Motorists who have been bypassing the roundabouts through the vacant commercial lot on the north side of Main Avenue across the road from the grocery store will find the way has been barricaded.
Council recently supported the recommendation as presented by the municipality’s operations manager.
“Right across the street from the IGA is an area that’s commercial private land,” said Jim Hall during the May 14 meeting.
“It has several accesses. I’ve counted up to four today; some are just kind of made by people coming through.”
However, there should only be two accesses stemming from the time when a gas station was located on the site, he said, adding behind that commercial lot is municipal land upon which a former town shop was once situated.
“What we’re finding now is an increase — a dramatic increase — of traffic. Due to the roundabouts, people are bypassing,” he said.
“It’s full of potholes because we don’t typically maintain that.”
That's because the area is not meant to serve as a road access to First Avenue NW from Highway 27 or the other way around, he said.
“A portion of it was an access to the old town shop when we used to have the operations department there.”
So prior to the long weekend, Hall said he and his staff intended to place concrete barricades to close off that access.
“I’ve had concerns from residents that live in the very vicinity of that roadway. The dust and the amount of traffic and speeds are dramatic. I don’t know how they can drive fast because of the potholes, but we do have to do something.”
Dating back to public consultations before the Main Avenue pilot project was deployed, some residents in the area had expressed concerns about increased traffic resulting from motorists bypassing the roundabouts, he said.
The operations manager acknowledged anticipating that some motorists will express frustration over the barricades. However, drivers should be using the roundabouts, and anyone trying to reach Main Avenue through First Avenue — or vice versa — can do so by navigating the Fourth Street intersection, he said.
Meanwhile, the commercial property remains for sale and the space can also be used for parking as required during the camping season, he added.
Mayor Terry Leslie inquired whether the proposal was presented as information to council or if a motion was required.
“I don’t know that there’s a motion (required), but I do believe that Mr. Hall would like to know that he has council’s support to proceed,” said chief administrative officer Linda Nelson.
“And I’ll just add further to that, as a private piece of land, I’m not sure what sort of liability issues we’d have with allowing access through an area that’s not a registered road.”
That all being said, the mayor suggested a motion to support the operations manager’s proposal would be appropriate.
Coun. Rob Wolfe moved to approve Hall’s plan to put in place concrete barricades to prevent traffic from using the commercial lot as a bypass.
Speaking in favour of the motion, Coun. Richard Warnock warned that many motorists use that bypass, which has resulted in the explosion of potholes, and that phone calls would likely start coming into the town office as soon as the barricades go up.
“We either have to come up with a way to make it a road and maintain it, or else close it," said Warnock, who was not opposed to the latter option.
"I just believe that there will be a fairly substantial pushback."
Coun. Paul Isaac agreed with Warnock, but could not speak in favour of the motion.
“No matter what you do, it’s wrong or right,” said Isaac, calling the situation a catch-22.
“I don’t want to vote. I’ll be really honest. We’re in trouble no matter what we do.”
The mayor spoke in favour of the motion, and said the pushback could potentially be reduced with proper signage put in place ahead of time.
Hall said signs indicating the way is now closed will be installed, and followed up on Nelson’s cautionary statement regarding the uncertainty of what should happen in the event of a collision. And in addition to concerns raised by residents in the surrounding area, he also mentioned that the municipality has gas infrastructure to be mindful of when grading those grounds, which are not designated as a road.
“It’s very difficult to grade. And it’s commercial property that people are trespassing on to get around a roundabout,” he said.
“I have a lot of different reasons for doing this, but most importantly is for safety.”
Wolfe agreed safety should be of paramount consideration.
“We need to do our due diligence in protecting the residents on First Avenue (NW) and the children that are playing out there too.”
The councillor’s motion went on to carry with only Isaac opposed.
“That road shouldn’t be there,” said Leslie.
