A resident concerned about bad sight lines at the intersection of 1st Street South and Victoria Avenue renewed his call for action by the city in a letter included in the June 9 council meeting.
Brian Kostiuk has brought concerns of residents forward a number of times in regards to a retaining wall blocking visibility of traffic coming down Victoria Avenue, as a driver is stopped on 1st Street.
Mayor Wayne Stetski said that the Cranbrook in Motion committee has reviewed the intersection and did not find concerns as far as safety goes.
Stetski noted that the "committee said in their view, this is not a critical intersection."
Coun. Denise Pallesen, who sits on the Cranbrook in Motion committee, said it didn't arbitrarily turn the street down.
"We checked with engineers, ICBC, the fire department, the police department... a number of departments," she said. "So it wasn't the Cranbrook in Motion Committee that said, 'No, we're not going to do anything.' It was after discussions with a number of professionals with regard to this particular road."
She said the decision comes down from those professionals.
Coun. Angus Davis said he did try the intersection out, and said it is a place you have to pay absolute attention.
"I thought, 'There's nothing to this', then all of a sudden a car comes scooting around the corner," Davis said. "You've got to be paying 110 per cent attention to what you're doing. You need to keep your eye on that street, because if you take it off for just two seconds, you're going to be having an accident."
Coun. Gerry Warner said that the discussion was going in circles.
"We can go around and around and around with this," he said, noting the discussions the committee and the other organizations have put in on this. "But the fix for this would be relatively small. A little bit of excavating would push it back that three or four feet which would enable you, as you come down 1st, to look up the street for those cars coming down there. I'm sure our very able Public Works department could do this. I don't think we need a special contractor."
He said for the life of him, he didn't know why the city wouldn't just fix it.
Coun. Diana J. Scott said you have to be on your toes when utilizing the intersection, as with any street.
"When you're a driver, you should be on your toes 100 per cent," Scott said.
"You're going down a hill onto a big thoroughfare of traffic. You slow down, you inch out, you stop. You don't just go. I've never had a problem. If you're careful and you watch, I don't think it's as dire as this letter makes it out to be."
She said it has been looked at several times and it wasn't just dismissed out of hand.
Council received Kostiuk's letter for information, and the city will write him a response.