Town to ask region to put roundabout on hold - again

A St. Davids resident was at council Monday to ask that the region be convinced to put the recommended roundabout on hold.

John Gartner told councillors Monday that after a meeting of St. Davids Ratepayers Association members with regional staff — a meeting residents had been trying to arrange for two years — it quickly became evident the region was only interested in talking about design details of a roundabout for the intersection of Four Mile Creek Road and York Road, and not looking at alternatives.

Gartner, with a background of senior planning positions for regions and municipalities, told councillors two factors should have been considered: moving traffic through the intersection; and the impact on the community and its values.

In St. Davids, he says, he hasn’t heard from one resident who supports a roundabout at that intersection.

“I have no issue with roundabouts, I actually love roundabouts,” he said, having travelled in many different parts of the world where they are well-used, “but in locations that are appropriate.”

A roundabout in St. Davids, he added, “is not appropriate.”

He suggested the region is basing its choice on data from 20 years ago. The community has grown and changed since then, as have its traffic needs.

He told councillors he would like to see the region consider a traffic bypass, instead of a roundabout, and that in the meantime he would like the region to do nothing — his ask of council was to find a way to convince the region “to put it on the back burner.”

“I think we’d rather have nothing there than the wrong something,” he said, asking for more time to come up with what is right for the intersection, and not at the expense of pedestrians, who would have to use the roundabout to cross the intersection.

Gartner has recently lost his sight, and couldn’t cross at a roundabout, he says — he would hate for someone like himself, or a child, to be hit by a vehicle while trying to cross the busy street.

He told councillors statistics show roundabouts are safer for vehicles, “but not for pedestrians.”

The location of St. Davids School was not taken into account during the environmental study of the area, although children use that intersection to get to school, he said.

Any slow-down in traffic at the intersection now is a matter of seconds, he said, “a minor inconvenience, not a major problem.”

Coun. Erwin Wiens agreed there is no need for a roundabout, and said he doesn’t even see the seconds drivers have to wait at the intersection as an inconvenience. He travels through it regularly, “and the most I’ve had to wait is 35 seconds. If you’re complaining about waiting 35 seconds you need to leave.”

Councillors agreed to ask the region, for the second time, to put the roundabout on hold while other options to divert traffic are considered.

The roundabout would have to be included in the regional budget for it to go forward, said Lord Mayor Betty Disero, telling councillors she thinks there would be support from other regional councillors and mayors to putting a stop to the roundabout through the budget process.