SUNDRE — With two members of council opposed, a motion was recently carried to continue investigating the possibility of a proposed pilot, three-way stop at the intersection of Centre Street and Second Avenue NW immediately south of River Valley School.
Prior to seeking direction from elected officials on whether to proceed with soliciting public input or to simply cease and desist further efforts, Linda Nelson, chief administrative officer, asked the municipality’s community peace officer to provide a brief report on the community’s response to date.
Kevin Heerema informed council that as of the Nov. 23 meeting, 14 people had provided supportive responses, with another nine who expressed opposition to the proposed plan.
Among the comments included suggestions to reopen the lane behind the Sundre High School and adjacent to the Sundre Rodeo Grounds to alleviate traffic congestion along Centre Street during peak times.
Another concern expressed was that the introduction of a stop sign could potentially increase noise as a result of forcing motorists to stop and start again, thereby resulting in revving engines. One person even recommended installing traffic lights since some drivers just run through stop signs. Some residents feared unintended consequences such as traffic detouring down the back alley of houses across the street from River Valley.
Others seemed to agree a three-way stop at that intersection would be ideal during peak hours at the school, as well as when there are hockey games or even the pro rodeo.
Coun. Rob Wolfe wondered about the suggestion to reopen the lane behind the high school, and whether there had been a discussion to that extent with Chinook’s Edge School Division.
“I have not talked with the school about it,” said Heerema.
“The reason being is, well, there’s a couple of things wrong with that,” he said.
A few years ago, he explained, the school division decided to close off traffic access to the lane primarily due to liability.
“That road was never surveyed in as a road,” he added.
For either the peace officer or RCMP to enforce traffic laws on that lane, it would first need to be recognized by the province as an official roadway.
“If I was to write a ticket back there, when I go to court with it, one of the questions they ask is if this is a road in Alberta, and I’d have to say no. In that case, that ticket would be quashed.”
Additionally, he said there was previously also the concern of which party should be responsibly for plowing the lane since it technically is not a town-owned road.
“Eventually, once we heard that the school closed it, it was a little bit of a relief, to be honest.”
Linda Nelson, chief administrative officer, said the process to open that lane to the public would involve not just having the road surveyed, but also getting it registered with the Alberta Land Titles office as a road plan.
Mayor Terry Leslie further elaborated for the newer members of council who might not be as familiar with the background, explaining the school division owns the property. Furthermore, he said the principal at River Valley had encouraged parents to drop off and pick up students at the ball diamonds behind the school since that’s technically on school division property, as part of an attempt to alleviate traffic congestion on Centre Street during peak times.
Coun. Paul Isaac said reading over some of the responses — which are available in full on the municipality’s website in council’s Nov. 23 agenda package — was interesting from both perspectives for and against.
However, the councillor argued that barely two dozen responses seemed insufficient to make a well-informed decision that would impact all of the Sundre and area residents who regularly use Centre Street.
“As good as this is, I still think that it’s not necessarily enough information. I would like to see the school contacted,” Isaac said, urging due diligence.
Coun. Richard Warnock sought clarification with regards to the concerns about potential liability in the event of collisions or near misses.
“Was there actually a significant number of those? Was it that big of a risk? I don’t have any history,” Warnock said, leaning towards Isaac’s assertion that there wasn’t enough information available to make a decision yet.
The peace officer said during his time serving in Sundre there have previously been some near misses, as well as “one very serious accident that involved severe, life-altering injuries.”
Providing additional historical context drawn from his past experience, Isaac added the municipality up to 2011-12 used to grade the lane until realizing that not being town property meant liability would have to be assumed. Upon informing the school division the lane would no longer be graded, Chinook’s Edge offered the municipality control for $100,000, a cost the municipality did not want to absorb. Other complications included insufficient available space to accommodate a proper width for the lane to qualify as a legal road, he said.
“It’s not a legal road, and it can’t be a legal road, because there’s not enough room and it infringes on the rodeo grounds,” he said.
“(The school division) would be happy to give it to us for free. But it would be far too expensive for us to re-align it to make it a proper road.”
The mayor wanted to know where the idea of a three-way stop originated from.
“Have there been accidents at that intersection? Have there been residents that have formally complained and asked for this to be dealt with or looked at?” he asked, also wondering whether any data on wait times motorists experience at the intersection had been compiled.
Funke said since about 2012, the issue has been a concern that regularly has been verbally brought to her attention by parents and people who live in that part of town.
“It has never been a formal complaint,” she said.
“But when information and suggestions are brought to me as a councillor, I feel it’s my job to bring that to administration.”
Funke motioned to accept Heerema’s update as information, and to direct administration to continue with the public engagement process to gauge the people’s opinions.
Speaking in favour of the motion, Warnock agreed with Isaac that two dozen responses were not enough and that more information is needed.
“I could not support this trial continuing on 20 or 25 responses,” he said, adding the RCMP detachment’s perspective was still missing.
Coun. Charlene Preston agreed, adding she wanted to see further discussions with the school division as well.
Coun. Rob Wolfe said he’s never been a fan of the proposal, and argued the solution shouldn’t be to install a three-way stop, but rather enhanced enforcement for the brief, morning and afternoon peak periods of traffic during school days.
The mayor also spoke against the motion.
“I struggle with the validity of this being an issue. I struggle with the idea that there was no formal request that came before council to investigate the safety of this intersection,” said Leslie, who also felt there wasn’t enough data to back up the proposed pilot project.
“I don’t believe that we should gather information from the public without presenting to them an option that has some data that would show a probable better case scenario for the movement of traffic and safety of students,” he said.
“I see this as an issue that has not been identified appropriately with formal requests,” he said, adding the issue was not brought forward by school councils or administration.
With the mayor and Wolfe opposed, the motion carried.
