Kingsville council has approved amassing land for a collector road that will link Heritage Road with Road 2, a moved aim at diverting traffic away from an increasingly congested downtown.
Much of the property is owned by three developers who will cede land to the town so a road and accompanying watermain can service the new housing subdivisions planned west of Prince Albert Road.
The owner of a home on County Road 20 which is directly in the path of the new route has also agreed to sell the property to the town.
The road, roughly 1.5 km in length, will service almost 90 acres of residentially zoned land. The estimated cost of the road is $6.5 to $7.5 million but a large portion of the expense will be covered by development fees charged to the developers.
Mayor Nelson Santos said plans for the collector road have been on the books since 2011 but were delayed until development fees could pay for the bulk of the cost. He said 90 per cent of the cost will be borne by the developers — Amico Properties Inc., Noah Homes and numbered company 1903357 Ontario Inc.
While the road will allow a shift in development to the west side of town, Santos said the main reason for the road is to divert traffic from the downtown core. He said downtown traffic congestion is a long-standing complaint from many Kingsville residents.
“That’s the main purpose of the roadway — to provide an alternate route and redirect the flow of traffic away from the core,” Santos said.
He said the road will be able to accommodate truck traffic. Homes will not be allowed along the roadway and can only be accessed through connecting arterial roads. The mayor said a slight adjustment has been made to the route of the road and will require the purchase of a small parcel of vacant land to the west of the home the town will purchase. He said the town will take steps to expropriate the land should negotiations fail.
Santos said only Amico Properties has submitted a plan of subdivision to the town. The plan calls for 133 lots for detached and semi-detached homes. The mayor said the Amico plan also has a lot set aside for an apartment building.Construction of the ring road could begin within two years.
