A Thunder Beach resident in Tiny Township is hoping to throw some light on three main traffic-related concerns he has for that area.
Joel Rubinovich, who made a deputation to council at its recent meeting, said he was speaking for himself when bringing up these issues, but that others would also benefit from a resolution.
His first complaint involved the placement of street signs, which he believes is impractical.
"There is a lack of uniformity in sign size," reads his letter to council. "Placement of the signs often renders them useless as indicators of where to turn. Signs are often blocked by bushes, etc. Drivers cannot rely on them."
Rubinovich said that's not just true for the intersection of Chemin du Loup and Green Point Road, but also for other areas within the township.
"Another one that bothers me is Concession 12 East and Overhead Bridge Road," he said. "The sign is hidden behind the bush, it's small and can only be seen at the last minute."
And even if there are signs, Rubinovich said, there are no street lights illuminating them for drivers.
"When it's dark and you drive down (Chemin) du Loup and come to corner of Green Point (Road) there's absolutely no way you know this is where you turn," he said. "At the end of the street, there's a big yellow sign to indicate the end of du Loup. The turn off is before, you can't see it, and I miss it most every time. The street sign is on the right and the turn is on the left."
The last matter of concern Rubinovich mentioned related to debris in the form of pebbles on the roads.
"I've been up here, more of a permanent resident before my daughters," he said. "We take the same route to get to each other's homes and there's one particular corner where the pebbles have never been swept up. They did some repair work and there are more pebbles and there are no sidewalks. I'm not asking for sidewalks but as an older citizen, I find it inconvenient to walk on pebbles. I could fall very easily and break something."
Rubinovich said he was aware none of this would be looked after immediately but perhaps the public works staff could consider a regulation with respect to street signs and street lights and clean up roads more often.
In his conversations with department officials, he said, it seems as if they're on different wavelengths.
"One of the things you have to be prepared to do is to to go on site, and it's difficult to do so these days with COVID," said Rubinovich.
Tim Leitch, director of public works, said he did visit the site and staff did some corrections, including brushing around the current signs.
"The road was swept and we redid the tar and chip," he said. "The lighting was looked at through the dark sky initiative and we feel that we do have consistency. However, we will continue to provide a response to Mr. Rubinovich and look at these three requests and make sure satisfactory answers are provided."
Rubinovich said he disagreed with the claims of the clean up.
"With all due respect, there's a lot of tar and a lot of chip but nothing has been cleaned up at that intersection in the past five years I've been here, despite what you think," he said.
Coun. Cindy Hastings said it would be fruitful to hold some more discussions around this at an upcoming council meeting.
