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Rossland Trail Plan

Decent Essays

City of Trail Plan Analysis, Site Planning and Environmental Impact Assessment West Trail Development In observing Rossland and Trail with Jane Jacob’s principles of exuberant diversity in mind it is easy to see why Rossland might well fit Jane’s version of the American Dream city despite its obvious Canadianism and small size, however Trail is another beast altogether. Trail is a place for manly men, large men with tools and trucks and wives of equal ruggedness. Or at least is was. Development in Trail has not been streamlined as it has in Rossland, partly because the Official Community Plan does not explicitly provide for aesthetic application and partly because the industry and the economy in Trail are not tourism based. This is evidenced …show more content…

Steep slopes, bedrock and lack of available space also hinders development. These factors also contribute to the safety of citizen both driving and walking although the addition of massive covered and lit stair structures does reduce pedestrian hazards as well as contribute to the walkability of Trail in all seasons at all hours. Sadly, the sidewalks roll up at 5:30pm every day of the week except on hockey nights. Some measures that might be taken in redevelopment in the West Trail area if one were to aim for a Rossland type restructuring would be more terracing of the landscape to level the steep grades, integrating retail in residential areas rather than concentrating it in the downtown core and Waneta and providing adequate public transit options to more areas. These adjustments would help to relieve the automotive dependency of the city, reduce accidents in the winter both vehicular and pedestrian and help create more close knit …show more content…

Of all the places this facility is better suited throughout the region I can only guess it was cheap. Presumably the farms were there long before the rail station was and it was a case of monkey work that landed this behemoth in it’s current setting. The potential for disaster seems to loom large in my mind, transportation of dangerous goods, large trucks and small sheep, toxic spills and dairy cows not to mention the preciously delicate grapes required for the regions primary winery (Columbia Vineyards). Without removing the rail yard entirely to a more suitable site, mitigating the impacts of its omnipresence requires an enormous effort to drown out the sound of shunting cars, engine retarder brakes screeching trains and heavy machinery. Large earth berms and thick plantings of dense greenery might soften the blow to one’s senses as would restricting the hours of operation to suit residential areas. A simple minimizing solution might have been implemented at the time of planning and that is they could have put the warehouse on the other side of the tracks so the noise would be buffered by the building itself and the visual pollution of it would be hidden from

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