Just four days after council adopted their new traffic calming policy, Collingwood’s deputy mayor has bypassed the first step of the new policy, asking staff to investigate adding calming measures to Findlay Drive and Peel Street.
Deputy Mayor Keith Hull put forward a motion during Thursday’s special council meeting asking staff to prepare a report with various temporary traffic calming options specific to Findlay Drive and Peel Street (south of Hume Street) and streets within proximity to all schools within the town.
The motion also asks for more permanent solutions to be investigated, and the temporary solutions to be in place before Labour Day.
This comes on the heels of council passing their new Traffic Calming Policy on May 31 with an eight-step process for seeking traffic-calming measures, the first step being a formal request with a petition including signatures from 51 per cent or more of residents living on a street.
No such petition has been received regarding Findlay and Peel Streets, however it was discussed during Monday’s meeting that councillors could still bring forward their own motions for problem areas if necessary.
“I recognize that we have just adopted a traffic-calming policy, however the items that have been identified within this particular motion are (ones) that have been identified not only for the duration of this council term, but also pre-dating this council,” said Hull.
“Concerns that relate specifically to Findlay Drive speak to the construction of that particular road,” he continued. “Findlay should never have been designed the way it is in use today. It is a mistake. This is an opportunity to fix this mistake.”
Hull said Peel Street has been identified as one of the longest streets in the municipality with only one stop sign. There had previously been a stop sign at the rail line that has been removed.
Hull noted the communities around Findlay and Peel Street have changed significantly over the years, but the streets themselves have not.
“Let’s focus on the problem. That’s the problem,” he said.
Coun. Deb Doherty said she struggled with the motion as she was reluctant to introduce an exception to a policy council had just passed earlier in the week.
“However, in this case, one of the key criteria to approving traffic calming measures is speed of traffic, and this road, based on our own statistics and those of the OPP, has already demonstrated it satisfies the criteria,” said Doherty of Findlay Drive, adding there are also two schools on the street.
Director of Public Works and Engineering, Peggy Slama, confirmed that data collected by the town shows 85 per cent of drivers exceed the posted 40 km/h speed limit on Findlay Drive, although clarified that the data is somewhat dated.
“The 85th percentile speed on Findlay Drive was 55 km/h,” said the town’s manager of public works, John Velick.
While acknowledging the timeline is tight, Doherty said she hoped adding temporary measures could demonstrate to the public what the town can achieve through traffic calming.
“Findlay is a long street of misery,” she said.
Mayor Brian Saunderson said he saw this as an opportunity to look at temporary, proactive steps to resolve traffic calming problems across Collingwood.
“We’ll be able to find out the effectiveness of those steps so if we invest in the larger, more permanent fixes, we know what impacts they are going to have,” said Saunderson.
Council voted in favour of the motion with a vote of 6 to 2, with Coun. Bob Madigan and Coun. Steve Berman voting against. Coun. Tina Comi was absent.
