LaSalle council took care of some “housekeeping” Tuesday by approving in principle an application for amendments to its official plan for an undeveloped area off Laurier Parkway.
“When Laurier Parkway was originally designed it was designed to go in more of a straight line,” LaSalle Mayor Ken Antaya said. “Right now you see it swinging a little bit north and then see it following south of Bouffard Road.”
The curve in the road cut off a swath of land that was zoned residential but was attached to property zoned employment lands.
”The official plan had designated the property at the location where the road would have been so what this does (the amendment) is it’s moving the property north on to the south side of Laurier Drive where it actually is,” Antaya said.
“So employment lands which were sort of south of the existing road are now moved to the north side of the road.”
He said at the time Laurier Parkway was constructed, the town couldn’t negotiate an acceptable purchase price for the property needed to keep it straight, so they veered it north.
Commercial and residential development is expected in the area, part of which is designated a Laurier Town Centre District.
A number of residents spoke about their concerns over drainage problems in the area and council said they would be addressed.
“As far as the drainage problem, we recognize that there’s a problem there,” Antaya said, adding retention ponds will be included in any design plans.
“As our engineers indicated, a lot of the drainage … was designed for a one-in-100- year storm, which it seems like we’re having every other week nowadays,” he said.
“The water is supposed to drain away … flow over top of the road to the other side and then take it away but we’ve seen an extraordinary amount of rain and I think that – you know I’m not saying it’s a good thing – but certainly it gives us an opportunity to correct something before construction of developments there.”
The developer must submit plans to council for approval of the development but Antaya anticipates that’s at least a year away.
