Norfolk County apologizes for misstep, votes to move crosswalk

Norfolk County on Tuesday apologized to the community and voted to move a crosswalk away from the foot of the Carillon Tower War Memorial in Simcoe.

Councilors unanimously approved plans to move the crosswalk to the north side of Wilson Drive at Norfolk Street. They also voted to remove pavement markings and concrete bump ins in front of the tower and restore the site to its original condition.

The move comes after council was heavily criticized by various groups including the Royal Canadian Legion, Norfolk Historical Society and heritage advisory committee for planning to put a crosswalk in front of the tower. Construction was stopped after the public backlash and county staff were sent back to the drawing board to come up with a new plan following a July 11 council-in-committee meeting.

“I do want to start off by saying I’m sorry to those who were offended by the crosswalk we put in front of the memorial,” Andrew Grice, the county’s general manager environmental and infrastructure Services, said at Tuesday’s council meeting. “This was certainly not the intent of staff and nobody meant any disrespect to the memorial or the people that it honours.

“On behalf of our group, I do apologize to the community.”

Grice said county staff is always looking to improve and learn from its missteps.

A new charting system has been implemented to accurately capture stakeholder engagement so that the county doesn’t find itself in a similar situation in the future, Grice said.

Mayor Amy Martin also apologized to the community, the legion and heritage groups.

“We meant no disrespect to our community, to our heritage, the tower and those it memorializes,” Martin said. “We meant no offence.”

The tower is 60-feet tall and contains 23 bells. It was dedicated on June 17, 1925 in memory of Norfolk County residents who died in the First World War and now serves as a memorial for all Norfolk residents who made the supreme sacrifice for the freedoms now enjoyed by Canadians.

The crosswalk is close to Simcoe Composite School and, according to reports, was the result of requests from residents, families and school staff for increased safety. A review by county staff that included studies of pedestrian and vehicular traffic determined a crosswalk is warranted.

Grice told councilors that work on the crosswalk will begin as soon as possible and the work will be done before the start of school in September.

Moving the crosswalk to the new location will cost an extra $30,000 bringing the total cost of the project to $147,000. Staff recommended the extra funds come from the municipal levy.

However, given how much the project upset so many people in the community, Coun. Kim Huffman suggests the extra money come from the council priorities reserve fund – not the municipal levy.

Huffman said there is still a lot of uproar in the community about the misstep and that it would be taxpayer money being used to correct it.

Councilors supported Huffman’s proposal and the extra cost for the project will come from the council initiatives reserve fund.

count. Alan Duthie thanked county staff for bringing back a new proposal quickly and for meeting with stakeholders at the construction site.

Duthie raised the issue of the crosswalk’s location at the council-in-committee meeting on July 11 and led the effort to have it moved to the new location.

“Those might have been tricky waters to navigate but I appreciate it as well as all of the feedback we received leading up to that meeting,” Duthie said.

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