"'In a recorded vote last night, the Cobourg town council passed a motion not to widen Division Street and University Avenue to four lanes.
Mayor Jack Heenan cast the deciding vote in the five to four decision. Councillors Ray Bowen, Charles Johnston, Mac Lees and Mary Corbett voted for the motion. Councillors Brian Chase, Stewart Stanley, reeve Boyd Hendry and deputy-reeve Bob Wilson voted against it.
The motion proposed by Bowen and seconded by Johnston stated "that the road widening to four lanes be deleted from the Division Street and University Avenue reconstruction projects," adding "that the design work for four lanes be stopped."
In speaking to the motion, Heenan noted that the duty of the council was to respond to the objections of the delegations who opposed the widening of the two streets to 44 feet. "The council should reach some accommodation with the tax payers."
He said that D' Arcy Street, which had been mentioned in the previous discussions as an example, had been widened to 34 feet, not 44 feet. The two streets, he continued, should be restructured.
Heenan said that Cobourg was a provincial small town and he did not want to lose that atmosphere. The council, he suggested, should investigate alternatives to two and four-lane streets.
Reeve Boyd Hendry said he knew his position on the issue was an unpopular stand to take at this time but that he was convinced the town needed the two streets Widened. "Personally, I think that they – the streets -- will be safer as four lanes."
He also told the council, he had been informed that the roots of the trees which line the streets would be damaged when the sidewalks were repaired.
Wilson said that following the public meeting on Thursday which was held to discuss the widening of the two streets, he met with the engineers from Totten, Sims, Hubicki Assoctated Limited to try and reach a compromise.
Totten Sims, Hubicki, Associates Limited wrote the report which recommended that the two streets be Widened. He said that they had suggested the use of curb-nodes to reduce the speed of cars on the streets and maintain the street's appearance through the use of benches and trees.
Curb nodes Wilson explained, could be used at intersections which do not have traffic lights. They would extend across one lane of traffic on both sides of the street which would reduce road width to two lanes. This, he said; would make it easier for people to cross the street as well as help protect parked cars.
He said that Port Hope and Trenton both used such devices on their main streets.
Stanley added that the curb nodes on Trenton's main streets had successfully reduced the speed of cars. He said that the people of Trenton thought that they were “great.”
At the beginning of the discussion on the motion, Chase asked Bowen why he had proposed the motion when according to municipal procedure, the matter could have been dealt with when the money bylaw was given its second reading.
Chase suggested that Bowen was "grandstanding," and that the motion was "a political ploy."
Heenan told Chase he "should not be taking someone else’s inventory.”
He added that Chase was correct in matters of procedure. The issue could have been dealt with during the second reading of the money bylaw. However, he continued, the motion, if passed, would save the town the additional expense of preparing the bylaw for second reading.
The Municpal Act requires a bylaw duly passed by council for expenditure of town funds.
The Cobourg town council, Monday received another letter objecting to the widening of Division Street and University Avenue. The council proposed to consider it along with the approximately 130 other letters and petitions which they have on file concerning the issue.
In her letter to council, Mrs. Barbara Reid, the correspondding secretary for the Catholic Women's League of St Michael's Church, said that the league was concerned for the safety of the parishioners and school children.
She said that the Women's League had 130 members; some had small children attending St. Michael's School, some were senior citizens, some own property on University Avenue and Division Street and some rented homes on the two roads.
St Michael's School was the pastoral centre of the church, she explained. It was used for meetings of church groups in the evening.
She said that the concern of the League extended beyond 9 a.m. - 3.30 p.m., Monday- Friday to include all hours of the day and night, seven days a week.
She asked that the council reconsider its decision to widen the two streets to four lanes.
