Rules for approval of new traffic lights irk councillors
A councillor’s rejection of a site plan for a new subdivision off Lester Road drew grievances from colleagues on Tuesday about traffic management in the city.
The planning committee’s debate over the potential of installing traffic lights at Lester Road and Meandering Brook Drive, just off Bank Street in the city’s south end, exposed frustration about the rules the city uses to decide when roads should get traffic lights or stop signs.
In this case, Valecraft Homes plans to build 96 street town houses and 60 stacked apartments on land northeast of the intersection at 195 Meandering Brook Dr. The developer reduced the density from the 269 units it originally planned to build on the site.
City staff have the power to approve a site plan for a development without the application going through a council approval process. If councillors disagree with a proposed site plan in their wards, they can force the application to a council vote. This is what happened in Gloucester-Southgate Coun. Diane Deans’s case. She believes there should be traffic lights at the intersection.
However, city data suggest the intersection doesn’t require traffic lights.
The city uses a “warrant” standard to decide when an intersection needs a traffic-control device, such as traffic lights or an all-way stop.
The process sometimes pits city staff against councillors, who hear from constituents about how unsafe an intersection feels, often leaving councillors asking colleagues to forget about the warrant data and approve a traffic light or stop sign.
When the Valecraft Homes development was considered in the most recent traffic analysis, the intersection still didn’t meet the threshold for recommending traffic signals. Deans said the Deerfield Village community was promised a signalized intersection eight years ago by Valecraft. However, the density for the new development has decreased and the site plan now includes a second access from Lester Road.
Meanwhile, there are 19 locations across the city that meet warrants for traffic-control measures but have no funding. Traffic lights cost $1.5 million to $2 million each. Roundabouts can be between $1 million and $3 million.
Danny Page of Valecraft Homes said the company wouldn’t pay for traffic lights “as a gift” to the city, since the data show lights aren’t needed at the intersection. The city can’t make a developer pay for traffic lights if they aren’t warranted.
“We are attempting to make this work and we’re showing a lot of good faith along the way,” Page said.
Deans said the Deerfield Village community doesn’t consider the intersection safe. She also criticized a lack of OC Transpo service to the area.
Beacon Hill-Cyrville Coun. Tim Tierney and Stittsville Coun. Shad Qadri brought up similar examples in their wards in complaining about the warrant system.
“You know my love of warrants. Evil words,” Tierney told city staff. “We can’t even get a stop sign put in because it has to meet a warrant.”
“The public tells us over and over and over again, they live in the community, they have a concern with safety, yet we have to go back to looking at the warrant system,” Qadri said.
The committee didn’t make a decision on the site plan application. Instead, it directed Deans, the developer and city planners to find a solution, even though city staff said they already tried and failed. Valecraft’s site plan application will be back on the planning agenda on April 24.