Stouffville council not anxious to stop Stouffville GO train whistles

Yorkregion.com
Oct. 10, 2017
By Simon Martin

The GO train horns in Stouffville aren't stopping any time soon. While council originally deferred a decision on whistle cessation at Reeves Way and Hoover Park until next year back in August, Ward 6 Coun. Rob Hargrave brought the matter up again at the Sept. 25 council meeting. It was yet again deferred by council with only Hargrave and Ward 5 Coun. Iain Lovatt in favour of moving forward with whistle cessation work.

Council has long had whistle cessation at Reeves Way and Hoover Park on its agenda. Back in 2011, council based a bylaw to stop whistles at the Hoover Park and Reeves Way crossings on making the upgrades to the intersection. The town had set aside $100,000 in its 2017 budget for whistle cessation measures.

At the Aug. 22 meeting, council deferred a decision to do engineering work on whistle cessation on the two crossings until 2018. Some councillors didn't mince words with what they thought about stopping the train whistles.

"The reality is the whistles and noise save lives," Ward 3 Coun. Hugo Kroon said. "We are going in the wrong direction. No way I'm going to support whistle cessation. My residents' lives are far too valuable."