Region holding design workshop for St. Davids roundabout

A public engagement workshop scheduled for later this month will gather input from residents and businesses on how they would like to see a roundabout at York and Four Mile Creek Roads designed. 

The intersection in St. Davids is currently a four-way stop and has been a topic of local discussion for more than two years, generating a mix of opinions about the need and suitability of a roundabout at that location. 

Residents who wish to participate in the Nov. 13 workshop at White Oaks need to register by Wednesday, Nov. 6. 

Those in attendance will be split into three groups, each coming up with their own concept, which will then be taken by staff and fine-tuned to a conceptual design, explained Khaldoon Ahmad, manager of urban design for Niagara Region. 

He was joined by Stephanie Huppunen, manager of capital projects for transportation engineering, as well as transportation director Frank Tassone in a recent interview with The Local. 

Also part of the workshop will be the potential for a gateway feature into St. Davids at Queenston and Tanbark Roads. 

“We want the local community to understand that we want their input on all these changes,” said Huppunen.  

A petition with more than 1,400 signatures was an agenda item at a committee-of-the-whole planning meeting earlier this year, expressing opposition to the traffic feature. This led to Niagara-on-the-Lake council resubmitting correspondence already sent to the region previously, both in 2021 and 2022. The most recent batch of recommendations, sent to the region in August 2022, included wording that the town “does not support” a roundabout in St. Davids.  

Tassone was asked about some of the concerns that have been raised. 

“We’re still hearing some outcry from the community on the selected choice,” he said, adding an “exhaustive” process has been carried out, leading to a determination that a roundabout at the intersection is the best solution for that intersection. 

And there are people who like the idea of a roundabout, Tassone noted. 

“Through that process, there were just as many positive comments,” he said. 

Tassone said opinions about pedestrian safety have been “somewhat misled” and that there are many benefits to this style of traffic feature, such as how they move traffic, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and don’t usually create T-bone-type collisions, just “sideswipes” when there is an collision in a roundabout. 

“We feel roundabouts are very safe options,” he said. 

One part of the discussion at the town was the possibility of traffic lights going up at the intersection. While the upfront costs of a roundabout are greater than lights, the life cycle of a roundabout is much longer, said Tassone. 

“This traffic feature will service the community well into the future,” he said, noting that growth in the area is a main reason the intersection needs to be updated.

Tassone spoke before council in April, but questions from councillors were cut short because of a full agenda with a number of public meetings related to other matters. 

He will be going back to town hall on Nov. 19, he said. But the project moving ahead as a roundabout is not about to be changed. “That part of the project has passed,” said Tassone. 

It is not anticipated that construction would start any earlier than 2027, once the project receives budget approval. Regional staff did not have a dollar amount related to what the final cost would be. 

To participate, register by emailing [email protected] by Wednesday. Registration is required.

The workshop runs from 5 to 7 p.m.