We have been residents of Oakmont at the top of the hill for over 20 years. Even though we are not sure that we will be able to see the top of the proposed high-rise planned at Riverbank Landing beside Botanica, we fear the results of one more high density housing area on the old Holes property.
26 storey buildings do not belong in the backyard of residential areas. We certainly would not want that many balconies looking into our "newly shaded" yard if our house was in the shadow. Horrible does not describe how we feel for the people who reside in Orchard Court and the rest of the lower Oakmont area.
The effects of another huge building being placed on an already busy road will compound the traffic on Bellerose Drive to a point where our drives to work will double or triple in time. The lineup of traffic at the two sets of lights in front of Botanica and the police station are ridiculous in the morning and after work. It often takes three or four sets of light changes for us to go straight through. The traffic already backs up well past Evergreen Drive on red lights for people waiting to turn left onto Boudreau during rush hour traffic.
This area was not designed for the amount of traffic that it has now, let alone the huge extra surplus of vehicles that Riverbank Landing would bring. Botanica 2 is not even completed yet, and we have been dreading the day when it fills with people and their vehicles. It is dangerous for incoming emergency vehicles, pedestrians and local traffic to have so much traffic in an area that was not designed to handle such high numbers of vehicles. There is really only one way out and one way in to Oakmont, unless we want to take a "Sunday drive" through the country to get home or to work. Unless the city is planning on taking out sidewalks and trees and adding two more lanes on Bellerose Drive, we are not sure how the traffic can be handled there.
We have yet to be consulted or invited to discuss the impact this will have on our community. Please consider inviting the neighbours "up the hill" to come to a meeting to add our two cents before making a decision that will affect an already overly congested route. The residents of Erin Ridge and Oakmont deserve to have a plebiscite to air our concerns and be heard, as we are the people that this will affect the most.
If you have similar concerns please continue to send a letter to the city planner assigned to Riverbank Landing: [email protected].
Our feeling is that this process has not been fair to ALL of the residents that this decision will affect. The Lois Hole we remember from this neighborhood years ago would likely not have been in favour of this potential catastrophe, rest her soul.
K. & D. Montpetit, St. Albert
