Town council will be reviewing information gathered from an open house last week to get the public's feedback on selected speed zones throughout town.
The open house summarized nine designated playground and school zones in town and what the RCMP, municipal enforcement and the Carr report recommended doing about those areas. The areas highlighted included the playground sign on 50 Street east of 57 Avenue, the playground sign on Shannon Drive, the playground sign on Beech Crescent, the playground sign on Imperial Drive, the playground sign on 54 Avenue, two playground signs on 54 Street, the school sign on 57 Avenue and a school sign near Deer Meadow School.
Feedback from the RCMP and municipal enforcement was gathered late last year following a report that was written by Alberta sheriffs. About 25 people showed up for the open house, which included people giving the town their feedback on changes they think should be made.
ìThe purpose was to get the community's input on existing speed zones and school zones within the community. We understand that these zones have to be assessed from time to time as the community grows,î said Mike Boyko, senior engineering technologist with the Town of Olds.
Boyko said the town wants to update all the signage to reflect the current situation in Olds.
ìWhat we wanted to do is Ö bring on the community at a very early time so that while we bring these potential changes forward, that we have the community's backing and support for those changes so that we're all going in the same direction,î he said.
Boyko said the town received some excellent feedback.
ìIt's great to have the local constituents involved in these processes because they see the effects of our decisions on a daily basis,î he said.
While there was much agreement between the three groups on recommendations, each had a different recommendation for the school sign on 57 Avenue, with the Carr report recommending the current situation continue, while municipal enforcement recommended amending the current situation and the RCMP recommended removing the signage.
Staff Sgt. Kevin Morton said the RCMP believes that the school zone should be removed, based on the fact that it is fairly far removed from Olds Elementary School and Horizon School and 57 Avenue is an arterial road.
ì(School zones) are not meant for making crossing areas and 57 Ave. is not adjacent to a school. The rationale that would be used to make that a safe crossing area would also apply to say, Highway 27 or to main street, neither one of which Ö I think anybody would expect to be done,î he said.
Morton said one of the criteria that must be looked at is the orderly movement of traffic, and 57 Avenue is only going to get busier as the community grows. Asked if that would be an argument for keeping the school zone rather than getting rid of it, Morton said based on that logic, in his view that would mean putting a school zone on Highway 27 also, as many children come from the north side of the highway to attend Olds Elementary School or Horizon School.
ìI would argue that we have a good chunk of people crossing Highway 27 in a variety of locations too, so how do we make Ö a school zone and justify it (without putting one on Highway 27),î he said.
Morton said he is in favour, however, of keeping the crossing light on 57 Avenue.
ìIt would be one of those ways to facilitate both traffic flow and safe crossing,î he said.
Boyko said he will be compiling the feedback from the event and hopefully putting it before council in the next four to six weeks for the group to make decisions on.
"(School zones) are not meant for making crossing areas and 57 Ave. is not adjacent to a school."Staff Sgt. Kevin Morton, Olds RCMP
