The council heard a notice of motion to review options to illuminate intersections with LED lighting.
Councillor Nicholson said that Lapasse and Lookout Road, Gore Line/Westmeath Road, and Foresters’ Falls/Zion Line were particularly dark, and fell within the Township’s purview.
“The number of people living here and using the roads is increasing. The seasonal residents are extending their stays due to COVID restrictions.” he said. “We want to look into if this is something we want to do if County doesn’t want to do it.”
Councillor Mackay said that Lapasse and Lookout road was “highly visible” and said they should fight for “Something more dangerous.”
Councillor Jackson said that there had been complaints at Cedar Haven/Forester’s Falls road, and that they might require solar-powered due to a lack of nearby electricity.
“I don’t know if you can word that, Rob [Trembley] to include all nearby intersections in the LED project.”
Mayor Moore said that there were “a lot more people walking, wearing construction jackets” and that “it’s only a matter of time before there’s an accident.”
Reeve Regier said there was a County study that determined they would not place lighting at intersections. She also pointed out the lighting at Westmeath and Beachburg Road was “proven very effective” and recommended looking into the statistics.
“The more intersections illuminated, the better.”
Councillor McLaughlin asked if the Township were already working on a policy.
“The whole problem is that, if we decide to do this, get ready for the requests, and everyone’s intersection is always the darkest.” He said. “If we’re going to do this, we need to have a plan for what criteria we have for choosing intersections. The more intersections we include, the better, but we need to have a process.”
CAO Trembley said that they were “looking at getting some expertise on technical issues” and to determine were the dark spots are.
“As part of that project, we’ll sort that out, and hopefully have a process to go with on future ones. For now we’re just going for the low-hanging fruit, but we should get to a point as part of the process to have a policy for this.”
Councillor Nicholson said he ‘acknowledged the money pot is not limitless” and they may not agree with County, but that the Township “needs to take an active look at it”.
The motion was carried.
