'This would be a disaster': Stouffville council nixes 1-way Main Street pilot

The 6-week pilot project proposal would have seen 1-way road from Ninth Line to Park Drive

Yorkregion.com
Sept. 14, 2020
Simon Martin

A controversial pilot project to make Stouffville Main Street one-way from Ninth Line to Park Drive has been nixed by Stouffville council.

The proposal brought to council Sept. 8 called for one-way traffic eastbound with multiple stop-sign controlled areas to enable pedestrian crossings near Freel Lane, Library Lane and Civic Square.

The eastbound one-way direction was selected by town staff because westbound traffic can detour around the downtown by using Park Drive north or south. Town staff recommended six weeks for a pilot project.

Some councillors were not at all pleased with the proposal that had caused numerous calls from residents and business owners.  

“To implement this right now I think this would be a disaster,” Ward 5 Coun. Richard Bartley said. “I had many many residents reaching out to me with very valid concerns.”

“I just don’t see how this is going to work,” Ward 1 Coun. Ken Ferdinands added.

Ward 6 Coun. Sue Sherban was upset the proposal even made it to council. “I don’t quite understand how this got here,” she said. Sherban said she received numerous calls and messages from concerned residents and businesses and didn’t really have a decent explanation for them. Before something like this comes to council, Sherban said there needs to be much more public consultation. “There are a lot of residents who are very upset about this,” she said.    

Chief administrative officer Rob Adams said the discussion of a one-way street had been kicked around for some time and he asked for a staff report on a potential pilot project. “This was an attempt to be creative,” Adams said.

Mayor Iain Lovatt said the genesis of the report came from discussions at the Main Street reconstruction working group. “This idea is not a new one,” he said. “I am not upset that this report came to council. It came from a town working group.”

While Lovatt wasn’t prepared to support the pilot project he said it was an attempt to try to solve some of the issues on Main Street and he welcomes creative ideas.
Lovatt blamed “politically motivated” Facebook posts that scared residents into thinking council had already approved the pilot project.

“If there were people that actually wanted to engage in genuine dialogue about trying to solve the issues downtown, I’m all ears,” Lovatt said. “Don’t get your information off of Facebook. What you are hearing is garbage.” Lovatt said the longer we get into the social media era, the more we fall into the cesspool of it.

The estimated cost of the one-way pilot project was $20,000 to $25,000.

In the town staff report, it said the pilot project would allow downtown businesses to have enhanced patio areas. The report called the strategy a road diet, which has gained popularity worldwide as a way to calm traffic. A road diet reduces the width or number of lanes and reallocates that space for other uses, such as bicycle lanes, pedestrian crossings, outdoor patios, or parking.

Safety and operational benefits for vehicles and pedestrians can include decreasing vehicle travel lanes for pedestrians to cross, improving safety for bicyclists when bicycle lanes are added, improving speed limit compliance, and decreasing the severity of crashes when crashes occur.