One way

Council sends one-way street changes back to Traffic Committee

Residents of West, Water and Narrow Streets in Wellington might see a oneway street, but it won’t be anytime in the near future. At Thursday’s Committee of the Whole, council referred a series of measures proposed by staff to alleviate parking and traffic issues back to the Traffic Committee.

Councillor Mike Harper was in strong support of changing the streets to a one-way flow of traffic, and allowing parking only on one side of the street, noting it is a great solution to a problem he hears about daily. “I was plesantly surprised to see this on the list. All the residents on all three of these streets have been after me about it for well over a year,” said Harper. “We have great congestion problems. This will do a lot to alleviate congestion and safety issues.”

Several councillors, who also sit on the Traffic Committee, noted that proper process was not being followed. “It is a surprise to see this on the agenda. At the Traffic Committee we had a quick discussion on it, and staff was supposed to bring a report back to the committee, and instead of seeing it at the Traffic Committee, we see it here at Committee of the Whole. We seem to be skipping process again,” said Councillor Brad Nieman.

Nieman was also concerned about removing parking from one street and pushing it to other streets. “Where are we going to push them? If we remove parking, they get pushed to somewhere else on another street, and then we come back here again. The knee-jerk reactions try to solve a problem, but end up creating more problems,” he said.

“It’s really a function of there should never have been parking anyway,” said Harper. “They are too narrow. On Water Street we have the enbankment that is caving in due to high water, so there is very little land for them to park on anyway. There is a safety issue. And I think safety trumps convenient parking.” Harper noted there needs to be a parking study for Wellington as a whole, where there can be a bigger discussion about how cars and parking are dealt with.

Councillor Bill McMahon, who is also on the Traffic committee, noted he was becoming “Wellington weary.” “I am a little tired of how Wellington just keeps getting pushed in front of us and doesn’t go through the proper procedure. I cannot support this and would like to have it go through the Traffic Committee.”

Harper argued the recommendations should move forward regardless of how they got to council.

“Process is not the objective, process is the way to get to good decisions,” he said. “This is a good decision and we should approve it.”

However, council voted 7-5 to refer the motions back to the Traffic Committee.