Hello Eric,
Thanks for taking the time to talk with me on the phone Tuesday. I look forward to meeting yourself and some of the other CBRA folks soon.
To summarize my efforts, I have for the last several months been advocating for a reduced speed limit on Tudor Avenue. I started at the Saanich engineering level last August and had the request presented at an Administrative Traffic Committee meeting in September. When that request was not fulfilled for all the usual reasons I realized this problem needed to be addressed at the Council level.
The election in November was a perfect opportunity to communicate my concerns to all the council candidates and get a real sense for who would support reduced speeds on Saanich residential streets. We are very fortunate that Fred Haynes and Colin Plant became new faces on council as they were the most vocal in their commitment to helping me with Tudor Avenue.
I have recently had meetings with Fred Haynes, Colin Plant, Vic Derman and Dean Murdock and all four support the idea of reducing the speed limit along Tudor. Vic Derman has been hoping for such projects for years and is keen to advise Fred Haynes on how best to move forward. All four believe Mayor Atwell would support such an initiative as well. The other councillors have not returned my calls so far.
As it now stands, Fred Haynes is ready to propose a pilot project with the cautious support of the new Saanich engineer, Harley Machielse. If this initiative passes council there will be a “search” for a limited number of likely streets to reduce to 40 km/h for a trial period with the hopes that, if the trial is successful, more streets in Saanich can get the same treatment on a permanent basis.
I know that traffic speed on Tudor is far from a new local issue and that I am just the latest in a long line of people that has attempted to gain some traction with Saanich for a remedy. I deliberately moved forward as an independent concerned resident initially buthave recently been in touch with neighbors such as Dave Ferguson who have done wonderful work on this in the past.
My hope is that should Fred Haynes’ motion in council succeed and the various community’s are canvassed for “candidate streets” that the CBRA enthusiastically put forward Tudor Avenue as their first choice for a speed limit reduction trial. In neighborhood conversations its clear that traffic speed on Tudor has been an issue of great concern in Cadboro Bay for literally decades. I don’t think there has ever been a better time to finally get this problem addressed with real and immediate action.
Please pass this email on to interested people at the CBRA. I am available and eager for any meetings and/or conversations any of you wish to have with me.
Best Regards,
Mark Vogel
[Local resident]
