City staff will look into the possibility of easing up on residents who have placed signs on public property to deter speeding, but it could be a while before they get answers.
At Monday’s council committee meeting, Coun. Mason Ainsworth asked staff to explore “the feasibility of amending Chapter 832 of the City of Orillia Municipal Code—Signs to permit Children at Play safety signs to be temporarily erected on public property.”
“There's a lot of folks who are putting out these signs on municipal property, which is the big issue,” Ainsworth said, noting it contravenes the bylaw. “On the other hand, people are trying to … deter speeding in their neighbourhoods and I think it’s been working.”
Residents along various streets in town began placing the “Slow down, kids at play” signs by the road about a year ago. Some were told to remove them from city-owned property — the strip of grass between the road and the sidewalk — after bylaw officers responded to complaints.
One of the concerns was advertising, as a local real-estate agent’s information was on some of the signs.
Ainsworth wants the city to allow the signs, without any advertising on them, temporarily.
Coun. Ralph Cipolla asked if bylaw officers could give residents a pass while awaiting a staff report, but Gayle Jackson, the city’s clerk and CAO, noted the purpose of the inquiries section of the council committee agenda is to request information, not make decisions, because, “at this point in time, we don’t have all the facts in front of us.”
Cipolla asked how long it would take for a report to come back to council. Staff couldn’t say.
Ian Sugden, the city’s director of development services and engineering, noted the bylaw office is dealing with “a number of COVID-related matters as well as all of the other normal workload.”
Jackson noted bylaw officers are not driving around looking for the signs. Instead, she said, enforcement is happening mostly on a “reactive basis.”
