WEYBURN -- City Council approved a request from the Weyburn Young Fellows Club, in order to move forward with a special outdoor liquor permit for their 100th celebration.
The Young Fellows have requested the permit for Jubilee Park, the location that the outdoor celebration will be held on Thursday, June 30.
According to the map provided with their permit application, the celebration would cover most of the Jubilee Park grounds, with fences in place to control access to the celebration. There would be food vendors, a stage, and beer gardens at the event.
Coun. Jeff Richards asked City Manager Mathew Warren if Andrew Crowe, Director of Leisure Services, had seen the plan and was comfortable with the request. Warren replied that the Young Fellows Club was very diligent in working with the city staff, and were also working with the Weyburn Police Service to ensure that there were no security issues at the event. Council approved the request.
Traffic Lights issue
While not part of the agenda for the meeting, Mayor Marcel Roy addressed a concern in regards to the traffic lights at the corner of Second Street and Souris Avenue, which have been functioning as a four-way stop for a while. Jennifer Wilkinson, Director of Engineering, explained, “in 2021, we had approved in the budget the replacement of those lights, and redoing the wiring in that section.”
“Last year we procured all the physical infrastructure for those lights, and had awarded the contract. Due to timing, we delayed the replacement until spring, for ease of doing the work, and to be more cost efficient so the work did not have to be completed in winter conditions,” said Wilkinson.
The physical infrastructure for those lights was ordered in the same design to other downtown traffic lights. “The poles specifically match the black poles that we have at other downtown intersections, and are specific to the downtown core,” said Wilkinson.
“We don’t typically use that style of poles along the highways, or other parts of the city. As well, the control box is very specific to certain intersections, so when you are replacing traffic lights, you have to match the style of the control box.”
One of the further questions posed by Mayor Roy was the possibility of permanently making that intersection a four-way stop. Wilkinson noted that to change an intersection from traffic lights to a four-way stop would include a traffic study, so the city could further research the flow of traffic, and other issues that might arise.
The City of Weyburn had previously completed a traffic impact study of the major routes that went into and out of the city. This study was completed in 2019 with the cooperation of the RM of Weyburn and the Department of Highways, as all three parties use those corridors.
“On a regular basis we do work with the police department, who have a BlackCat Box that we can put up in certain areas, to do traffic flow counting that is needed for traffic safety funds,” said Wilkinson. “This helps with smaller traffic studies within certain areas of the city.”
There are still some short-term goals of the major traffic impact study that the City of Weyburn is completing, before moving forward with medium and long-term goals.
Recently, the City of Weyburn also completed a BlackCat Box study of all the school zones, which was needed after the addition of Legacy Park Elementary School as a new school, and the closure of Haig, Souris and Queen Elizabeth.
“Those traffic flow studies help us to focus on safety around schools, or other areas where we would have vulnerable pedestrians, such as the walking paths,” said Wilkinson.
