The future for St. Davids’ key intersection remains elusive as Niagara-on-the-Lake’s regional councillor says she hears residents’ concerns about roundabout plans – but reiterates it’s still the prime recommendation for improving traffic flow in the village.
Andrea Kaiser stopped by the NOTL council chamber on Tuesday to provide the municipal council with an update on the region’s agenda for this year, her first visit since being elected the town’s new regional councillor in the 2022 election.
One of the region’s plans for 2023 is starting a draft design on a roundabout for the St. Davids intersection at York and Four Mile Creek Rads, in the village’s commercial centre, a recommendation put forth by a regional environmental assessment report in 2021.
“I know it is a very well-discussed topic in the community,” said Kaiser. “I have been making efforts … to reach out to the residents in St. Davids, through the Ratepayers Association.”
Last fall, council passed a motion asking the region to put roundabout plans on hold, following concerns from residents who have expressed that a roundabout will make the intersection less safe for pedestrians.
in a delegation to council in September, ratepayers association member John Gartner said he hasn’t heard a single resident say they’re in favour of building this roundabout.
In her first meeting with the residents group post-election, Kaiser said they and the region “agreed to listen to each other and hear both sides” on the matter, and that she plans to meet with the association once a month throughout 2023.
This would also mean, however, being open to the roundabout being installed “with a process in place” to “make sure that we address all the concerns in the community.”
After confirming with the region’s public works commissioner Bruce Zvaniga and associate director of transportation engineering Frank Tassone, Kaiser said the region “is very much open to” a meeting and workshop with all St. Davids residents on the plans, once the design phase is “about 60 per cent through.”
While there is nothing official which states a roundabout must be built at this intersection, the region is following the environmental assessment’s recommendation at this design stage in the process.
“Even though the assessment has recommended the roundabout in principle or in theory, it could result in the fact that the roundabout might not work because (of) the radius of turning – but likely not,” she said, she said of the intersection.
Coun. Sandra O’Connor said she hopes roundabout plans will take into consideration what is written in the region’s complete streets design guidelines, published in 2017: roundabouts “can provide a greater level of safety for motorists but not pedestrians.”
“That’s one of the things that concerns us a lot,” she said.
No construction at the intersection is scheduled for the near future. The region will focus on acquiring the land for a project in 2024, and depending on the region's budget in 2025, will begin building then.
Other key items Kaiser discussed related to traffic safety in St. Davids include a review of the Community Safety Zone on York Road as it passes St. Davids Public School, and the decision not to reinstall the traffic bollards on Four Mile Creek Road, which were temporarily installed last fall, with some local pushback.
Regarding the Community Safety Zone, Kaiser said the region is reconsidering the ratepayers’ request to extend it to Four Mile Creek Road, which the previous regional transportation director decided against. About the bollards, she explained the region reviewed the data from their pilot project in the fall and decided against reinstalling them this spring.
Coun. Adriana Vizzari, a St. Davids resident, said the opposition on the bollards from residents and related issues “arose from just no communication” from the region on the project, and added she hopes to see them improve on this.
In reviewing the local Community Safety Zone, as well as a temporary speed camera installed by St. Davids School – another project testing the efficacy of these cameras across the region – Kaiser said slowing down traffic is still a concern for the village.
She said she plans to return to council for a second quarterly regional update in June.