Cecilia Nasmith/Today’s Northumberland
Cobourg council reviewed three letters from Downtown Business Improvement Area board-of-management chair Adam Bureau at Monday’s meeting.
Each had a request for a change to the downtown pedestrian-and-vehicle traffic flow.
One request was for a pedestrian crosswalk at the Henley Arcade, Jaywalking is already very high at this intersection, the letter said, due to its midway position along King Street with Victoria Hall and the CIBC bank located right across the street from this spot.
“As both the chair of the board of management and a business owner located near the Henley Arcade, I have watched all ages cross at this location, and it is a growing concern in downtown,” the letter said, Its reqeuest is a pedestrian crosswalk similar to the one on King Street at the entrance of Victoria Park.
A second letter requested the implementation of lay-by outside shop frontages in parking spaces downtown.
What this means is a paved area, designated by pavement markings or signage, beside a roadway where vehicles can park or stop temporarily to facilitate pick-up or drop-off of passengers or goods. The zones would be restricted to that purpose between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. for a maximum of 20 minutes.
“The parking restriction will assist in ensuring increase in turnover of parking spaces in the lay-by and prevent all-day parking,” the letter said.
The third request was to sacrifice some of the parking spaces in the Covert Street lot to establish loading zones to lessen tie-ups occasioned by big trucks stopping to load and unload downtown. Specifics would have to be established, such as location and size of the zone and the hours of use.
“If parking is in high demand, we may limit the hours when the zone is active,” the letter said.
“Covert Street is designated for one-way traffic and suitable to accommodate a loading and unloading zone.”
Councillor Forrest Rowden made the motions necessary to refer all three requests to public-works staff for a report.
