CARROT RIVER — Carrot River council has passed the first reading on a new traffic bylaw, which contains where heavy trucks can and cannot go in town, and eliminates a stipulation limiting where school buses can stop.
The previous traffic bylaw was written by the town in 1984.
Before the bylaw passes council will give it a second and third reading.
The previous traffic bylaw stated buses could only turn on their stop lights at specific parts of town, an aspect of the bylaw that the town was required to amend whenever the school division added a new bus stop.
This aspect of the bylaw has been removed in its entirety.
Kevin Trew, Carrot River’s administrator, said the town has received positive comments about its removal.
“I’ve received some very positive comments from public that we should remove, they were very appreciative that we remove this,” Trew said.
“It’s about running lights and it’s about safety. One of the things local governments, municipalities, shouldn’t do is they shouldn’t override rules and laws that are made by provincial.”
Heavy trucks were another aspect of the bylaw.
Trew said the new traffic bylaw has the option for future councils to add a heavy truck route in Carrot River.
“We are restating where heavy trucks can travel. Even though we’re not making a certified heavy truck route, we are stating heavy trucks can travel in certain places. Obviously heavy trucks can travel on the highway through town, obviously; heavy trucks can travel on railway delivering grain to the elevator; heavy trucks can travel on Birch Road to any of the approaching places in town, so Birch Road to the highway.”
An item carried over from the old bylaw stipulates heavy loaded grain trucks cannot be parked in residential areas.
“They shouldn’t be travelling in residential areas, and they shouldn’t be parked in residential areas,” Trew said. “That’s more weight restriction on the road… We’re not confident there are any residential streets in Carrot River who have been built to accommodate those extra weights.”
He said that while this isn’t a new part of the bylaw, it was made clearer.
The town also considered moved an idling section from the noise bylaw that had to do with semi-tractor trailers, but ultimately eliminated the section altogether.
“There was a noise bylaw that stated semi-tractor trailers could not run anywhere overnight in Carrot River for longer than half an hour,” Trew said.
He added that the town hadn’t enforced this bylaw for a number of years, instead prioritizing whether it is in a residential area or not.
“This is something that this council and also members of the general public the last couple of years — when we had conversations with different owners of trucks who have said, ‘What on earth are we thinking? The Town of Carrot River, our key industries are forestry, peat moss and farming and there are bylaws on the record that are actually not supporting our key environmental drivers’”.
In response, council decided to eliminate that aspect of the bylaw completely.
“They said, as long as they’re not allowed to park in residential areas there is no problem with idling,” Trew said.
He added that this council is trying to accommodate trucks more than the bylaws have before, but also recognizing out of respect they shouldn’t be bothering residential neighborhoods.
Another new aspect of the bylaw is enforcement of municipal signs, such as the “five minute” parking zone near the rink.
Previously, the town didn’t have any bylaw which allowed them to enforce these signs. Now the town will be able to fine persons who break these zones.
“Where we have wheelchair zones and five minute parking zones where they’re municipally run we’re going to have the authority, we always had the authority, but we’ll have a bylaw to enforce,” Trew said. “Our intention is not to fine these people, our intention is to say, ‘This is the bylaw, abide by it and move.’”
Unless there are any delays, the traffic bylaw is expected to have its second and third reading in November.
