Residents calling for second entrance and exit to Hammonds Plains subdivision

A group of residents in Hammonds Plains hopes to convince the municipal government to construct a new entrance and exit to one side of their subdivision.

The subdivision is called Highland Park, and it’s split in two by Hammonds Plains Road. The west side’s sole public road connection to that road is Northwood Road.

“There has been a need for many years,” Marion Gillespie, vice chair of the Highland Park Rate Payers Association, said in a phone interview from Tatamagouche on Tuesday.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "There has been a need for many years," Marion Gillespie, vice chair of the Highland Park Rate Payers Association, said in a phone interview from Tatamagouche on Tuesday.

There are approximately 200 homes and 800 residents in that section, and residents have brought this desire to the municipal governmenrt’s attention since at least 2004, she said.

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The association launched a petition for the road this month and an estimated 90 signatures have been collected so far, Gillespie said.

The plan is to submit the petition in the fall.

“We’re talking to everybody about it,” said Carol Rowland, a board member of the association.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "We're talking to everybody about it," said Carol Rowland, a board member of the association.

The area resident said there have been accidents at Northwood Road’s intersections before that have resulted in residents being blocked from leaving or coming into the area.

District 13 Coun. Matt Whitman wasn’t available for an interview on Tuesday but said in a message that he supports a second passage.

“I’ve been working on this file for six years,” he said. “Hopefully the petition will help.”

A request for a comment from Halifax’s municipal government wasn’t immediately fulfilled.

In an email, Victoria Martin, one of the municipality’s spokespeople, said municipal subdivision design standards require developers to provide a second way to access a subdivision.

“In this regard, a private developer is responsible to demonstrate how every lot in a subdivision will have two independent accesses to the surrounding road network,” she said.

However, the subdivision in question was built before this became a requirement. The subdivision had to follow provincial standards which, at the time, did not required a second road.

“There is no legislative requirement for the municipality to upgrade areas to comply with current standards, and this is one of many areas in the municipality built to former standards and that are connected to a trunk highway or collector road on a single access,” Martin said.

The report is expected to be in councillors’ hands this fall, Martin added.