by Brock Weir |
Residents in Aurora's northeast quadrant could soon have their say regarding traffic calming measures installed in their neighbourhood almost five years ago.
A resolution passed at general committee last week, a resolution which comes before council for final approval this Tuesday, calls on staff to conduct a review of the traffic calming measures, including the hotly debated chicanes and street closures in the neighbourhood, and hold a public meeting with residents.
The move came after
councillors rejected a staff recommendation to hire Dillon Consulting, the same consulting firm behind the report which ultimately led to the traffic calming measures being installed in the first place, a contract for $4,750.
"To address council request for a plan to review the northeast traffic calming program and a method to obtain an accurate reading of the neighbourhood's support for the program, staff have contacted Dillon Consulting Limited as the prime consultant on this project requesting that a plan for the review of the northeast traffic calming program be prepared for staff," said Ilmar Simanovskis, Aurora's Director of Infrastructure, in a report recommending Dillon.
In his report, Mr. Simanovskis said Dillon Consulting was set to develop a survey which the Town would distribute and collect,
tabulate the results, and write a memo based on the survey
findings.
But councillors ultimately aborted this plan asking staff to do the work for which, as Councillor Michael Thompson said, they were doing the "the majority of the work" anyway.
"How long does it take to write a letter, count the results from a handful of houses, and do a memo?" he asked. "If that is a week's work, I would be surprised, so we're paying $100 an hour."
Mr. Simanovskis, however, said that while the workload is one thing, impartiality in the findings is another.
"Dillon was involved on this project the first time around and they did a review of this process in 2008 which we reported on, so they are familiar with the entire project," he said. "My preference is to have them do this so we have the third party review. The biggest challenge with this proposal is actually getting information to residents, walking the streets or by
e-mail, then we can
actually generate some
responses."
Councillor Thompson was not convinced, nor was Councillor Evelyn Buck who rejected the idea that hiring Dillon Consulting would lend an air of impartiality to the endeavour.
"There is not going to be impartiality when we asked Dillon Consulting to do the review," she said. "They did the design. I don't see how they're going to be impartial about bringing in a report that may possibly be negative on what they designed in the first place."
In that light, after hearing from residents, and from taking a spin through the chicanes herself, Councillor Buck added that she was not prepared to send any further money on reviewing them. Her solution was straightforward.
"Get rid of those frigging chicanes," she said. "Just break them up and chuck them and open up those closed roads. Those are the things people are infuriated with. It is hair raising
to be driving down the road with those chicanes. Furthermore, before this plan was implemented Dillon was sent in there with a catalogue of every possible obstruction they could put in the neighbourhood and they picked every one of them. Everything that was available to them they took.
"I don't have any hesitation in saying I'm not interested in spending any more money. Just give the people sledgehammers and invite them to come over on a cold Saturday when they need to work up a sweat and get out there and break the damn things to pieces and bring in a truck and remove them!"
While Councillor Paul Pirri said he would be "the first to volunteer" in Councillor Buck's chicane removal scheme, councillors voted to keep the consultation in house and also hold a public meeting - not just for residents in the affected neighbourhood but for all residents of Aurora.
"I think it is important to consider in this whole process that we have a public meeting of some sort because it is not just the people in the area that are affected," said Mayor Geoffrey Dawe. "These are area roads that the whole Town has the right to use. I think if we are going to go ahead with this, I believe we should also put in a public meeting as part of the whole process to get a chance for some global input."