Because of St. Charles Elementary amalgamating with Monsignor Clancy, the city is looking into ways to deal with the added foot traffic in the area surrounding Monsignor Clancy come September.
As previously reported, City Hall has committed to hiring a crossing guard for the Sullivan and Tupper intersection.
The city is also planning to extend the crosswalk on the south side of Thompson Avenue from McMann Drive to Stewart Avenue, and they're planning to install crosswalks and stop signs at the intersection of Westmount Avenue and Thompson Avenue.
However, not every city councillor is on board with the idea.
At last week’s city council meeting, Councillor John Kenny pointed out that there is already a stop sign a block away at McMann Drive and Thompson Avenue.
“So you’re going to have a stop sign, three houses and then another stop sign?”, he asked City Hall staff during the meeting.
“The reason we want to do that is because to have a crosswalk it’s best to put it at a location where a stop control is in place,” answered the city’s Manager of Engineering Sean Dunsmore.
But councillor Kenny said that putting a stop sign so close to another one could be just as dangerous.
“If there’s a crosswalk there people are going to look,” he said. “If there's a stop sign there and somebody blows the stop sign I think it could be more dangerous. The cars aren’t going to be going that quickly in three houses but they might be. I just think the chances of somebody getting hurt by the stop sign there are just as bad.”
Councillor Carmen DeRose wondered if City Hall staff had any idea how much added foot traffic the city is expecting in that area come September.
“We’re expecting there to be anywhere from 100 to 150 kids heading in that direction,” answered Dunsmore. “We’re going to watch it and make sure we know exactly what’s happening so that we can make another recommendation if that’s required.”
Councillor Kenny pointed out that he knows the neighbourhood quite well and it still did not make sense to him.
"All the people who live on Parkdale there and many of the people that live on Westmount are going to walk up Parkdale through that laneway between Parkdale and Stewart," he said. "If a parent has a child, they’ll probably going to tell their child to walk down the sidewalk through the laneway and up Stewart and not cross at that intersection because it’s going to be dangerous."
But Mayor Terry Ugulini said he supported city staff's decision.
"They want to er on the side of safety and that’s why they’ve come up with this proposal," said Mayor Ugulini. "I think staff has put a lot of work into this."
And with that city council approved the implementation of the stop signs, the new crosswalks, and the extension of the sidewalk.
