Coming Up: August 10
Council meets on Monday. We’ll be meeting over video conference. On the agenda:
Traffic Bylaw Amendments
Economic Recovery Programs
Council Remuneration
Eastlink Centre & Outdoor Pool Fees
Following is more information and my take on agenda items.
As always, any mistakes or opinions belong to me and me alone, not to Council or City staff.
While I express my current views below, I work hard to go into meetings ready to listen and with an open mind. I learn new information and participate in debate. This always informs, and sometimes changes, how I vote on issues.
If you would like to watch the meeting or read any of its supporting material for yourself, you can do so by clicking here. The City will post the highlights of Council’s decisions here.
DELEGATIONS & CORRESPONDENCE
During all Council meetings, members of the public are welcome to come address Council. More information about how to do that can be found here.
This week, two delegations have told us they will be taking part in our meeting:
A company asking the City not to implement mandatory mask requirements and to post concerns about face masks
A resident concerned about the City stopping mowing operations to naturalize a green space in his neighbourhood
We’ll also be receiving two letters:
The United Nurses of Alberta requesting that the City institute a Face Covering Bylaw
The Grande Spirit Foundation in regards to a new building in Spirit River. The Foundation will be borrowing to fund this project, but needs member municipalities approval to do so .
TRAFFIC BYLAW
On Monday, Council will be debating a revised Traffic Bylaw.
You can click here to watch a staff presentation made on proposed changes. You can also read about them here.
Some highlights of what is being proposed:
Updating truck routes to re-route heavy traffic away from downtown
Adding some new school and playground zones, while removing two where fence lines make them not needed.
Updating the Bylaw to conform with what is posted on signs throughout the City
Making it a Bylaw infraction to interfere with or obstruct a Peace Officer who is engaged in enforcement activities.
However, the changes of most interest to the public: speed limits are being changed.
There are three main types of changes being made to speed limits:
Some roads have speed limit signs up that don’t match the speeds found in the Traffic Bylaw. The Bylaw is being updated to match signs throughout the City.
Speeds on some roads are being increased. Staff have determined that road conditions allow vehicles to travel faster without creating significant safety concerns.
Speeds on some roads are being decreased.
This is what is being proposed for new speed limits:
Understandably, some residents are concerned about the reduction in speed on some roads. I’ve especially heard concerns about reductions on the old bypass and on Wapiti Road. So why are reductions being proposed?
The biggest reason is safety. This map shows where injury accidents occurred across the City over a three year period:
When our staff dug into accident reports, they found that for most accidents, speed was listed as a contributing factor.
Accidents are more likely to happen when vehicles are travelling at higher speeds. There are also times when an accident would’ve happened regardless of speed. But in those circumstances, the faster vehicles are traveling, the more likely an accident is to cause injuries. Even when slowing down speed doesn’t prevent an accident, it makes the accident less dangerous.
Speed limit reductions are being proposed on some roads to prevent accidents, and to make the accidents which do occur less likely to seriously injure or kill people.
So what will lowering speed limits do? The following table shows how different speeds impact travel time.
On much of the old bypass and Wapiti Road, it is proposed that Council lower the speed limit from 70 km/h to 60 km/h. Each major section of these roads (Ernies-Staples, Staples-Airport, and Airport-Eastlink Centre) is about 3 km. So the proposed change would add ~25 seconds of travel time per section, or ~50 seconds of travel time to get across town.
Although it is worth noting that this is the travel time that will be added if a vehicle is travelling at the speed limit for its whole trip. Of course, that rarely happens on these roads due to traffic lights and congestion.
Here’s a graph from a traffic study that looked at congested roads. The vertical axis represents speed limits, while the horizontal axis represents how many vehicles can get through each lane of road per hour. during times of congestion, lowering the speed limit is likely to allow more vehicles to get through town.
I am likely to support the Traffic Bylaw amendments.
I don’t think that speed limits and other aspects of this Bylaw should be politicized. Our engineers use local data as well as national traffic studies to form recommendations as to how to move traffic as safely and quickly as possible. When considering these recommendations, Council shouldn’t be applying its personal opinions. Instead, it should just be providing a check that the data-based suggestions generated are reasonable.
These suggestions are addressing areas of our road network that have clear dangers, and they will have minimal if any impact on the time it takes to get across the City. They seem reasonable to me.
ECONOMIC RECOVERY PROGRAMS
Council has set aside funding to help local businesses and our economy recover from the impact of COVID-19. The City’s Economic Development Advisory Committee has recommended that some of these funds be allocated to the following projects:
Beautification and Patio Grant: A 50% matching grant of up to $15,000 for businesses to improve their facades, landscaping, or signage, or to create patio space. It is recommended that $450,000 be dedicated to this program.
Local Marketing Grant: A 50% matching grant of up to $2500 for businesses to develop marketing initiatives, materials, or content. It is recommended that $50,000 be dedicated to this program.
Chamber of Commerce App: A $50,000 grant to the Chamber of Commerce to purchase the local franchise of Get in the Loop. This is a nationwide app for local businesses to advertise to consumers.
You can read more about the proposed grant programs here, and more about the Chamber app here.
Due to a Conflict of Interest I have, I will not be participating in debate or voting on this portion of our agenda.
COUNCIL REMUNERATION
Something awkward that Council needs to deal with: provincial legislation makes Council responsible to set the remuneration of the Mayor and Councillors.
The City has a long standing process to make sure that voters have a say in how Council sets its salary:
An outgoing Council sets the remuneration policies that will apply to the NEXT Council. These new policies don’t kick in until after the election.
These policies are set based on the advice of a committee made up of public members
We heard the Council Remuneration Committee’s report at our last Council meeting. The Remuneration Policy created by this Committee was sent to Council’s Corporate Services Committee to do some cleanup work. The Corporate Services Committee clarified some language, but did not recommend any substantive changes.
Now the Council Remuneration Policy is coming back to Council for debate and potential approval. You can find out more about what it contains and my take in my Meeting Preview for our July 13 meeting.
EASTLINK CENTRE & OUTDOOR POOL FEES
Our staff are working hard to make the Eastlink Centre and Outdoor Pool as accessible to the public as provincial COVID-19 restrictions will allow. As part of their efforts, staff will soon be opening up the Eastlink Centre’s lazy river and kids splash pad for cohort bookings.
To allow these bookings to happen, City administration requires the proposed fees be approved by Council. You can read them here.
It is also proposed that Council delegate to our administration authority to set all fees for the Eastlink Centre and the Outdoor Pool until they resume regular operations. This will allow our staff to respond to changing circumstances and community usage more quickly and efficiently.
I intend to support these recommendations. I’m thankful for our staff working hard to make sure that our residents can continue to enjoy these facilities.
That’s what is on our agenda for Monday. I’d love to hear your thoughts.
You can comment below. Or, you can contact me at dbressey@cityofgp.com or 780-402-4166. I'm happy to talk online or over the phone. I'm also always willing to setup a time to meet for coffee.
We also always have great conversation in the GP Round Table group on Facebook.
After Council meeting, you will be able to find highlights posted by the City here.
Thanks for reading!
-Dylan