Bradford is looking to tackle a tale of two parks and make things safer — especially for children.
Based on a motion from Ward 4 Coun. Joseph Giordano, council’s strategic initiatives committee recommended Nov. 26 that council approve adding stop signs around Isabella Park, on Wandering Glider Trail and Citrine Drive, to mirror the configuration already used around Summerlyn Parkette.
“This is one of those common-sense solutions that we need to put in place,” Giordano said during the meeting, claiming “thousands” of kids within the neighbourhood frequent the two parks.
He said it was “unique” to have two parks with the “exact same” design “just seconds” from each other, but with different traffic controls surrounding them, and said the stops signs would make getting to and from Isabella Park safer by reducing speeds and creating gaps in traffic.
Giordano also noted the issue had already been discussed at the town’s previous traffic committee before it was rolled into the strategic initiative committee and several residents had been waiting for a solution.
That included Adriatik Dine, who took to the mic during open forum to say he thinks he’s seen people driving as fast as 100 km/h in the area.
“Please, can you guys do something before something bad happens?” he asked.
Later in the meeting, nearby neighbour Frank Varano said stop signs are “absolutely essential” as the park is “really busy,” especially in the summer when he estimates it’s “jammed packed” with about 200 kids on any given day, and people are continually crossing in all directions.
While understanding residents’ concerns, Deputy Mayor and committee chair Raj Sandhu said that, as a parent himself, he feels parents need to take responsibility for teaching their kids about road safety.
“We can’t always depend on the state to be the parent,” he said.
Both Wards 6 Coun. Nickolas Harper and Ward 7 Coun. Peter Dykie agreed with Giordano’s motion, noting the neighbourhood has grown to a point where the additional stop signs are necessary. However, Paul Dubniak, transportation technologist for the town, explained the roads in question only see a peak traffic of about 106 vehicles, or roughly half of the 200-vehicle threshold that would be needed to justify the signs under the town’s traffic mitigation strategy (TMS).
In response, Ward 5 Coun. Peter Ferragine suggested using different thresholds around parks and schools, but Dubniak explained that idea was rejected during the creation of the TMS based on the advice of an engineer and other municipalities to ensure traffic controls are consistent across the province.
That didn’t convince Giordano, who noted the two roads in question connect to Langford Boulevard and Summerlyn Trail — both of which were recently identified as needing traffic calming to deal with speeding.
In further support of his motion, Giordano emphasized the committee only just recently approved stop signs at Sutherland Avenue and Aishford Road, even though that area also didn’t meet the thresholds, and reiterated that Summerlyn Parkette already has the stop signs in place.
“It’s already been done. It’s not like we’re reinventing the wheel on this,” he said.
Dubniak explained “there will be some difficulty” as all four of the streets surrounding Isabella Park are two-way, whereas two of the four streets surrounding the Summerlyn Parkette are one-way.
As a result, the committee requested Dubniak report back on how to best implement the necessary signs and line markings.
The committee isn’t scheduled to meet again until Jan. 28.
Council approved the recommendations at its Dec. 3 meeting.
