{"id":26743,"date":"2020-06-11T23:57:07","date_gmt":"2020-06-12T03:57:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=26743"},"modified":"2020-06-11T23:57:12","modified_gmt":"2020-06-12T03:57:12","slug":"one-way-traffic-considered-on-kitimat-until-safety-situation-is-solved","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/one-way-traffic-considered-on-kitimat-until-safety-situation-is-solved\/","title":{"rendered":"One-way traffic considered on Kitimat until safety situation is solved"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Residents of the Aurora Heights community might soon be\nasked about the viability of temporary one-way traffic on Kitimat Crescent as\nthe Town and the York Region District School Board look at ways of improving\npedestrian and student safety in the area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The idea of one-way traffic on Kitimat as a temporary\nrelief measure was floated to Council last week by area residents Leslie\nJennings and Dan Elliott in a written delegation to the June 2 General\nCommittee meeting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In their delegation, the residents said they \u201caccepted\u201d\nCouncil\u2019s decision to implement sidewalks on the street \u201cdespite its personal\nfinancial impact\u201d to residents and supported the recommendations from a\nstakeholder working group for a layby lane. But they contended this is only a\npart of a solution for area traffic woes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDespite the current No Parking restrictions in front of\nthe school and the Town\u2019s current enforcement, every school day parents choke\nthat curb lane while dropping off or, worse, waiting for their children after\nschool,\u201d they said. \u201cThis line of parked cars restricts travelling\u2026to pretty\nmuch only a single lane of traffic, particularly when a truck or a school bus\nis trying to get through. This makes getting through that area very frustrating\nfor drivers going in both directions. Without the layby, the single lane\nscenario will continue. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSince the layby is not yet designed and won\u2019t be [built]\nuntil next year, we ask Council to consider making Kitimat Crescent a one-way\nstreet from the school until the layby is completed. Doing so will eliminate\nthe parents from making dangerous U-turns and three-point turns on blind\ncorners and narrow streets on Kitimat, as well as reduce the congestion of\ntraffic at the crosswalk corners by eliminating traffic trying to exit Kitimat\nthere. Several neighbours are supportive of a temporary-one way street as part\nof the solution.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This proposed temporary measure piqued the interest of\nCouncil at first blush, but Town Planner David Waters urged some caution,\nnoting that staff first got wind of the proposal earlier that day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re concerned about increased vehicle traffic speeds\non Kitimat Crescent and Tecumseh because of the one-way traffic,\u201d he told\nCouncil following a motion from Councillor Wendy Gaertner to proceed with the\nresidents\u2019 recommendations. \u201cIt results in an increase of travel distance as\nwell, particularly for emergency vehicles, and we\u2019re also concerned about\ncompliance and the presence of York Regional Police in terms of any\nenforcement. We\u2019re not sure they will actually enforce the one-way signage\nbecause they have other issues to deal with. I think, at the end of the day,\nwe\u2019re concerned about creating another Centre Street and that\u2019s cars travelling\nthe wrong way and residents upset about it and we\u2019re back at the table with a\nsolution to\u2026something that could be avoided just by remaining a two-way\nstreet.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following Mr. Waters\u2019 opinion, Council agreed that fine\ndetails needed to be hammered out, but it was still an idea worth exploring \u2013\nand finding out if neighbours agreed with the delegates in the first place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI am always concerned when we put forward traffic\namendments or changes without getting staff to weigh in and provide their\nprofessional opinion,\u201d said Councillor Michael Thompson. \u201cIf Council [wanted]\nto consider the various options, then, at a minimum, it should be referred back\nto staff so they can provide us with their input and their expertise.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Councillor Harold Kim agreed, noting he was\n\u201cappreciative\u201d of the residents\u2019 suggestions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAt the surface level, it may seem like it was wisely\nthought out, but I had the same internal discussions with staff and what Mr.\nWaters has stated to me\u2026 I can\u2019t support the one-way street. It is no different\nfrom residents saying \u2018we should change the width of a road from eight metres\nto six metres\u2019 \u2013 those are things that we want the professionals and our staff\nto weigh in and they have weighed in.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Councillor John Gallo said he was interested in\ngetting a fulsome report.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI don\u2019t have an issue sending it back to staff to review\nit and come back to us with a formal report and, perhaps, some sense of if the\ncommunity wants this or not, or how effective it will be,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Councillor Gaertner supported this, putting forward a\nmotion that a one-way option be sent back to staff for further consideration,\nalong with a traffic study to determine whether such a pilot project should\nremain temporary or be made a long-term measure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But, while the motion passed, some Councillors were\nunconvinced \u2013 including Councillors Kim and Rachel Gilliland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI feel like we\u2019re swaying our attention in a whole other direction and opening up a different can of worms that may require a different kind of focus,\u201d said Councillor Gilliland. \u201cI really, truly believe we need to be using our resources on the layby and the sidewalk \u2013 what we were originally discussing here today.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Brock Weir<\/strong><\/p>\n\r\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Residents of the Aurora Heights community might soon be asked about the viability of temporary one-way traffic on Kitimat Crescent as the Town and the York Region District School Board look at ways of improving pedestrian and student safety in the area. The idea of one-way traffic on Kitimat as a temporary relief measure was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26743","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-6Xl","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-22 19:26:09","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26743","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26743"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26743\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26743"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26743"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26743"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}