The Neighbourhood Traffic Committee Process

Policy

 

1. Purpose

The goal of the Plan is to prepare a Neighbourhood Traffic Calming Plan (the “Plan”), which should be based on the use of traffic calming, enforcement or regulatory measures to satisfy as fully as practicable the following objectives:

• Improve safety and convenience for pedestrians and cyclists;
• Reduce the number and severity of collisions;
• Reduce the speed and volume of motorized vehicles;
• Reduce the volume of extraneous or non-local traffic;
• Minimize traffic impacts on adjacent local residential streets;
• Reduce motor vehicle emissions; and
• Maintain access for local traffic and emergency vehicles.

 

2. Initial Step

A formal request must be received from a resident(s) or by the Local Ratepayers Association by either the City Council staff or Engineering Services Department staff. A petition is required from the resident to which Engineering Services staff will provide the resident the area road network to collect support for the petition to initiate the traffic review.

 

3. The Plan

The area of the Neighbourhood Traffic Calming Plan should be bounded by collector or arterial roadways, and should correspond as closely as possible to that of the local ratepayers association, if applicable. An individual roadway can be requested and all procedures will be followed accordingly. To provide and ensure that the area or roadway under consideration for traffic calming is properly captured, the area or roadway must have been assumed by the City a minimum of five years. This five year time period will allow the neighbourhood to mature and to develop the travel pattern of the area residents.

The Plan should incorporate traffic calming measures in accordance with the City’s Warrants for the Use of Traffic Calming Measures, and as specified in City of Vaughan Standard Drawings J-1 to J-10 and the Canadian Guide to Neighbourhood Traffic Calming (Transportation Association of Canada, 1998). Variations in the design of these traffic calming measures may be incorporated into the Plan if approved by the Engineering Services Department.

 

4. Community Meetings

A community meeting is to be held to discuss the Plan but the meeting shall not be held during the summer vacation months of June, July and August. It may not be appropriate to hold public meetings at other times, such as during religious holidays. All public meetings shall begin no later than 7:00 pm.

 

 

Procedure

 

1. Establishing the Plan

* If a local ratepayer’s association exists in the area, then its executive may contact their Councillor’s office in writing (with a petition) or the Engineering Services Department to request a review for traffic calming.

* If no such association exists, then an area resident must submit a letter requesting a review for traffic calming. A petition is then required from the resident and the Engineering Services staff will provide the resident the area road network to collect support to initiate the traffic review.

* In either of the above cases, the request shall be brought to the attention of the Ward Sub-committee and the Local Councillor.

* A single deputant may appear before Committee of the Whole shall be sufficient to request a review for traffic calming with the approval of City Council.

* Traffic calming will not be considered on collectors or arterials with a right-of-way width of 26.0 metres or greater.

 

2. Resident Support

Once a letter or notification is received, Engineering Services staff will proceed:

Only if the survey reflects a response rate of at least 75% of the residents identified within the road area network (as set out by Engineering Services staff ). At least 75% of the respondents must be in agreement to begin a traffic calming review.

The road area network will be determined as the normal travel route of residents through the area that has been requested.

 

3. Data Collection

Traffic data collection is vital part of the process to gain an understanding of the concerns raised by the community. This information is part of an analysis to determine the most appropriate traffic calming measure and is compared to Warrants 1, 2 and 3.

Traffic data to be collected:

• traffic volume – roadway AADT and/or intersection turning movement counts
• vehicle speeds
• collision history
• pedestrian studies
• traffic infiltration studies
• location characteristics

 

4. Developing the Plan

The requested submission shall identify any neighbourhood traffic concerns, identify preferences for various traffic calming measures in order to develop a Neighbourhood Traffic Calming Plan. The Engineering Services Department shall conduct supporting traffic studies as required and review in the field as necessary to develop the Plan.

 

Restrictions to be considered:

• Vertical measures such as speed humps/raised crosswalks and the like, are to be discontinued on feeder/primary, collector and arterial roadways.
• Non-vertical measures can be pursued on a local, feeder/primary, or collector two-lane classification roadway.
• The posted maximum speed limit shall not be greater than 50 km/h.
• Vertical measures such as speed humps/raised crosswalks not to be installed on a street designated as an emergency response route or transit route.
• Streetscaping features will be limited to focal points in the traffic calming plan.

 

Cost Availability Guideline:

• Local roadways – $30/metre of road
• Feeder/Primary/2 lane Collector roadways - $65/metre of road

 

The Plan will be submitted to the Local Councillor, Vaughan Fire & Rescue Services, Vaughan Public Works Department, York Regional Transit, York Region District School Board and the York Catholic District School Board for their review and comment of its feasibility and appropriateness.

 

Council Report:

A council report will be prepared outlining the details of the design, comments received from the outside agencies, a cost estimate of the Plan and recommending approval from Council to move forward with the community meeting.

 

5. The Community Meeting

• The Engineering Services Department shall arrange the time and place of the community meeting.
• The Engineering Services Department shall prepare notices for the meeting and a map of the Plan proposal, and mail them to all residents in the area no less than two weeks in advance of the meeting date.
• The notices will be mailed out to the affected residents as defined in Section 2.
• The notices shall also be sent to any institutional and commercial land uses within the study area.
• A copy of the meeting notice shall be sent to the members of the Ward Subcommittee, the Fire & Rescue Services Department, York Region Transit, and the School Boards.
• The notice along with the proposed traffic calming measures plan will be placed on the City’s website.

 

The purpose of the community meeting is to obtain public input on the Plan proposal. This meeting must be attended by Engineering Services Department staff and the Local Councillor. Minutes of the meeting shall be forwarded to the members of the Ward Sub-committee. The Plan must have the support of at least 75% of the residents at the meeting. A formal vote may be held to determine this level of support. Residents may provide input on the Plan to the Engineering Services Department in advance of the meeting that will be included in the vote. Signatures on a petition may be considered in respect to the traffic calming process, but shall not be counted numerically in a formal vote.

 

If minor changes are requested to the Plan, and these changes are acceptable to the Engineering Services Department, then these changes may be incorporated provided they have the support of 100% of the residents in the immediate area of the traffic calming measure to be reviewed. If major changes are requested, then a further community meeting is required.

 

6. Approving the Plan

A report will be submitted at a Committee of the Whole meeting which will include comments on the feasibility, impacts and estimated final costs of the Plan, and the concerns of other agencies.

 

The Committee of the Whole shall consider the Plan and Engineering Services Department report, hear deputations from the public and interested parties, consider the public support demonstrated at the community meeting, and make a recommendation to City Council.

 

The implementation of the plan is subject to approval in the following Capital Budget year.

 

7. Dealing with Additional Requests:

Should a request for additional traffic calming measure(s) be made after the Plan has been approved by Council, but before the Plan is implemented, then the resident making the request shall circulate a petition, signed by the residents directly affected, indicating support of 100% for the additional measure(s).

 

The “directly affected” shall mean those residents that will have the additional traffic measure(s) located near their home. The Engineering Services Department shall ultimately determine what area is to be included in the petition.

 

If major changes are requested, then a further community meeting to vote on these changes and Council approval is required. Should a request for additional traffic calming measures be made after the Plan has been implemented then a further community meeting, with public notification, and Council approval are required.

 

8. Evaluating the Plan

The Engineering Services Department shall report to the Committee of the Whole between one and two years after the implementation of the Plan. Several Plans may be reported on at once. The report shall describe any benefits and problems that have been identified or changes that may be required to improve the effectiveness of the Plan.

 

If major changes are recommended then a further community meeting and Council approval is required before they can be implemented. Should a number of requests be received for additional traffic calming measures that are not part of the recommended changes, then it may be necessary to hold further community meetings.

 

9. Future Modifications

Unless a health and safety issue has been identified by Engineering Services staff, no modifications will be considered to the traffic calming measures for a minimum period of 5 years following implementation. The procedure for any future modifications will begin at Section 2 – Resident Support and then continue through remaining stages of the policy.

 

A Neighbourhood Traffic Committee is a group of residents that volunteer to work with the City’s Engineering Department to develop a traffic calming plan to address speeding concerns in their neighbourhood.