Don't park or stop on William Street in King City
Council passes bylaw
By Bill Rea

The bulk of William Street in King City is now a no-parking and no-stopping zone, and the idea of making it a one-way street has not been abandoned either.

Township council recently approved the bylaw for the street after hearing a number of complaints from local residents.

Township Clerk Chris Somerville reported Monday no-parking signs have been up for some time. Nostopping signs are slated to be installed soon, possibly early this week.

The concerns centered around the eateries operating on King Road near the intersection, as well as traffic patterns in the area. Many of these issues were raised at a community policing meeting held in June. The staff report to council pointed out some of the parking concerns stemmed from patrons of the restaurants, while others dealt with delivery trucks that were traversing and stopping on the residential side streets.

The report stated William had already been designated a no-parking area, but residents were complaining because enforcement had lapsed.

As well, council had been asked to consider anti-idling regulations to prevent people from dashing into the donut store for snacks and leaving the engine running.

Local resident Paul Harding has been leading the calls for action. He told council in June there were other areas of concern, including littering, vandalism and suspected drug deals going on in the parking lots. He was also worried about traffic patterns impacting on the routes children would take to get to the King campus of King City Public School, and had suggested William be made a one-way, southbound street, along with a no-exit sign being installed on King Boulevard.

Addressing the antiidling issues, staff looked over bylaws in place in Markham, Newmarket and Vaughan, and discovered a number of exemptions that would allow a vehicle to idle under certain circumstances. They included emergency vehicles, armoured trucks, vehicles equipped with

refrigeration units, vehicles taking part in parades, buses, etc. They also pointed out there are exceptions in extreme weather, when vehicle engines need to be running to maintain air conditioning and heaters. They concluded the nostopping provisions would achieve the desired results locally.

As for making William a one-way street, the report stated the traffic calming policy, which has been approved by council, sets out conditions that have to be met before staff can consider something like that. That includes demonstrating there's adequate demand from area residents, in the form of a petition with signatures representing 70 per cent of the households on the street. As well, there has to be consideration of the impact felt by people on adjacent streets. The report said 70 per cent of those households would have to support it too. That's followed by an environmental assessment.

Early staff concerns about the idea included the increased traffic volumes on King Boulevard and Dew Street near the school, which they said could be counterproductive in terms of pedestrian safety; residents would be forced to make turns at King Road and King Boulevard, which is not signalized; and operations concerns involving garbage collection, snow plowing, etc.

Harding agreed a number of the concerns had been addressed, adding he didn't expect the Township to do much about the vandalism. He said the police are working on it. He also thanked staff for doing

something positive, although he still wondered how effective it will be.

"Any signage is only as good as its enforcement,"he observed, adding there's no reason to assume signs are going to deter people from stopping.

Harding also said they should be able to get 70 per cent of local residents supporting the one-way street notion.

"People are starting to move on it," he observed. "It's a no-brainer. It's a oneblock one-way." "I know they're well on

their way to getting the 70 per cent," Councillor Steve Pellegrini remarked.

Harding also wondered why an environmental assessment would be needed for something like this. Director of Operations Jody LaPlante said the Environmental Assessment Act requires it, and he offered to produce the documentation for Harding.

Pellegrini also thought the Township should have an anti-idling bylaw, commenting he didn't think that idea would meet with a lot of resistance.