Ward One residents brainstorm future of Lorne Street corridor

About 60 people gathered at the Caruso Club on Nov. 26, to discuss what the Lorne Street corridor could look like in the future.

Tom Murphy, chair of the Ward One Community Action Network (CAN), said the group wanted to build on what had already been accomplished to beautify the area and improve the quality of life for residents.

“We want to build on the tangible and visible success of our partnerships with Weston Ltd. and Dalron Inc. I am sure you will all agree that the south side of Lorne St. from Martindale west is looking a lot better with the Weston berm and the greening of 22 Pacific Avenue and the Maslack (Supply) property,” Murphy remarked at the meeting.

Ward One Coun. Joe Cimino said he was impressed at the number of residents and city officials at the session.

“There are a lot of new people here tonight. Some (professional people)gave me their cards and said they would be pleased to help out,” Cimino said.

A number of city officials from various departments, such as Deb McIntosh (Rainbow Routes), Kris Longston and Mark Simeoni (planning department) and Robert Falcioni (roads and transportation) volunteered their time to meet with the residents and outline their plans for the area, Cimino added.

Residents were broken into small groups and asked to come up with their own ideas for improving the area.

Retired Laurentian University botanist Gerard Courtin, Ward One CAN representative on the city's green spaces committee, said there was interest among residents in having at least one community garden in the area. He said the green spaces committee he sits on will be presenting a list of green spaces soon which would outline what specific sites would be best suited for gardening. The CAN is organizing a meeting for community gardens. Visit www.ward1can.com to be updated on this project.

Lilly Noble and Naomi Grant made a presentation for the Coalition for Liveable Sudbury, a non-profit group promoting better planning and more green spaces in the city.

“We want to make Lorne Street more walkable. We also want to promote more planting of trees and vegetation to slow down the runoff going into Junction Creek (to reduce contamination),” Noble remarked.

There was much discussion about how best to use the natural assets of Junction Creek, which runs parallel to Lorne Street.

Some residents and participants said the creek was not widely known as being present and that a lot of work had done to clean up contaminants such as creosote in the Martindale Road area of the creek. McIntosh said Rainbow Routes was attempting to provide public access along the stretch beside private land that had been cleaned up. She said the intent was part of an attempt to connect Copper Cliff with the downtown.

Businessman and consultant Gerry Labelle said the downtown ambassadors, hired by Downtown Sudbury to inform visitors about the sights and businesses in the city core, could be trained next summer to include portions of Junction Creek in their itinerary.

Sarah Woods, Junction Creek Stewardship Committee coordinator, agreed one good idea to promote the creek would be to have a Junction Creek festival, highlighting various parts of the creek across the city, including the West End area.

Damian Grant, 12, said newcomers should be encouraged to plant trees when they buy property in the area. He also suggested that existing residents should be encouraged to preserve what trees they already have.

His mother, Naomi, said we need a wider vision of Lorne Street as a gateway, a marketplace and as a place of beauty where greenery could help to absorb excess runoff in high rainfall events. That would reduce possible flooding as happened last July, she said.

Robert Falcioni, Greater Sudbury director of roads and transportation, said pedestrians and cyclists could be assisted as new roadwork is initiated.

“Streets can be widened where we have the property so cars can stay in the same lane as they pass a cyclist. Shoulders can be paved as well,” Falcioni noted in his presentation to the group.

Greater Sudbury senior planner Kris Longston said the city was compiling a list of brownfield sites, where businesses such as former gas stations had abandoned the sites. He said since they were often located in good locations they offered potential for redevelopment that could stimulate new business activity.

Others addressed the issue of preserving heritage areas which could include neighbourhoods such as the Hazel Street area with a lot of small businesses or even the old apple and plum trees and other shrubs, vegetables and flowers in the Gatchell area.