City councillors made some brow-raising decisions at Tuesday night’s city council meeting.
A group of city residents filled the seats to await word on council’s expected decision to hire an independent traffic analyst at their request –– only to witness council do an about face turn on the subject.
Just before Christmas, council tasked city staff to come up with a report which would detail costs associated with engaging the services of an independent traffic engineer to review any impacts or improvements associated with a new proposed intersection on the highway.
The committee felt the city needed to seek data and opinion independent of the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure on the matter.
Back in the summer months, Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure put forward two options for the city to consider, neither of which meet the approval of residents in the area, according to the citizens committee.
It was an emotional roller coaster for disappointed citizens Tuesday night, when council changed their direction. Council surprised everyone even further with a unanimous vote to proceed with Option one, without any debate or reasoning as to why.
Option one would see the intersection moved from Carson to Toop along with a few modern improvements, for an expected price tag of $4 million to the city. So far, most of council has apparently refused to sit down with the group to discuss other design possibilities, the committee says.
The citizens group is now awaiting word to address council at the city’s next committee of the whole meeting next week and are also meeting with MLA Donna Barnett. They say they are also pursuing a meeting with Premier Christy Clark, whose Cariboo Connector vision started the whole discussion in the first place.
