Two instersections made safer for the visually impaired

City council briefs: From the Nov. 7 meeting

Two local intersections will soon have audio crosswalk signals.

Twenty-year-old Shae Lake suffers from a degenerative disease that causes blindness and on Nov. 7, she asked City council to approve the installation of audio crosswalk signals on Veterans Boulevard and Main Street as well as Main Street and Stonegate Drive.

“My disease causes me to lose my eyesight and I am legally blind,” she said.

“The crossings are extremely dangerous and the audio signals are a good opportunity. It is a good learning experience for children and it will help the numerous seniors who cross there as well.”

Lake said because there are no audio signals and she is unable to walk into town by herself, she is “basically stuck at home now.”

“Without the signals, I’m basically trapped,” she said.

She currently takes Airdrie Transit to get around but would like to be able to walk if she chooses.

The Canadian National Institute for the Blind sent a letter to the City to request the audio signals in August.

“We have a duty to accommodate this and we expect the signals to be up and running in about two weeks,” said Lorne Stevens, director of community infrastructure with the City. “We apologize for any delay the City may have been involved in.”

Homeowners around the area who could hear the signals will be informed of the installation as soon as possible, he added.

Public demonstration bylaw

Council voted to increase penalties for illegal public demonstrations, Nov. 7.

Prior to the increase, Traffic Bylaw No. 803 included a $50 fine for “pedestrians (who) crowd or jostle other pedestrians in such a manner as to create or cause discomfort, disturbance or confusion.” The new fine is $250.

Staff looked into changing the bylaw after two separate instances where anti-abortion protesters from the Canadian Centre for Bio-Ethical Reform exercised their right to free speech in downtown Airdrie.

“A lot of the information they were displaying is quite offensive to a lot of people,” said Mayor Peter Brown.

“If there is a way to deter those types of protests from the community, it is a good thing to do. We have done what we can as a municipality because much of this is a freedom of speech issue.”

The bylaw also states, “Three or more persons shall not stand in a group or so near to each other on any highway, sidewalk or boulevard as to obstruct the entrance to or exit from a building, or to obstruct or prevent other persons from using such highway, sidewalk or boulevard.”

“It is fine if they just stand there,” said Airdrie RCMP Staff Sgt. Dennis Esayenko. “When they engage someone in conversation and that person says, ‘No thank you, I don’t want to talk about that,’ and they are persistent, then there is a breach of the bylaw and the Criminal Code.”

Community project

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will be partnering with the City on a community project, building concessions and washrooms at Chinook Winds Regional Park.

“We wanted to find a good project for them and meet their needs and skill set,” said Archie Lang, operations manager of parks and public works.

“This is a great group to work with.”

Darcy Rausch, representative with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, presented his group’s desire to help out in the community at the Sept. 6 council meeting.

“We would like to do some kind of service in Airdrie this year,” he said. “Especially this year, our focus is on some extra service in the community. We are willing to help out.”

The project is in support of the organization’s 75th anniversary of the churches’ Community Welfare Program.

Lang said the church has between 60 and 100 members who will be working on the project at any given time. Work will commence on the building on Nov. 12. It should be completed by early 2012.

It is expected this partnership could save the City as much as $100,000.

Rubber sidewalks

After a concerned resident raised the issue in February, City staff came to council with a report on the use of rubber sidewalks in other jurisdictions, Nov. 7.

Staff looked into product uses in Vancouver, Kelowna, Calgary and a pilot project by a developer in Ravenswood in Airdrie.

“These projects have involved a variety of different rubber sidewalk products in a variety of applications,” said Kyle Reese, team leader for roads in public works.

He listed the key benefits of the rubber products as: speed of installation, aesthetically pleasing finish, quick and easy access for maintenance such as tree root pruning or replacing base gravel, flexibility of the material and the material’s ability to withstand de-icing products.

The key concerns from other municipalities using the products are the base materials washing out or being insufficient, snow clearing equipment catching on the edges of the panels, lifting and separating of joints and slight colour loss due to sun exposure.

“It could be an alternative to sidewalks but it is not necessarily good in all circumstances,” said Reese.

Rubber product is about the same cost as concrete but typically more than asphalt and has roughly the same life span as both concrete and asphalt.

“At this point, staff intends to continue monitoring the use of these products and give consideration to utilizing these products an a small scale trial basis within a future project,” said Reese.

“There is no situation right now where we want to try it, but we will keep looking for one in the future.”