Note: This post has been updated after it was first published Monday, Nov. 3/20
Hudson’s iconic Main Road is the quintessential small-town gathering place, a venue where Hudsonites and their guests visit, shop, socialize or hang out. For those of us who live here year round, it’s also a reminder of what was and a tantalizing glimpse of what could be if we can reach a consensus on what needs to be done.
Hudson’s downtown core underwent its last major facelift in the mid-eighties, when new water mains, storm sewers and sidewalks were installed. The project dug up much of Main. It would have been the ideal time to have installed a sewer system but the administration of mayor Taylor Bradbury — the same crew who decided against buying Sandy Beach for $275,000 — decided it would be too expensive. It was also decided not to install or replace steel waterline connections with bronze fittings even though steel has a shorter life in clay soil.
In 2006, mayor Elizabeth Corker’s administration landed federal and provincial funding to push forward with a sewer system, treatment plant and major upgrades to the potable water network. Repaving and new sidewalks were left for the Elliott administration, but the economic downturn — and the imperative to replace the 50-year-old firehall in response to warnings from health and safety inspectors — led to unsubsidized debt which effectively ruled out downtown revitalization. Instead, it was decided to repave Côte St. Charles at an unsubsidized cost of $600,000. Despite decades of complaints about the lack of an adequate shoulder for pedestrians and cyclists, the facelift didn’t include any substantial improvements.
Jump to now. At the Nov. 2 council meeting, I presented a notice of motion for Bylaw 735. If adopted at the next regular council meeting, Bylaw 735 will authorize the expenditure of not more than $3,805,000 for the repaving and other infrastructure works on five Hudson streets — Bridle Path, Carmel, Roslyn, Seigneurie and Main Road between Oakland and Beach.
Bylaw 735 wasn’t born yesterday. Here’s a rough timeline of how we got to this point and why it has taken this long to accomplish what should be a simple task.
Spring 2019: Council adopts long-delayed intervention plan and directs administration to draft a five-year repaving program based on Maxxum report.
Summer 2019: council agrees to make Main repaving and sidewalk reconstruction its first priority. The new DG and finance team present plan allowing this to be done by reallocating operating revenues instead of adding long-term debt.
DG informs council that $1.32M has been earmarked for Main rehab.
Fall 2019: Council agrees to delay Main a year to allow public consultation with stakeholders, citizens. Mayor proposes use of $100,000 from CMM to fund consulting process. After two months of debate, council majority agrees. Council approves proceeding with paving of Bellevue and Main between Quarry Point and Vaudreuil.
Spring 2020: Engineering cost estimates double the likely cost of repaving Main east and Bellevue. Council votes to rebuild Bellevue and a small section of Main to solve the ferry lineup issue.
January-March 2020: Stantec presents analysis of constraints to major reallocation of width on Main through the core. Council agrees to sidewalks on both sides, measures to slow traffic through the centre of town, safer crosswalks and less on-street parking in sectors with off-street public parking.
March 2020: Stantec presents constraints and options to business owners and citizens at back-to-back public consultations.
March-September 2020: Stantec, Mayor Nicholls, urban planning and public works directors draft cost estimates based on consultations.
Last Tuesday, Oct. 27, Mayor Nicholls presented the proposed project to citizens. Council was provided with the mayor’s powerpoint 48 hours prior to that. The proposal included elements not approved by council and overlooked essential components such as space for garbage and recycling bins outside businesses, curbside space for vehicles to load and unload and safety zones for cyclists.
Since then, council has been meeting to discuss and debate revisions based on ongoing citizen input. Major changes: adding service pullouts to accommodate garbage and recycling bins, ensuring safety areas where traffic can pull over to allow passage of emergency vehicles and loading/discharging. The mayor agreed to cut by half the 1,550 metres of linear plant beds contained in the original cost estimates and shown in the powerpoint.
Still in contention: where the remaining 775 metres of ‘hell strips” will be located. I should emphasize that the re-greening of Main with plantings and trees was part of council’s orientations when Stantec was hired. The linear plant beds will be reduced by at least half but will be retained where other space requirements allow.
Council won’t know the exact configuration until the location of service pullouts, crosswalks and loading/unloading zones are established by engineering studies.
Issues to be addressed in the traffic engineers’ plans and specifications:
— The downtown core has more than 100 sidewalk cuts of all sizes to allow access to public and private parking, businesses, residential projects and everything else in the core. Many require wide radii to accommodate delivery vehicles.
— The need for garbage and recycling trucks to be able to access the blue, green and brown bins now parked on sidewalks two or three times a week. This will require pushouts — extensions of the sidewalks out to curbside. How many? Where?
— The need to plan loading/unloading zones at dozens of locations through town. Does it make sense to narrow the town’s main commercial artery without adequate pullover space?
All this to say that the location and length of linear planters will be determined by the engineers.
Some residents are pushing for a further delay to allow more consultation. A council majority agrees it would be a mistake to delay the reworking of Main for another year. The pandemic shutdown has reduced traffic in the core and allowed the town to make the economies to complete this project at a time where the impact is mitigated. Now is the time.
Others insist that the enabling loan bylaw be made subject to approval by referendum. Quebec requires that we adopt a loan bylaw even if we don’t borrow a penny, but because it’s for infrastructure maintenance, it isn’t subject to approval by referendum. As for more consultation, the project has already been the subject of two public consultations; what would more accomplish, other than delaying a project already delayed long past reasonable. The cost (approximately $2.8 million of the $3.8 million total, with the remainder going to repave Bridle Path, Carmel, Roslyn and Seigneurie) will be borne by operating revenues and assigned surpluses.
That doesn’t mean the project is cast on concrete, to mix a metaphor. Once Bylaw 735 is adopted, the Town will invite engineering firms to tender on the plans and specifications required for all five projects to be posted on SEAO, the government’s official tendering website. The intermediate step will ensure that traffic engineers sign off on all aspects of the project, from drainage and aqueduct accessibility to public security considerations.
At this point in the project, the minimum width of Main at choke points through the core will be the same as Cote St. Charles. That may change. We already know there cannot be a dedicated cycling lane because Stantec warned us that there would not be sufficient width to ensure the 1.5-metre minimum buffer. Instead, council has agreed that the repaving of Lakeview include a dedicated bike lane to allow cyclists a safe alternative. Council has agreed the repaving of Lakeview should be given priority once the Main project is completed.
A personal note: I cycle most of the year. I recognize that many of us would prefer a dedicated cycling route through the core. At the same time, I respect the need to make our town friendlier to pedestrians. Stantec and Town staff did good work in generating the data required to make fully informed decisions; I know from experience that the traffic engineers drawing up the technical plans and specifications for the actual construction bids will see things that we didn’t.
We need to get this done and I’m optimistic that the outcome will be a vast improvement on the current shabby state of the core of our beloved village. I do not believe we should delay the best possible in a quest for perfection.
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