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HomeMy WebLinkAboutINS-15-027 - School Related Traffic Impacts on Adjoining Neighbourhoods Staff Report I rTC'.�► t .R Community Services Department wmkitchener.ca REPORT TO: Community and Infrastructure Services Committee DATE OF MEETING: March 30, 2015 SUBMITTED BY: Justin Readman, Director, Transportation Services, 519-741-2200 ext. 7038 PREPARED BY: Ronald Schirm, Supervisor, Crossing Guards, 519-741-2200 ext. 7232 WARD(S) INVOLVED: ALL DATE OF REPORT: March 10, 2015 REPORT NO.: INS-15-027 SUBJECT: School Related Traffic Impacts on Adjoining Neighbourhoods RECOMMENDATION: For information BACKGROUND: At the Council Meeting dated January 26, 2015, Council made the following resolutions: WHEREAS the lack of available on-site parking at schools results in adverse parking conditions and places a strain on neighborhoods due to traffic volume during student arrival and dismissal times; and, WHEREAS increased traffic volume in school zones has resulted in complaints from area residents regarding blocked driveways and unsafe street congestion; and, WHEREAS area residents request By-law Enforcement staff to attend these locations to issue tickets, which does not necessarily address the underlying issues; and, WHEREAS the orderly movement of vehicular and pedestrian traffic in school zones involves not only the City of Kitchener, but also the Region of Waterloo and local area school boards; THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that Transportation Services staff undertake a review of similar strategies utilized by other municipalities to improve safety, pedestrian and traffic movement in school zones; ***This information is available in accessible formats upon request. *** Please call 519-741-2345 or TTY 1-866-969-9994 for assistance. BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that staff be directed to engage the Waterloo Region District School Board and Waterloo Catholic District School Board, the Region of Waterloo, Waterloo Regional Police and any other relevant stakeholders to develop possible solutions to improve and promote pedestrian safety and reduce neighbourhood traffic congestion in school zones; and, BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED that copies of this motion be circulated to the Regional Municipality of Waterloo, Waterloo Regional Police and the local area school boards Staff was directed to provide Council with a proposed process for undertaking this assignment including a problem statement, objectives, and a list of stakeholders, potential milestones and timelines. REPORT: Elementary and Secondary schools of both the Waterloo District School Board and the Waterloo Catholic District School Board have had an increasing impact on vehicular traffic and parking in the vicinities of school sites. This can be attributed to increased school population of each school site, changes in school transportation criteria, School board and individual school policies, as well as changes in public perception in terms of road and personal safety. Staff and members of Council regularly receive complaints from citizens unable to access their properties due to the actions and behaviours of parents and caregivers who park near schools. The issue is further complicated in that school sites do not provide adequate parking facilities for parent drop off/pick up and that the issue occurs twice each school day, for approximately 40 minutes prior to and at morning arrival and again approximately 45 minutes prior to and during afternoon dismissal. Individual schools have restricted drop off/pick up on their parking lots due to the lack of capacity, poor design and safety issues. Several initiatives have been established in the past with varying degrees of success. The City established a new fine structure and enforcement strategy with School Zone No Stopping. This has been quite successful in that By-law enforcement regularly visits all elementary school sites, issues infraction notices and for the most part has increased compliance to no stopping regulations along school frontages. One result is that the vehicular activity associated with school bell times has now been relocated to neighbouring streets. The Active and Safe Routes to School Committee, established in 2002 by the Public Health Unit of the Region of Waterloo and includes City staff representation, has worked with some success in increasing the modal split for walking and cycling to school. In the development process, more attention is paid to pedestrian access to school sites, provision of bike racks in effective locations and making it safer and more comfortable to access schools on foot. However, the overall trend still sees an ever increasing impact of vehicular traffic on the neighbourhoods in the proximity of schools. In order to mitigate this issue and address the Council resolutions staff will undertake the following- 1. Develop and administer a survey to other Ontario municipalities/school boards. Questions include requesting information on programming, regulations, policies, committees, who has responsibility for what, and most importantly, what has worked. 2. The survey results will be brought to the existing Active and Safe Routes to School Committee for dialogue. 3. With the Active and Safe Routes to School Committee staff will develop recommendations, resource requirements, timing and responsibilities for implementation of action items. 4. The City will host a stakeholder workshop, open to municipal and regional councillors and school board trustees to discuss findings of the survey and Active and Safe Routes to School Committee recommendations. 5. Report back to Council with key recommendations. Using the existing Active and Safe Routes to School Committee throughout the process represents the most effective working group in that the Committee already has staff representation from key stakeholders, has expertise in school travel planning and is a region-wide Committee. Members of the Committee include transportation staff from Kitchener, Waterloo and Cambridge, planning staff from the Waterloo District School Board and the Waterloo Catholic District School Board, staff from the School Transportation Services of Waterloo Region, Travelwise Transportation Management Association and Region of Waterloo Public Health. Staff is currently preparing the survey which will be distributed shortly. Results will be tabulated and shared with the Active and Safe Routes to School Committee in May 2015, with a stakeholder workshop planned for June. A report with recommendations will be brought to Council in September 2015. ALIGNMENT WITH CITY OF KITCHENER STRATEGIC PLAN: This endeavour is in alignment with many elements of the Strategic Plan, including being community minded, in providing and improving a service that "enhances the quality, safety, security, health and welfare of the community and citizens we serve." FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS: At this point there is no assigned budget; however, it is anticipated that the development of the survey, survey administration and development of recommendations can be accommodated within existing staffing resources. Recommendations from this process may have budgetary impacts and will be reported back to Council at a later date. COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT: The report has outlined the community engagement through a stakeholder workshop and sharing survey findings with the Active and Safe Routes to School Committee INFORM — This report has been posted to the City's website with the agenda in advance of the council / committee meeting. ACKNOWLEDGED BY: Dev Tyagi, Deputy CAO Infrastructure Services Department