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Blackfalds delays speed limit change for further review

Mar 15, 2019 | 10:46 AM

Work continues on potential changes to Blackfalds Traffic Bylaw that would ultimately lower the speed limit in the community.

Following a public hearing on Tuesday, Mayor Richard Poole says council wants more information regarding the issues at play before going ahead with any changes.

“Rather than rush ahead and make a decision that might change if we had further information, we decided to defer it back to the Standing Committee so that we could have more information,” explains Poole. “The Standing Committee is meeting on Monday and we’re hoping for Administration to be able to bring it forward and from there, look at whether or not there needs to be more investigation or more detail provided to us from Administration.”

Currently proposed changes to Traffic Bylaw 1232/19 include lowering the town’s speed limit from 50 km/hr to 40 km/hr unless otherwise posted.

In addition, Playground Zone speed limit times would be changed from 8:30 a.m. to one hour after sunset, to now be 7:30 a.m. – 9:00 p.m., consistent with other municipalities and easier to patrol according to Town officials.

Also of note, School Zones will be the same as Playground Zones on school days.

Poole says there are always varied opinions on how to move forward with any major changes to Town bylaws.

“What we discovered at the last council meeting was that there was enough questions being asked, that council would be better-off to defer it,” declares Poole. “We’re hoping to put forward a bylaw that will increase safety within our town. How it comes forward will be determined by council over the next few weeks.”

Other changes to the Traffic Bylaw include but are not limited to; changes to definitions, corrections to verbiage and punctuation, expansion of Part 4 – Parking within the town and an addition to Part 9.8, noting costs incurred by the Town for the clearing of sidewalks now being added to the tax roll if unpaid.

Penalties have also been reviewed, as has the prosecution of offences.

Poole says both he and council appreciate the input received from the public so far.

“We appreciated the individual who came forward and made statements and there’s been a lot of interest within the community on social media, so we’ve taken note of that,” adds Poole. “We also received a number of written submissions. All of those have been recorded and of course read by council, so all of the information that has come forward, we are taking into account.”