Duane Hicks
While the town will not change the proposed location of the Hallett as indicated in Phase II of the Heritage Tourism Project, it will take measures to minimize the risk truck traffic may pose to pedestrians and users of the riverfront.
Council approved a report Monday night outlining several recommendations, including:
•that a proper turning radius be installed on Front Street where trucks enter the road from the weigh scale (the curb cut would be widened back to the road allowance line, creating a gentle exit for a safer, legal entry to Front Street);
•that the waterfront be designated as a community safety zone and the appropriate speed limit signage be installed; and
•that the design of Phase II of the Heritage Tourism Project incorporate safety barriers at potential traffic areas to keep pedestrians on the sidewalks.
The report also was amended to include a stop sign at the west exit of the Shevlin wood yard, as requested by Coun. Paul Ryan.
“The entrance onto Front Street, with the heavy traffic coming out of the mill yard, will now probably hit the centre line of Front Street at a more acute angle,” Coun. Ryan noted.
“I would suggest that another recommendation be added to [the report], and that would be to place a stop sign coming out of the wood yard so that a truck has to stop and, at this point, because of the angle, [the driver will] have to look over his shoulder to see if anybody’s coming west.
“Right now, there is an illegal yield sign there. I think the stop sign should be added to the list of recommendations because of the new angle,” Coun. Ryan stressed. “When the entrance is reconstructed, the angle will be more acute.”
Coun. Ken Perry voted against the report Monday night because he felt the measures don’t adequately address the concerns of local truckers.
The recommendations were based on discussions from a Nov. 20 meeting between Community Service manager George Bell, Fort Frances Museum curator Pam Hawley, Gord Winik of AbitibiBowater, and trucking representatives Leon DeGagne and Doug Kitowski, with input afterwards from project manager Brian Avis.
According to Bell, DeGagne and Kitowski voiced valid safety concerns at the meeting, such as:
•trailer units are getting longer, requiring alert, professional driving;
•it appears where trucks exit the wood yard, they are at a higher elevation that road, and are exiting towards the Hallett’s mooring (vehicles must cross the centre line of the roadway to the south curb prior to moving in a westerly direction, posing a safety issue and potential for accidents);
•drivers that are familiar with the route know the area, but new drivers could present an issue;
•pedestrian traffic will increase on the waterfront, and possibly congest at the Hallett mooring;
•moving the Hallett further east would be desirable; and
•there will be increased traffic due to the biomass boiler.
< *c>Deer feeding bylaw
Also at Monday night’s meeting, council referred a request from a local resident to ban the feeding of deer within town limits to the Planning and Development executive committee for its recommendation.
In correspondence with the town, John Nelson said that in the past four years, his Colonization Road West neighbourhood has seen at least four vehicle/deer collisions that have been fatal to the deer and damaging to vehicles, with the most recent incident happening on Nov. 17.
Anecdotal reports from neighbours suggest more than four accidents, but most of these resulted in injured deer limping away, he noted.
“It is, therefore, a public safety issue to make it illegal to attract these animals into town limits,” Nelson wrote. “They get habituated to living in town limits and lose their fear of being close to people.
“Four lethal accidents in a half-mile stretch of residential road is clearly indicative of a serious problem.”
Nelson also said close contact of deer in an “artificial feeding situation” is “the most significant factor in the spread of chronic wasting disease,” adding the presence of this disease would be “financially devastating to all businesses that cater to deer hunters.”
“The town should set a good example in wildlife stewardship by outlawing a potentially disease-spreading practice,” Nelson urged.
He also pointed out many town residents put a lot of time and money into their gardens, to which deer are “massively destructive.”
“It is not possible to prevent wild deer from entering town,” he acknowledged. “However, encouraging them to enter and stay by feeding them in town limits is simply un-neighbourly.”
Nelson is strongly encouraging town council to pass a bylaw to outlaw deer feeding, adding Dryden and Kenora already have such bylaws in place.
Also at Monday night’s meeting, council:
•passed a bylaw to approve a license agreement with Environment Systems Research Institute Inc. for access to web services;
•passed a bylaw to authorize the entering into a five-year lease agreement with Dryden Municipal Telephone System for space on the municipal water tower;
•received the October 2008 drinking water systems monthly summary report;
•agreed to buy four tickets, at a cost of $200, to the Alzheimer Society’s “Chefs’ Charitable Dinner” and auction on Jan. 25 for two councillors and their guests to attend;
•received minutes of settlement for properties located at 814 and 816 Front St.; and
•approved a recommendation from the Community Services executive committee to name the soccer pitches at St. Francis Sportsfield after the late councillor Struchan Gilson, and passed the request to the Northwest Catholic District School Board for its approval.
