Development & Heritage Standing Committee April 14, 2020 Written submission

Written submission by Candis Cooke, resident and owner of 1766 Albert Road.

April 14, 2020

By-law #98-2011

Re: Close and convey the North/South alley between Hickory Road and Albert Road, North of Milloy Street and South of Alice Street.

To whom it may concern,

As a resident and owner of my house at 1766 Albert Road, I am severely opposed to the closure of any part of the alley. It appears from the paperwork that I have received from the city, that there would be a partial closure of only five or so houses at the end of the alley, and this deeply concerns me.

My house is located directly beside where the proposed closure would occur. This means that the alley would stop at my property line, leaving my car garage access only available in one direction, which would have myself having to reverse drive the entire length of the alley to get out from my garage. I have paid off my house fully years ago, and the alley access is pivotal to my property value. I do not have a driveway in the front of my residence, and parking is very hard to come by. I use my one and a half car garage regularly, as well as the access I have through a large swinging fence I had installed, to the side of my garage for extra parking in a gravel area I have laid out at the back of my yard. My big swinging fence entry would also be unable to be used unless reverse driving down the entire alley to get out.

The fact that all the electric poles in the alley are located on the 1700 block of the alley on the Albert road side, it would be near impossible for anyone on my side of the road to buy the alley space, unless they are prepared to have these huge poles in their backyard and subject to utility companies needing to gain access through their yards.