On Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024, Kingston Metropolis Council voted to specific opposition to proposed laws that might see the provincial authorities in a position to veto the plans for (or already present) bicycle lanes in municipalities throughout Ontario. Photograph by Doug Berman.
The Metropolis of Kingston is telling the province to remain in its personal lane.
Councillors voted unanimously on a movement criticizing the Ontario authorities over its newest laws that goals to steer bike lanes off busy roadways, calling it “significant overreach.”
Others had blunt phrases to say concerning the provincial authorities’s motives.
“It’s about winning the next election. I hate this kind of politics,” mentioned Kingscourt-Rideau District Councillor Brandon Tozzo.
Tozzo recommended the federal government’s motives are clear — to drive a wedge between suburban voters, who usually tend to commute by automobile, and concrete voters prematurely of the subsequent Ontario election.
Councillors expressed dismay and disbelief over the Ford authorities’s controversial new laws, referred to as Invoice 212 — Lowering Gridlock, Saving You Time Act, that was unveiled final month.
The Ontario authorities mentioned its laws would require provincial approval earlier than putting in new biking lanes on municipal roads, and it permits the transportation minister to evaluation already-established bike lanes in cities and cities. The pending legislation has despatched a chill by way of municipalities throughout Ontario, which have invested tens of millions of {dollars} establishing biking networks to advertise energetic transportation — which Kingston councillors famous at their most up-to-date assembly.
Debated on the Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024, assembly of Council, the preamble to the brand new movement (merchandise 22 of the agenda) mentioned a part of the approval municipalities can be required to display is that proposed biking lanes is not going to have a unfavourable impression on automobile site visitors. The movement additionally acknowledged that biking lanes are an “essential element of urban transportation and road safety planning, and requiring provincial approval represents a significant overreach into municipal jurisdiction.”
The decision, carried by an 11 to 0 vote, expressed help of the Affiliation of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO), a province-wide foyer group of municipalities, to “maintain municipal jurisdiction” over the set up of bicycle lanes. Copies of the decision will probably be despatched to Premier Doug Ford, Ontario Transportation Minister Prabmeet Singh Sarkaria, Kingston and The Islands Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) Ted Hsu, Lanark-Frontenac-Kingston MPP John Jordan, the AMO, and the Kingston Coalition for Lively Transportation.
A number of councillors mentioned Invoice 212 is tailor-made to handle Toronto’s gridlock, however mentioned it’s not essential to impose it on different communities.
Metropolis of Kingston workers confirmed the laws, if accredited, might reopen present and future biking lane initiatives.
“It would have an impact on many of the plans the City has,” Brad Joyce, the Metropolis’s Commissioner of Infrastructure, Transportation and Emergency Companies, informed Council.
Photograph through Canva.
The Metropolis has already carved up roadways for bike lanes in locations like Tub Highway, between Collins Bay Highway and Bayridge Drive, whereas present initiatives additionally plan to transform some roadway area for cyclists alongside Bayridge Drive, and there are future plans to make biking enhancements alongside Taylor Kidd Boulevard. It stays unclear whether or not these or different municipal biking initiatives can nonetheless proceed as deliberate, or if the province will order the Metropolis again to the drafting board.
Roger Healey, with the Kingston Coalition for Lively Transportation, additionally spoke towards Invoice 212 and what impression it might have on the rising metropolis’s efforts to cut back site visitors congestion and promote different types of transportation.
“If you’re driving a car, you’re never stuck in traffic. You are traffic,” he proffered.
King’s City District Councillor Greg Ridge mentioned the laws defies frequent sense from a authorities that appears to tout that very same philosophy. He added that eradicating devoted biking lanes will power riders into energetic roadways, and cut back security.
“A cyclist on the road slows down traffic way more than in a separated lane,” Ridge mentioned.
Coun. Tozzo mentioned municipalities are finest outfitted to resolve native transportation points, and he referred to as on the province to remain in its personal lane.
“This is a government committed to cutting red tape,” Tozzo mentioned of the Metropolis of Kingston, noting of the provincial authorities, “They’re adding red tape.”
The Metropolis of Kingston lately modified the strategy for members of the general public to view Metropolis Council conferences stay (or afterward) on-line. The complete agenda for the November 5, 2024, assembly of Council will be discovered on the Metropolis of Kingston web site, and the video of the assembly will be discovered inside the agenda.
