Addington Highlands Wants Lights At Hwy 7/41 Intersection

Craig Bakay | Apr 12, 2023

In response to a rather lengthy chain of correspondence between resident Myles McDonell and various provincial agencies and bureaucrats, Addington Highlands Council decided to get involved in moving along some changes to the intersection of Hwy 7 and 41 in Kaladar at its regular meeting April 4 in Flinton.

In his correspondence, McDonell managed to get a commitment from Steven McInnis, director, design and engineering branch with the Ministry of Transportation for a new traffic study, to be conducted on a weekend, rather than a weekday when traffic is much lighter.

Council, led by Coun. Helen Yanch, felt things had gone on long enough and perhaps it was time for them to get involved in the hopes they might be able to help move things along.

“Anything we can do,” said Yanch. “It’s a nightmare. You can’t even turn right onto Hwy 7 if you get behind a couple of cars who want to go straight through or turn left.

“I know land was purchased some time ago to address this but nothing has been done.”

“There was a working group formed with County staff, myself and some MTO people,” said Reeve Henry Hogg. “I heard there was something in their 20-year plan but it has to be close to 20 years now.

“What they told us is there haven’t been enough serious accidents there to justify the installation of traffic lights.”

“I don’t think there’s been any deaths there but there have been a lot of serious accidents there,” said Dep. Reeve Tony Fritsch.

“There has been an ambulance wiped out there,” said Coun. Ken Hook. “I guess that’s not serious enough.”

“I don’t think accidents are the issue here,” said Yanch. “The point is you can’t get onto Hwy 7 on the weekends and especially on a long weekend without traffic lights.

“Anything we could do to move this along would be really nice (and) I think it’s time for Addington Highlands to arrange a meeting with our Member of (Provincial) Parliament.”

“I think this needs more than a letter,” said Hogg. “We need to talk in person.”

Council instructed staff to arrange a meeting with MPP Ric Bresee and/or MTO officials.

Environmental priority

Dep. Reeve Tony Fritsch’s motion to add “environmental” as a priority in their strategic planning discussions passed but things like EV charging stations (target 2025 or earlier), a community stewardship program, climate change mitigation, adaptation and resilience initiatives weren’t unanimously accepted around the Council table.

“We have a lot on our plate with priorities already,” said Coun. Helen Yanch. “I certainly don’t agree with EV charging stations . . . they should be private enterprise.

“We don’t have any gas stations owned by the Township.”

Yanch was the lone ‘no’ vote on Fritsch’s motion.

No to declaration regarding homo and trans phobia

Council said no to a request from Foundation Emergence to declare May 17 International Day against homophobia and transphobia.

“In the years I’ve been here, we’ve never made a declaration,” said Dep. Reeve Tony Fritsch. “I don’t know if it’s policy or just practice (but) we don’t do that.”

Bridge Street

Council asked staff for a report on Bridge Street and the section of Hwy 28 that passes through Denbigh in response to a request from Stan Platz asking that measures be taken to slow traffic there.

“The highway isn’t our jurisdiction but there may be some things we can do,” said Reeve Henry Hogg. “We need to know what our options are.”

New playground equipment in Denbigh?

The properties and recreation committee has recommended applying for a Trillium Grant for the supply and installation of new playground equipment at Heritage Park in Denbigh. And that a play structure for Tracy Park be included if an inspection determines that it is not financially justified to repair the structure.

Lighting

Council instructed staff to look into additional lighting for Lloyd Street in Northbrook.

Busy building department

Chief Building Official David Twiddy reported that “building has been unusually busy this spring, with the value of new home construction for march valued at $2,21 million. Values for new home construction for the year beginning in January is valued at $3.2 million.”

Twiddy said they’ve been preparing an RFQ for the pigeon netting project for the Flinton Arena as well as for the replacement of a portion of shingles at the Northbrook Medical Center.