CitySSMCity Council ended up dealing with two traffic lights motions on Monday night instead of one.  After a single motion was split in two, council voted to defeat both motions.  The above ground traffic lights will remain at the intersection of Goulais Avenue and Wallace Terrace.  Ward 6 Councillor Joe Krmpotich was vocal about how drivers would make a left turn from Goulais onto Wallace without a light being there.  He also mentioned the 360 signatures on a petition asking the lights stay up and all 32 people in attendance at a town hall meeting expressing the same opinion.  Ward 1 Councillor Paul Christian suggested that a four way stop would be more beneficial in improving safety there.  When it came to the one year pilot project for flashing lights at certain intersections in the city, Christian was in favour of the idea.  But Christian wanted a time that was more appropriate to better determine safety — 1 to 6 a-m as opposed to 11 p-m to 6 a-m.  Ward 3 councillor Matt Shoemaker pointed to Sault, Michigan as an example of the effectiveness of flashing lights in preventing accidents, but fellow councillors Susan Myers and Marchy Bruni did not agree with that comparison. The affected intersections are:

— Wallace Terrace at Goulais Avenue
— Lyons Avenue at Wellington Street West
— Lyons Avenue at Patrick Street
— Wallace Terrace at Korah Road

Shoemaker spoke about his campaign for fewer signals and described the community as ‘oversignalized’.  Ward 6 councillor Ross Romano spoke about the historical impact that the lights at Wallace and Goulais had ‘always been there’.  As for the one year pilot, Bruni expressed his opposition to the idea.  He says the flashing lights run the risk of adding to the 21 accidents at the intersections of Lyons Avenue at Wellington Street West and Lyons at Patrick Street over the last 24 months.

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There will be a building permit fee hike of 28 percent this year after all.  The City started charging rent to the Building Division to recuperate some of an accumulating reserve back in 2010.  Right now, the reserve in the Building Division is down to 260 thousand dollars from about one million a few years earlier.  Ward 3 councillor Matt Shoemaker was the mover of a proposed amendment that would have resulted in a reduction in the increase in permit fees.  This would have been done by removing the rent charge from the Building Division costs. Shoemaker called it ‘unreasonable’ for such a hike under the current economic conditions. But Council voted 9-2 against the idea.  It was announced by City Chief Administrative Officer Al Horsman that if the fees weren’t increased, 85 thousand dollars in savings would have to be found or the levy would go up by 85 thousand dollars.

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It will be a while before a final decision is made on how Sault Ste. Marie should honour Ron Francis.  Examples of ideas to honour the NHL star ranged from the renaming of a roadway to dedicating an executive suite inside the Essar Centre in his name.  Ward 2 councillor Susan Myers agreed with the idea, adding a precedent was set with the naming of the Angelo Bumbacco Room at the Essar.  But no final decision was made and Sault Mayor Christian Provenzano felt the matter should come back and be decided on at a later date.