FERGUS – There will be separated bike lanes installed on St. David Street North and staff can go ahead and complete the township’s application for a Connecting Links grant.
Centre Wellington council toyed with the notion of changing its mind on the bike lane decision at the Sept. 20 committee of the whole meeting.
And while four of the seven around the horseshoe voted in favour of a motion to reconsider, it requires a two-thirds majority – or five of the seven – to pass and that didn’t happen.
Water and sewer mains under St. David Street North in Fergus are going to be replaced in 2023 and staff presented four options to council on how the street could be reassembled.
After weighing several factors, including community input, consultation with downtown businesses, the township’s transportation master plan and the Ministry of Transportation, staff recommended the bike lane option.
Council heard from two delegations on the matter – the first from John Scott of Green Lanes, a cycling advocacy group. Scott delegated at the June 21 meeting speaking in favour of the cycling lane option and council later voted unanimously in favour of that option.
Fergus resident Ed O’Shaughnessy presented council with a petition on Aug. 30 with almost 1,000 signatures against the bike lane option. At that meeting council moved a notice of motion to reconsider.
“I believe we made an error,” said councillor Bob Foster on Sept. 20, listing numerous items he believes council did not think about, such as snow removal, public input, emergency response times, and the impact on traffic and congestion of narrowing lanes on a major artery.
Councillor Steven VanLeeuwen agreed.
“I don’t believe the Highway 6 corridor is the greatest place to do bike lanes,” he said. “They would be better on a different roadway.”
Councillor Kirk McElwain thought the abrupt end of the bike lane at St. Andrew Street would also pose safety problems for cyclists.
“It’s not a safe place for the lane to end,” he said.
“Safety is a primary problem with this proposal,” agreed councillor Stephen Kitras. “We weren’t given all the information.”
Kitras urged citizens listening in to the meeting to write to the Ministry of Transportation and request that the township’s grant proposal be turned down if council chose not to reconsider the motion.
“There are alternatives that are financially much better,” Kitras said.
Mayor Kelly Linton and councillors Neil Dunsmore and Ian MacRae were not swayed, however, and noted that some adjustments to the concept can be made at the design stage of the project, but it’s a good concept.
“This is about growth,” Dunsmore said. “We need to start growing smart now.”
“A highway through town is different from a highway out of town,” MacRae added.
“Traffic slows (through town) and there are no additional traffic lanes.”
Linton said staff did provide all the necessary information back in June, “and we voted the way we voted. Council could have moved for a deferral if we did not have all the information. No one made that motion.
“We are building for the future,” he said. “We have to start somewhere with the active transportation network. This will be a spine for active transportation.”
In a recorded vote, VanLeeuwen, Foster, McElwain and Kitras voted in favour of reconsidering the motion. Linton, Dunsmore and MacRae voted against reconsideration.
According to the township’s procedural bylaw, while it requires a straight majority, or four of the seven, to pass a motion, five of the seven must agree to reconsider a previously-approved motion.
