July 10, 2014 · 0 Comments
By Bill Rea
Emil Kolb has spent many years serving the community, as a Township, Town and Regional councillor, as well as Mayor and Regional Chair since 1991.
He spent many of those years working on a bypass for Bolton, and he’s soon going to be commemorated as part of it.
Peel Regional council recently voted to name the northwest portion of the new Bolton Arterial Road (BAR) Emil Kolb Parkway. The road, which is currently under construction, will run from King Street to Regional Road 50.
Caledon Councillor Allan Thompson, who chairs the public works committee of Regional council, presided over the vote.
“I think it’s very fitting for a person who has been championing this for as long as I can remember,” Thompson commented, as he asked for (and received) a unanimous vote.
Kolb said he had not been aware of what was in the works at the May meeting of the Arterial Roads Review Ad hoc Steering Committee. He said he was told during the meeting that he had a pecuniary interest on an upcoming item, so he agreed to the suggestion that he leave the room, although he admitted he was puzzled about the apparent conflict.
He was brought back into the room and was told what the stretch of road was going to be named.
“I was really surprised,” he said. “I never ever expected anything like that to happen.”
Kolb also reflected on how long it’s taken for the road to reach this stage. He recalled the environment assessment started almost 30 years ago.
“It’s taken a long time,” he said, recalling the Town couldn’t have afforded to do the job, but Peel was able to take it on as a Regional project.
He added it’s going to be a benefit to the village.
The project is taking longer to complete than had been anticipated. Kolb said work on the new bridge delayed things because the piles had to go down 75 metres, rather than the 35 metres that had been planned.
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