Westwood Hills Egress Report
The supplementary report (here) for egress for Westwood Hills was brought to council on March 25 (council package and video here). The report recommended a 500m emergency only egress route from Hemlock onto Hwy 103. Planning, land acquisition, and building of that route will commence in 2025, and will be completed in 2026. Also included was the recommendation to build a community connector at the top of Westwood Hills, to address the need for egress at the top of the subdivision. In short, egress for Westwood Hills will happen in two parts. The first is the emergency egress route to evacuate residents onto the 103 and avoid the bottleneck at Hammonds Plains, and the second is a community connector to evacuate residents at the top of Westwood Hills who could still be vulnerable.
At council, I did ask staff why emergency egress at the top of Wright Lake Run was not selected as a route for emergency egress. I understand that this would have been the preferred option for some. Staff were clear that option was too long and unsafe for a densely forested area. It was for this reason that a more 'robust' road - or community connector - was recommended instead of an emergency egress across the span from Westwood Hills to adjacent communities.
I amended this motion's recommendations to include community consultation as part of the planning and development of the community connector. No community will be more affected by this connector than Westwood Hills, and residents are entitled to have their voice heard in the process.
This file has been widely reported, and, for my part, I would like to thank all media that have worked so hard to keep this important subject top of mind for folks everywhere. Some further reading includes:
Lastly, this report also recommends a complete a Region-wide Subdivision Egress Review Study to identify areas that are vulnerable to access/egress challenges, and based on its findings, establish a multi-year implementation strategy that prioritizes subdivisions for remediation.
I would also like to thank my fellow Councillors and Mayor Fillmore, as the recommendations were voted on in favor with unanimous support.