Stop signs got the go-ahead at two intersections from Barrie councillors Monday night.
Councillors gave initial approval that city staff install stop signs northbound and southbound at the corner of Sproule and Miller drives in the west end, and a four-way stop at Dock and Cox Mill roads in southeast Barrie.
But before the stop signs get final approval from council at its April 26 meeting, councillors are hoping for a staff memo with information on accident history at the intersections, any prior reports or data on them — and comment from city traffic engineers about the need for stop signs there.
It’s city policy that measuring traffic and safety be done before stop signs are installed, but those standards cannot be met with low vehicle totals due to the pandemic.
So Coun. Robert Thomson, who wants the Sproule-Miller stop signs, and Coun. Jim Harris, who wants them at Dock and Cox Mill, took the direct approach and brought this motion to councillors.
“I didn’t take this lightly,” Thomson said. “I know that a letter went out to all the residents and they were all in favour of it. I’ve sat for multiple hours watching (the intersection). I’ve done my homework. I do appreciate procedures, but I just can’t wait any longer.”
“We’re a few months away from what will be the busiest season in that neighbourhood,” Harris said. “And the volumes will certainly be up. If you’ve driven the neighbourhood… it is not a square intersection, (but) on an angle. So you are not able to sit on Dock Road and go… you have to edge out, encroach across the sidewalk.
"These are all factors outside of volume that would necessitate having everybody stop," he added.
But Deputy Mayor Barry Ward has a problem skirting the city’s stop-sign policies.
“We all get requests for stop signs,” he said. “It puts councillors in an awkward position of having to tell people yes or no. I know people are going to come to me next week and say, ‘Well, they got a stop sign and why can’t I get one.’
“It puts us in an awkward position of having to tell these people, ‘Well, they went around the policy, but I’m not willing to do it.' It makes us sound like the bad guy. And it really bothers me that we have these on (the agenda)," Ward added.
Coun. Natalie Harris says every Barrie councillor has these requests.
“This is a major topic that happens all the time in probably all of our wards,” she said. “I have so many people come to me for stop signs, one in particular many, many times, and it just hasn’t met the numbers (standards).”
Coun. Clare Riepma said he’d prefer his stop-sign information from city staff.
“We can’t go down this road. I think it’s not a good idea to have the councillors become traffic engineers in place of the city staff who give some serious thought to these things,” he said.
“I take offence,” Thomson said of Riepma’s comments. “I don’t think Coun. Jim Harris ever claimed I was a traffic engineer, but I do bring experience, kind of like when we bump up a site-plan approval because somebody’s a planner (Riepma is a planner by profession), so I do take offence to that.
“I’ve done my homework and I don’t think that should be thrown in my face," Thomson added.
Riepma apologized and said he did not mean to offend Thomson.
“I really think that we ought to leave it to our staff to make the recommendations based on the principles that they have,” Riepma said. “I think we need to have a consistent approach and use our staff to guide us in those decisions.”
Ward didn’t budge from his position, either.
“I don’t understand why suddenly it’s a priority to put up stop signs now when there’s actually less traffic on all these roads than there usually is,” he said. “We’ve gone 40 years without stop signs there, traffic is less this year than it ever has been in the past, or at least recent years, so I’m not sure why we can’t wait for the end of the pandemic to do the traffic studies.”
City policy is that council gives staff direction to investigate and report back on stop signs, but council always has the authority to override it own policies.
At one point, Coun. Sergio Morales tried to amend the motion by adding stop signs northbound and southbound at the intersection of Madelaine Drive and Country Lane in the south end. It was defeated.
“Harder than putting in a stop sign is taking it out,” he said. “If this (Spoule-Miller, Dock-Cox Mill) passes, how do I ever talk to my residents?”
The motion did pass, but requires final council approval next Monday for the stop signs to be installed.
