{"id":28930,"date":"2021-03-12T00:24:40","date_gmt":"2021-03-12T05:24:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=28930"},"modified":"2021-03-12T00:25:07","modified_gmt":"2021-03-12T05:25:07","slug":"council-could-be-limited-in-decision-making-over-new-sidewalks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/council-could-be-limited-in-decision-making-over-new-sidewalks\/","title":{"rendered":"Council could be limited in decision-making over new sidewalks"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Proposed changes to the rules on when and where new sidewalks are installed could remove Council from the decision-making process, at least at the outset.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This month, Council will consider revisions to existing sidewalk polices that would invest municipal staff with the power to authorize new sidewalk construction, while still allowing residents the chance to delegate to Council with their concerns over installation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Delegating this authority away from Council to staff is not a new proposal and was last floated in September 2020. At the time, Council requested more information on this \u201cdelegated authority.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This further report hit the Council table at last week\u2019s General Committee and re-affirmed staff\u2019s recommendation to go down this route.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSidewalks represent a critical component of the transportation network necessary to support a safe, accessible and walkable municipality,\u201d said Traffic Analyst Michael Bat in his report. \u201cThe Town\u2019s sidewalk policy enables the Town to install sidewalks where they are not present in order to remove barriers to accessibility, complete gaps in the Town\u2019s active transportation network, and help all residents and visitors connect to transit, schools and other neighbourhood amenities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe major change [to the policy] is to assign the Director responsible for engineering services the authority to approve the installation of sidewalks on local roads where they are missing, on one or both sides of the right-of-way as part of road reconstruction projects in accordance with Town design standards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cProperty owners will continue to have the option of delegating to Council should they have a concern with the installation of a new sidewalk, but Council approval is no longer proposed to be part of this formal policy. However, Council can still provide direction to staff with regards to the installation and any modifications to the Town\u2019s design standards for sidewalks.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The revised and renewed proposal was once again met with mixed reviews by lawmakers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although the report notes that East Gwillimbury is the only municipality staff surveyed that requires Council approval for new sidewalks, some Council members say that adopting this policy would hinder residents coming to their representatives with their concerns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn the eight or nine years I have been on Council, yes, we have had some discussions regarding sidewalks, I think they have been fruitful discussions [and] I think it should remain a Council decision and I don\u2019t see a strong rationale to give delegated authority to this,\u201d said Councillor John Gallo. \u201cIt is one more avenue that we\u2019re pushing the public away, in my opinion.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was a view shared by Councillor Wendy Gaertner who says communication with residents is very important.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe seem to have done a pretty bad job with communications in at least the Kitimat instance\u201d she said, referencing prolonged discussions over new sidewalks on the street to improve pedestrian safety surrounding Aurora Heights Public School. \u201cThe Kitimat issue lasted for a long time and was very Council time intensive, and I don\u2019t know that we reached a resolution that the residents were happy with, but I do think sidewalks are very important and\u2026 I would like to stay in touch with that issue.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Similarly, Councillor Rachel Gilliland said she too wanted the public to have their say.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDelegated authority does streamline things, but I do want the public to have the opportunity to petition,\u201d she said. \u201cIf there is an issue for whatever reason, it might not work everywhere. If it merits, I want to give them the opportunity. I want to dig into this further but, for now, I am just going to hold off in agreeing with this until we revisit this.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other Council members did not share these concerns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Councillor Harold Kim, for instance, said he understood those of his colleagues but, in his view \u201csafety and security trumps all things\u201d and sidewalks fall under this banner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn areas of public safety, sometimes public consultation is not done,\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t think the government consulted with the public with regards to seat belts. In many rural areas that are becoming suburban areas where roads and homes are built, or homes are already there and roads are being reconstructed and paved, it is not consulted whether you want lights or not for safety purposes in these areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI am in support of delegated authority on this matter and I do empathize with those that it may negatively impact on a day-to-day basis, but we do try to remediate that so that it is as few as possible. Overall, I would have to say this is an overall positive for the community and residents.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In speaking in favour of the recommendations, Mayor Tom Mrakas emphasized the provision that will still allow members of the public to make delegations to Council on these issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe go and we speak to staff about [what we hear from residents] and we look at bringing resolutions or solutions to those issues that are being brought to our attention,\u201d he said. \u201cThat is always there regardless of if there is delegated authority. At the end of the day, this is about providing efficiency. Our residents will continue and always continue no matter whether we pass this or not\u2026 They can speak to each and every one of us. It is dependent upon not on the policy but on each and every one of us sitting at this table about what our thoughts are about how open we are and how we allow them to come in and speak to us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Proposed changes to the rules on when and where new sidewalks are installed could remove Council from the decision-making process, at least at the outset. This month, Council will consider revisions to existing sidewalk polices that would invest municipal staff with the power to authorize new sidewalk construction, while still allowing residents the chance to […]<\/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-28930","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\/p3D2k4-7wC","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-18 08:46:18","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\/28930","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=28930"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28930\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28930"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28930"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28930"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}