Old North residents say City Hall fix for infrastructure fell flat

Old North neighbourhood residents told city staff the felt they had been left out of the process and they wanted back in.

"Show us! Show us how it will work," one neighbour called to city staff who met about 70 residents at the corner of Regent Street and Maitland Street early Thursday evening.

The meeting had been arranged after residents complained that they had little information or input regarding infrastructure work planned for a number of area streets.

The most dramatic impact will be on sections of Regent Street and Fraser Avenue.

The outcry was what brought members of the city’s engineering department and forestry department to the neighbourhood.

Members of the neighbourhood had become mobilized after crews with the infrastructure project started painting white stripes on trees in the neighbourhood, to indicate ones that are slated to come down.

Over 40 trees were identified and work cutting down some had already begun.

In a letter to one resident obtained by CTV News, the city’s director of Water, Wastewater and Stormwater Ashley Rammeloo, said that experiences with COVID and concerns about an additional wave resulted in some projects not having an in-person meeting.

She stated that on those occasions online information and videos were utilized.

In the letter, Rammeloo did admit that an in-person meeting would have been helpful for this project.

An alternative was to do a walk-around with neighbours on Thursday to identify which trees might be saved, which were likely to go and the reasons behind those decisions.

It clearly wasn't what neighbours were looking for, including Regent Street resident Mike Flaherty who told a city staff member, "You're talking about walking around and looking at every tree, we're never going to get that done. This is the point, this is not the time and place for an in-depth discussion."

Old North neighborhood residents meet with City of London staff on March 30, 2023. (Gerry Dewan/CTV News London)

Old North resident Adam Hopper said the trees were only one of a number of issues people wanted addressed.

"This isn't about two streets and 41 trees. It's about the city really clarifying how they came to the decisions, not just for these to streets but for this whole project," said Hopper.

The walk-around never happened, with Water Division Manager Aaron Rozentals being peppered with questions about the project for over an hour and having little time to respond between questions.

At one point pleading for break in the litany, "I can describe that… I can describe all of that if I could just… If I could please speak for just a moment," said Rozentals.

Eventually residents did get what they were after, a public information session.

According to Rozentals, "We will have an information meeting inside. We will have project plans, all the work that we will be doing, as well as the project team there ready to answer any questions that the public may have."

In the interim, no more trees will be touched. Ward Six Councillor Sam Trosow warns that neighbours will have to come to terms with the fact that the sewer and water lines are decades old and need to replaced.

"There are a lot of things that are going on underground that are pretty disturbing in terms of the state and condition of the infrastructure,” he said.

Trosow also said they must also recognize that trees will have to go.

Residents say they're just looking for signs they're being heard, that they can be assured everything possible will be done to save as many trees as possible and that disruptions will be minimized.

David MacNeill helped moderate the discussion on the street and said, "My view is that this is a challenging problem and that’s one that engineers normally like to try to solve. We hope the folks that took the time out of their day to come today, from the city and from the consulting company, will take that opportunity and run with it and, hopefully make a difference."

Rozentals couldn’t say how long it would take to prepare for the information session.