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Canfield officials tackle Timber Run controversy
CANFIELD
“Public safety is the number one concern, so the decision for council should be very easy,” city resident David Padgett of Alabaster Avenue told Canfield lawmakers about the future of Timber Run Road.
The road provides passage between Westbury Park Development in Canfield Township and Stonebridge Development, in the city. Both city and township officials are deciding whether to keep the road open, allowing high traffic volume through Stonebridge, or to close it, impeding emergency vehicles, which legally must have two entry ways to Westbury.
Several city residents complained at Wednesday’s city council meeting about people abusing the 25 mph speed limit on the road, causing a safety hazard to their children and themselves.
“What we are talking about is the convenience of a second entry versus our safety,” Padgett said. “Those of us who live on the city side, the road being open right now is changing our safety. ... Our safety is being diminished for the convenience of Westbury.”
Padgett said as the number of cars going over that road goes up, so does the number of speeders.
“We are looking to restrict traffic in a logical way and slow it down in front of the houses [on Timber Run],” said Mayor Bernie Kosar Sr.
Councilman Charles Tieche said, although he shares the safety concern, he still reverts to the subdivision developer’s 1990 plan showing a road running somewhere to the north of the subdivision.
“It was always the requirement to extend that roadway in some fashion ... to ensure the logical flow of traffic,” Tieche said. “Good public policy planning is looking at the long-term perspective of the community, not just the city of Canfield, but the overall community. I support our good public policy, so, I cannot do anything other than vote for that road to stay open.”
Councilman Joe Locicero said good public policy is a matter of opinion and he thinks keeping the passage open isn’t good public policy for the safety of residents.
“This idea of hurting the emergency response [vehicles] was never really the issue. It’s something that when you sort through it you find out that there really is no jeopardy placed on Westbury,” Locicero said. “The question we have to ask is, does the convenience of Westbury traveling South, East and West trump the safety of the people on Timber Run?”
Council members announced they are looking into getting an engineering firm to perform a professional study of Timber Run and the safety issues presented.
Residents also suggested increasing police in the area, which usually slows down drivers.
Kosar said because of budget cuts and the defeat of the 0.5 percent income tax increase proposal, more police officers can’t be hired to do the task.
“Former [police] Chief David Blystone always said, ‘You are trying to regulate a population that doesn’t want to be regulated.’ I would rather the population regulate itself,” Kosar said. “We are going to fight to keep Canfield Canfield. You should be interested in that because it affects you. Give us your thinking.”