Regional representative discusses St. Davids roundabout

Niagara-on-the-Lake councillors were given an opportunity to ask questions of Niagara Region’s transportation director Frank Tassone on Tuesday night.   

And one project that has been a topic during recent meetings at town hall, a planned roundabout at York and Four Mile Creek roads in St. Davids, was raised as Tassone stood at the town hall podium, joined by Regional Coun. Andrea Kaiser.

Tassone provided a presentation at Tuesday's committee-of-the-whole planning meeting about capital projects such as road and bridge rehabilitations, as well as intersection improvements being made to regional roads in Niagara-on-the-Lake. One of those intersections is where the roundabout is set to be built. About 15 per cent of the detailed design phase is complete, he told councillors.   

A petition with more than 1,400 signatures was an agenda item at a committee-of-the-whole planning meeting earlier this year, expressing opposition to the traffic feature. This led to council resubmitting correspondence already sent to the region previously, both in 2021 and 2022. The most recent batch of recommendations, sent to the region in August 2022, included wording that the town “does not support” a roundabout in St. Davids.     

Other arguments made at that time were that there was a “serious flaw” in an environmental study report, referring to St. Davids Public School not being included in the environmental study area. However later, as a regional representative explained to councillors, the school was included in a broader study area. Tassone also reiterated that it was part of the study when he was asked about it Tuesday by Coun. Sandra O’Connor.  “To the best of my knowledge, the school area was considered in the environmental assessment,” he said, adding that confusion may have resulted from a photo of the study area not including the school.   

Pedestrian safety was also raised by the town in 2022, reads the motion sent about a year and a half ago.   

In 2021, council also suggested the region consider stoplights at the intersection.  

On Tuesday, when Coun. Erwin Wiens asked Tassone why stoplights were not chosen, the transportation director said this was a result of consultants and sub-consultants scoring a roundabout higher than lights at the intersection. One factor that contributed to the ranking is that lights would have a worse socioeconomic impact on nearby businesses because of the nature of collisions that take place at intersections with lights, versus at roundabouts.  When there are stoplights, T-bone collisions are very common, whereas collisions at roundabouts are mostly sideswipes, he said.   

Tassone said construction could start as early as 2027 on the roundabout, but also noted this date isn’t set in stone.   

Before taking questions from council, Tassone listed 12 regional projects on the one-to-five-year forecast that will take place in town. An overhaul of Niagara Stone Road in Virgil is nearing completion, he said, which also led later to more discussion about the St. Davids roundabout when Lord Mayor Gary Zalepa asked about streetscaping.   

Tassone said the town pitched in $1 million for streetscaping efforts related to the overhaul of Niagara Stone Road, and that could be a possibility at the new roundabout, in addition to getting feedback from the public on how they want the final product to appear. “We are committed to have the community involved in how that looks,” he said.   

Tassone also addressed speed cameras and said a reduction of seven kilometres per hour has been noticed in Niagara since four cameras went up in the winter. One was set up at Niagara Stone Road near Crossroads Public School from January to the end of March, and a new one was recently installed in the community safety zone along York Road, between Queenston Road and Concession 3 in front of St. Davids Public School. “That’s the real goal for us – to change the behaviour of motorists,” he said.   

The camera on the stretch in front of St. Davids Public School becomes active the week of April 15. The camera on Niagara Stone Road near Crossroads School will no longer be active by the end of this week, and will be removed.

The discussion between councillors and Tassone and Kaiser was cut short by Coun. Gary Burroughs, who was chairing the committee-of-the-whole meeting Tuesday night. He said four public meetings on the agenda needed to be started and that the meeting was already behind schedule, noting this on more than one occasion while Wiens was asking questions.   

“If that’s the chair’s ruling, I’ll live with it,” said Wiens.   

Kaiser reminded councillors that she is available for anyone who wanted to continue the conversation. “Certainly, anyone is free to call me anytime,” she said.