North Battleford city council has approved the installation of stop signs at the intersection of 20th Avenue and 102nd Street.
A resolution to put up four-way stop signs at that intersection, located right next to the Lawrence School, was passed Monday by a 5-2 vote. The resolution originally called for a three-way stop, but was amended to four-way signs at the urging of Councillor Don Buglas, who pointed out an entrance to the school parking lot was located right next to the intersection.
The move by council comes one week after the city's municipal services committee voted to recommend installing the stop signs.
The adoption of the comes in the wake of mounting concern raised by parents, teachers and school officials about speeding vehicles in school zones in recent weeks.
Councillors Grace Lang and Trent Houk have been vocal in pushing for action to address the situation. Meanwhile, Councillor Brad Pattinson has come out strongly in favour of the stop sign proposal, with Pattinson making the case that stop signs would slow traffic in school zones.
Coinciding with the vote was a report from Public Works Director Stewart Schafer on school zone signage. Schafer repeated concerns he expressed at the municipal services meeting the previous week, saying stop signs are intended to control traffic and not to control speed.
His memo to council pointed to the Transportation Association of Canada criteria for the placement of stop signs throughout the city. That criteria notes stop signs are not intended as speed control devices but "should be used to reduce traffic right of way."
Schafer's report warned of potential traffic flow disruptions, and noted that if stop signs were placed in all of the school zones in the city 144 additional stop signs would need to be placed in 47 different intersections at a cost of $36,000.
Schafer also pointed to possibly implementing a crossing guard program in school zones where children would be escorted across the streets at appropriate crosswalks once traffic is stopped.
The report also raised some eyebrows in showing where the controlled intersections are located. Lang found the information interesting because the report refuted the complaints council receives about the number of uncontrolled intersections in the city.
"Every intersection is controlled, just about," noted Lang.
Still, the report did not change Lang's mind on the issue of putting up stop signs, as she reiterated the signs at the Lawrence School location was more of a trial situation in a single location to see if concerns from parent groups about speeding and safety would be addressed.
"I do not think we proposed at any time that we would change all the signs," said Lang, who said having stop signs there was better than having nothing.
She also expressed a desire to be proactive in finding a solution in the school zones, and took the City to task for a tendency to not move fast enough.
"We have a tendency to sit on things an awful long time," said Lang. "This is a problem in our city and we have to look at rectifying it."
Pattinson noted during the debate that followed later in the evening that there had been instances where stop signs had been put up in certain school areas, noting the stop signs at Holy Family School. He noted the controlled intersection at SaskTel on 100th Street was put up to allow people who lived in the high-rises to cross the street safely.
While there was general support from council for the stop signs idea, it was not unanimous. Mayor Ian Hamilton and Councillor Ron Crush cast the two votes against the idea. They had also voted "no" during the municipal services meeting on the issue the previous week.
Crush said the stop signs would not solve the main problem of safety of kids in school zones, as kids were just as likely to cross the streets beyond where the stop signs would be located.
"People need to be cognizant of the fact that a school zone is a school zone," said Crush, who said the stop signs merely create another offence for police to ticket.
"It's unfortunate that we have to babysit or band-aid and take over others' responsibilities."
Mayor Hamilton seemed to agree with the concerns Schafer outlined in his report. He wondered whether the City might in the future have to approve any request that came in, along with the associated costs. The mayor also wondered if the motion should have specified whether or not the stop signs should be temporary.
"We're trying to make it way more complicated than it really is," was Pattinson's response.
While other members of council, including Buglas, shared many of the same concerns Hamilton and Crush had, they nevertheless voted in favour of the stop signs. Buglas saw the signs as a temporary solution and called for monitoring and review of the situation at that location, something Lang also supported.
Following the vote, a satisfied Houk told reporters he was pleased with council's decision.
He noted one of his own children attends school at Lawrence.
"I do feel it's going to be safer," said Houk, who added "it's not going to inconvenience me one bit to make that stop at all. And if it saves the life of a child, then it's going to be worth its weight in gold."
Houk also repeated his own view that he believes stop signs should be in every school zone in the city. "It is kids' safety we are talking about," he said.
