J.R. Reid parents voice safety concerns

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This article was published 17/10/2024 (597 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Four parents from J.R. Reid School appeared before the Brandon School Division’s Board of Trustees Tuesday night to express concerns about how the upcoming rebuild of 26th Street could affect students.

The City of Brandon is currently planning a thorough rebuilding of the street between Park and Victoria avenues. The parents said they wanted to make sure the BSD is making sure safety concerns are addressed in their conversations with the city.

“Our key concerns are increased volume of traffic in front of J.R. Reid, crosswalk and patroller safety, unsafe drop-off and pick-up conditions, loss of school infrastructure and play space and inadequate planning and consultation,” said one of the parents, Tara Stokes.

The city originally proposed four potential options: a multi-use pathway, a raised cycle track, a buffered bike lane with no available on-street parking and a buffered bike lane with available on-street parking. Some of the options would see traffic reduced to one lane in each direction and on-street parking removed.

In a special Brandon City Council meeting held in August, city staff recommended council proceed with the buffered bike lane option, as it would be easy to retrofit back into on-street parking if it proved unpopular.

However, city staff said at the time they would confer with the BSD over safety issues before making a final proposal to council sometime later this year.

The Sun was unable to attend Tuesday’s board meeting in person and portions of audio in the archived video of the proceedings are inaudible.

In the sections that can be heard, the parents said that most students at J.R. Reid either walk to school or get dropped off in individual vehicles.

“At this point, traffic on 26th Street is already congested and poses significant challenges,” which Stokes said included near-misses at nearby crosswalks and high numbers of speeding tickets.

“It is commonplace to witness people speeding through the school zone, using their cellphones while driving, not stopping at crosswalks, parking in fire lanes and changing lanes and making U-turns in the middle of intersections. All of this already has potential to be (the cause of) an accident. We are concerned that the proposed changes will further increase safety concerns at J.R. Reid.”

Beyond a possible increased to traffic congestion, Stokes argued that the proposed closure of the left-hand turn on Balsam Crescent will lead more traffic to go through the school zone and the potential elimination of on-street parking will lead to side streets getting busier, making it more difficult to drop off students.

One proposal from the city was to enlarge the existing parking lot at the school and re-route traffic onto 25th Street, but the parents are concerned this would lead to the loss of areas that kids currently use to play.

Stokes said some parents are concerned about a perceived lack of consultation and communication on behalf of the city with regards to this project and that “the data used to justify the project does not accurately reflect the needs or concerns of the community school.”

There was an online survey at one point, she said, but many parents did not see it before it ended.

According to the parents, these safety concerns have already been the focus of a J.R. Reid Parent Council meeting on Oct. 2, which they said was attended by Mayor Jeff Fawcett and several other city councillors. They added that a future presentation is being planned for a Brandon City Council meeting.

Also, they asked that school trustees request a formal comprehensive safety review before a final decision is made and that the school division formally oppose the proposed changes and instead lobby for a multi-use path rather than bike lanes.

Supt. Mathew Gustafson said senior administration have met with the city twice on the matter, once in the spring and once in August, and no further meetings have been scheduled.

“We’ve offered to work with the city on that,” Gustafson said. “It was my understanding they were taking our information and going away and would be contacting us.”

He said he would try to get an update on the project’s progress from the city in time for the next board of trustees’ meeting.

Multiple trustees also talked about inviting city councillors to a committee of the whole meeting to discuss the matter.

“We’re taking this very seriously and we’ll going to continue to discuss this,” board vice-chair Duncan Ross told the parents.

On Wednesday, Mayor Jeff Fawcett confirmed to the Sun that he and Couns. Shaun Cameron (Ward 4), Greg Hildebrand (Ward 5) and Shawn Berry (Ward 7) and Jason Splett (Ward 8) attended that Oct. 2 meeting.

With winter fast approaching, the mayor said construction on the road likely won’t happen until spring.

With the eventual goal of extending active transportation options across the entire length of 26th Street, the mayor said it might be a good time for Brandon to start having larger discussions with residents on the subject.

In an email, the city’s general manager of development services Mark Allard said the last time Brandon and the school division met was before the last presentation to council in August. Since then, Allard said additional consideration has been given to parking, student drop-off and traffic flow issues near J.R. Reid School.

The next step for city administration, Allard said, is to take a design proposal to the BSD for consideration and posting a copy of that design online for public counsel before a final proposal is made to city council. This will take place throughout the fall and winter, with construction expected sometime next year.

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