Minutes
City Council
Monday, February 03, 2020

dwelling unit have a prominently displayed address number that is at least 5” high, is of a contrasting colour to the backdrop onto which it is mounted, and can be easily seen from the adjacent roadway without obstruction. This will optimize the address number location and subsequent identification by the Police during an emergency response.

It is my understanding that Florence Avenue will eventually be opened up to continue southward from this property’s southern limits. This will ultimately help in establishing an additional view corridor into the natural green space area (Block 35) as a means to help detect suspicious activity that may go on there. In the mean time, as the space occupied by lots #5 through 12 gets developed, it will be important that side yard widths for those properties adhere to City standards to maintain some degree of observation connectivity to the natural area that abuts them.

Pedestrian safety is very important in all neighbourhoods; including an infill subdivision like what is being proposed here. In this regard, sidewalks need to be provided for the proper and safe movement of pedestrians, plus proper LED street lighting as well. Ideally, sidewalks should be placed with at least 3 feet of separation from the curb of the adjacent roadway to provide safe physical separation between vehicles and pedestrians. This separation distance also serves to enhance the driver’s field of view of the entire roadway environment (which includes adjacent sidewalk areas) as they are traveling down the road. The outcome from such a design that supports optimal public safety is a greater ability for drivers to safely stop suddenly if circumstances cause them to do so.

From an optimal public safety perspective, we are highly recommending the architectural design, for the majority of the new residential dwellings, not represent a “garage-thrusted” appearance. In such instances, the front entrance of the home is somewhat obscured from view from the abutting roadway due, at least in part, to the protrusion of the attached garage toward the front of the property at the street. Such a design de-emphasizes architectural orientation to the street, thereby reducing the level of natural citizen surveillance within the neighbourhood. Houses where the front door is not easily observable from the roadway can be more susceptible to criminalization since the limited observability of such offers criminals a greater degree of discretion. This request is consistent with section 1.1.1[c] of the Provincial Policy Statement (“Avoiding development and land use patterns which may cause environmental or public health and safety concerns”) and section 8.12.1.1 of the Official Plan (“Designs will be encouraged which enhance a sense of personal safety and to reduce the opportunity of crime”). The Windsor Police Service concedes to the fact this is not something that can be made a condition of the development but we are suggesting it nonetheless to promote an overall safe residential design. A reasonable solution to address this concern is to at least offer a mix of housing designs whereby not all of them feature garage-thrusted façades.

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