Councillors Palacio, Nunziata table Member Motion about pile driving

the motion…

Member Motion
City Council
NOTICE OF MOTION
MM36.1 ACTION
Ward: 11, 13, 14,
17, 18
Support for West Toronto Residents – Excessive Noise from the Railto-
Rail Diamond Grade Separation Project – Councillor Palacio,
seconded by Councillor Nunziata
•Notice of this Motion has been given.
•This Motion is subject to referral to the Executive Committee. A two-thirds vote is required to waive referral.
Recommendations
Councillor Palacio, seconded by Councillor Nunziata, recommends:
1. That City Council express its support for the residents affected by the excessive
vibration and noise emanating from the Rail-to-Rail Diamond Grade Separation Project.
2. That the City Solicitor provide legal support to the residents in their complaint,
mediation, and other related matters before the Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA).
Summary
Thousands of residents in Wards 17, 11, 14, 18 and 13 have been suffering a dramatic reduction in their comfort and quality of life as a result of excessive pile-driving taking place as part of GO Transit’s Rail-to-Rail Diamond Grade Separation Project, near Dupont Street and Dundas Street West.
Pile-driving on this scale completely undermines the livability of the neighbourhood and can be heard from many hundreds of metres away. The pile-driving is constant, all day, every day, and the project is not expected to be completed until December 2011. Other, quieter technologies exist to drive piles but are not being utilized.
A coalition of residents’ organizations has requested mediation and may initiate a formal complaint to the Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA), the Federal agency that regulates railway noise and vibration in Canada, asking for quieter, more reasonable methods of pile driving to be used.
(Submitted to City Council on May 25, 2009 as MM36.1)

Link to pdf file of this text at city web site

4 Comments

Sounds like a classic stop or I’ll say stop again. What happened to Perks and Saundercook?

I agree with “Pile-driving on this scale completely undermines the liveability of the neighbourhood” and can’t believe its even legal but this is statement is an exaggeration

” The pile-driving is constant, all day (actually 8 hours a day), every day (actually 5 days a week), and the project is not expected to be completed until December 2011 (pile driving should be complete this year unless the “Other, quieter technologies” are used).

With its overstatement of the facts this motion quickly becomes little more than political posturing. I think we can do better.

EL-Oh-EL! Let's put a ban on all trains, cars and bars too. NO NOISE IN THE CITY!

What a waste of resources… Let it play out and it will be over with. Nobody will remember this in 12 months.

Whatever technologies, are used the project has to go though, and yes the project has much less benefits to the Junction community than to those surrounding the GTA and the cities core, but Go has one thing to fall back on pile driving and later excavation is fast as compared to cut cutting and it's associated concrete wall forming.

As to using quieter technologies such as vibration equipment, I think this too would trouble the residents, as it is also very unpleasant.

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