A bylaw approving changes to several street names in Erin and Hillsburgh will be considered by Erin council on May 6.
And provided the bylaw is passed, staff has proposed an implementation date of July 12.
Last week the town held its third public meeting for the street name changes, which were initiated by emergency services personnel who expressed concern about the confusion caused by duplicate street names in the town.
The third meeting was necessary because council had made a couple changes to staff recommendations, including:
– using Lions Park Avenue instead of Tower Street as the replacement name for Hill Street in Erin village (there is also a Hill Street in Hillsburgh); and
– changing Water Street in Hillsburgh instead of in Erin, because no one lives on the Hillsburgh road.
At the previous meeting council decided to name Water Street in Hillsburgh after a local soldier who died in the line of duty. And last week, town planner Sally Stull offered the name Covert Lane, after air force pilot trainer Douglas Covert, who died in a training exercise in Alberta following the Korean War. Covert was raised on a farm on Trafalgar Road in Erin.
Stull explained that the town’s policy of naming new roads – or in this case, re-naming existing roads – after the town’s war dead would follow a reverse-chronological order.
For instance, Covert died after the Korean War, so after that conflict, would come the names of Erin soldiers who died in World War Two, then the First World War. Councillors seemed agreeable to that approach.
There were no objections to the two new street names at the public meeting last week. In fact, the only person who spoke at the meeting was Lloyd Turbitt, who asked that council reconsider its previous decision to change Main Street in Hillsburgh to Trafalgar Road.
Although Turbitt was allowed to speak and he explained most people living on Main Street are still opposed to the change, Mayor Rod Finnie said that change was not the reason for the public meeting.
Stull told council that Canada Post and Bell Canada 9-1-1 have stated they can meet the proposed implementation date of Jan. 12, but until the signs are delivered, town staff can not guarantee they will be installed by that date.
Roads Superintendent Larry VanWyck said he is having trouble getting a response from the town’s sign supplier about a possible delivery date.
But regardless, council agreed to consider a bylaw approving the street name changes at its first regular meeting in May.
Other than Lions Park Avenue and Covert Lane, the bylaw will include:
– changing Elizabeth Street in Hillsburgh to Gibey Street (there is also an Elizabeth Street in Orton);
– changing Church Street in Erin village to Church Boulevard (there is a dual street name of Church Boulevard and Church Street in Erin, and also a Church Street in Hillsburgh);
– renumbering the south side of Sideroad 17;
– changing Mill Street in Erin to Millwood Road, because there is a dual name existing for that street (Mill and Millwood) and there is also a Mill Street in Hillsburgh; and
– changing Main Street in Hillsburgh to Trafalgar Road.
