Beaconsfield seeks citizens' interest for sound wall loan by-law

By Kevin Woodhouse, October 10th, 2012

From now until October 29th, the citizens of Beaconsfield are being consulted for a poll survey regarding a loan by-law for the eventual construction of sound wall barriers for affected residents.  If, by the date in question, more than 15% of respondents disagree with securing a loan for the work, the by-law will not go through.
Mayor David Pollock told The Suburban that as far as he is concerned, having a small municipality have to take out a hefty loan and then distribute the payments on a graduated basis to residents, considering the distance of their homes to the highway, is not appropriate since sound wall expenses should be covered 100% by the government and not the current 50-50 split.
"This is the MTQ's responsibility and they should be paying all of the cost," Pollock said.  "It is the MTQ that allowed highways to be built up over the years which has resulted in more noise for residents.  As taxpayers, we shouldn't be continually asked to take on the government's costs."
For long time resident Derrick Pounds and sound wall advocate who has been on the dossier with council for the last few years will be voting no to the current survey poll. 
"Without knowing what the final cost will be to residents, I am not going to vote for it," Pounds told The Suburban.  "The proposal doesn't mention maintenance costs nor what kind of sound dampening effectiveness would be getting.  It is too open ended as the costs will ultimately be higher."
Pounds also believes that if the MTQ does take on the project of building sound walls along the highway, "the MTQ will likely have to expropriate some land to complete the job."
And like the mayor, Pounds believes that the taxpayers should not be footing the bill for the proposed sound walls, noting that the current idea of breaking residents into coloured zones that represent various payment plans needs "reconsideration and a diligent effort by the City towards eliminating harmful traffic noise, at no cost to residents."n