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Tuesday, August 29, 2017

Wilmot Creek residents (this is a condo community in south Bowmanville) protested outside the Minister of Transportation's office last week (the tracks were there long before the community was built)

Some highlights from this article on Durham Region News (and you would think city councils would STOP issuing builders permits to construct housing near rail lines):

Wilmot Creek residents came to council with a petition with more than 900 signatures, requesting that a safety study be conducted at the two railway crossings at Wilmot Creek. The study will be paid for by the Wilmot Creek Homeowners Association and local developers, at no cost to Clarington.

The residents say other municipalities have banned train whistles and fatalities and serious injuries at rail lines haven’t risen in response. They consider the whistle as noise pollution that is disturbing their sleep and impacting their health. Some residents have health conditions that make uninterrupted sleep essential.

There are three railway lines (CP Belleville, CN Kingston and CP Havelock) that cross through Clarington and more than 20 public crossings. As Clarington grows the number of residents living close to the rail line increases. The risk of an accident rises as more traffic travels roads that cross railways, according to a staff report. At the same time, more residents are inconvenienced by the train whistle and Clarington now receives one request every two years to stop the whistles.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Too bad so sad.

You, as an adult chose to buy a place near the tracks. With tracks comes trains and train noises, including whistles.

If you don't like it, move. It is your fault for not doing your due diligence (I feel the same about people crying foul for buying on a flood plain, buying near an airport, etc).

Nora1968 said...

I agree with @Squiggles. If the situation being protested is new (i.e., quiet housing community is now getting a busy strip-mall in its backyard, neighbor with no pets suddenly buys 3 yappy mini-dogs that bark 24/7...) then protesting or complaining is legit.

But if you buy a house near train tracks, presumably you're asking about the train activity and noise factor. And even if you're assured by the builder (or vendor) there's no noise, it's still very much a case of caveat emptor.

Growing up we lived in a townhouse complex at not terribly far from Pearson Airport. Several times a day commercial aircraft would fly - very noisily - over our place as they prepared their approach for landing. NO ONE EVER COMPLAINED ABOUT THIS, because our parents understood this was part of deal for that location. I don't see a difference.

Anonymous said...

And...as a local resident...Wilmot Creek is an ADULT only gated community...so waking up kids?

On the other side is the Port of Newcastle, where I used to live only a few blocks from the next tracks and you learn to ignore it. As I did when I lived near Eglington - got to be that if the 12:15 didn't come through I'd wake up lo

Tal Hartsfeld said...

Newcomers expecting the established environment to suddenly reform itself to meet their personal needs?
Hmmmmm....

Something I myself am protesting is the sudden practice of playing audio commercials onboard the city buses that the transit system in my city has recently started engaging in.
And, so far, I seem to be the only one bothered by it, or at least who has anything to say about it.