This Whitehills street is poised to get a sidewalk that almost every resident doesn't want

When the residents of Edgehill Crescent were asked how they felt about getting a new sidewalk installed when their street is repaved later this year, the answer was a resounding: "No thank you." 

Edgehilll Crescent is a winding, tree-lined residential street in the Whitehills neighbourhood near Wonderland Road and Fanshawe Park Road West. Edgehill Road bisects the crescent about halfway along its length. Like many London low-density subdivisions built in the car-centric postwar period, the streets don't have sidewalks. 

The street is due to be repaved this year. Under current city policy, when a road is dug up, residential streets that don't have sidewalks are supposed to get them. Only in this case, residents are saying "Give us the new road, but hold the sidewalk."

A city report says there are 93 houses on Edgehill Crescent and 103 people signed a petition against adding a sidewalk there. Only one was in favour. 

Bert Harmsen has lived at the corner of Edgehill Crescent and Edgehill Road for 30 years. He doesn't want to see the sidewalk installed. He's worried about a loss of grass and the impact on his driveway.

"We're going to lose trees, we're going to lose frontage," he said. "Very few people walk on this street to start off with." 

Michelle Abel and her husband have lived on Edgehill Crescent for 40 years. She's worried the sidewalk construction will harm a massive front yard tree that was there when they moved in. The tree isn't slated for removal but she's worried the work will damage its roots.

"We love it, it would be a loss of shade, ambience and oxygen," said Abel. 

Also, one of the city's stated reasons for the sidewalk is to improve pedestrian connections to an access path across from Abel's house into Fox Hollow Ravine. Abel points out it will be on the wrong side of the road, forcing pedestrians to cross the road.

Opposition to sidewalk installations on older streets isn't new in London. Fights in other neighbourhoods have pitted city engineers trying to support active transportation against homeowners keen to avoid a loss of trees and parking space. 

But this year the city tried a new approach, promising more consultation and, where it makes sense, compromise on sidewalk designs. 

Following this new process, city staff this week released reports outlining their "neighbourhood connectivity plans" in three different neighbourhoods slated to get sidewalks either this year or in years to come: Grenfell, Glen Cairn and Whitehills. 

The three plans will be the subject of what's shaping up to be a feisty public participation meeting at the Civic Works committee on Tuesday. 

New Coun. Corrine Rahman chairs that committee and spent much of last week meeting with residents about the sidewalk plan on Edgehill Crescent and Edgehill Road.