Central Mississauga neighbourhood gets its sound wall, and saves trees at the same time

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Published January 12, 2022 at 5:14 pm

Mississauga Ward 5 Councillor Carolyn Parrish has won and lost her share of political battles over the years, but a recent victory to save a row of neighbourhood trees is one she finds particularly satisfying.

Parrish says her office was initially told that a row of maturing trees would have to be removed in order to build a cement sound wall along the south side of Matheson Blvd. W., just west of McLaughlin Rd.

Apparently, “…these lovely trees were going to have to be removed to accommodate footings for cement walls,” Parrish said as part of a post to her Twitter page this week.

Instead of going that route, Parrish, “always adamant about saving trees,” said “we dug in our heels and (now) wooden walls (are) going in…” along the stretch of Matheson Blvd. W. to the immediate north of Ashprior Ave.

In an email to insauga.com, Parrish said that wooden walls, when installed properly, are an effective sound barrier, though perhaps not quite as effective as cement structures.

And while in the long run wooden walls are likely more expensive, given that “I am assuming masonry walls last longer and in the end are actually less expensive in that they don’t have to be replaced as often,” Parrish said it’s worth it.

“That location has normal four-lane traffic noise rather than high-noise readings you might find elsewhere in Mississauga,” Parrish said in her email. “Having slightly less noise mitigation to save those maturing trees (which filter pollutants and breath out oxygen) is indeed a worthy trade-off.”

Parrish added she had similar walls installed along the nearby McLaughlin Rd. Scenic Route for the same reason.

Several area residents who responded to Parrish’s tweet said it’s great news that the trees were saved.

“Love those trees,” said one person.

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