road, Rivard said the city would most likely need to have that approved by the province.

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