Wellesley council amends parking bylaw to improve student safety during school-bus unloading and loading times in St. Clements

New no-stopping rules aim to improve safety during busy drop-off and pick-up times at St. Clements Catholic Elementary. Vecteezy photo

Galen Simmons, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Resulting from concerns over student safety from parents at St. Clements Catholic Elementary School, Wellesley council has amended the township’s traffic and parking bylaw to include a no-stopping provision on the north side of Church Street between Hergott Road and Charles Street in St. Clements from 8-10 a.m. and 3-5 p.m. Monday to Friday.

According to a report to council, township staff have heard from parents of school-aged children attending St. Clements Catholic Elementary School about the potentially dangerous situation during drop-off and pick-up times on Church Street around the school.

“Our bylaw officer and myself met with the parent-teacher association at the school (Feb. 4),” Wellesley director of public works Chris Cook said. “There have been a lot of concerns raised around student safety with them running across the road, and a lot of it, I believe, stems from the road being fairly narrow, and obviously that situation is exacerbated in the winter when the road is narrower due to snow. With stopping on both sides of Church Street and parents letting children out of their vehicles on the north side of the street, children have to run across the street, and with a lot of cars around it’s really difficult to see them.

“Also, it being narrow, it doesn’t allow vehicles to exit, so essentially there’s not enough room to get out, so they have to wait for the entire line of vehicles to move forward before they can move out.”

By introducing a no-stopping zone on the north side of Church Street between Herrgott Road and Charles Street during the specified hours, Cook said the drop-off and pick-up will only occur on the south side of Church Street and children will not have to cross the road. This will also ensure the width of the road will be maintained so vehicles overtaking the parked vehicles will have sufficient space to do so.

While the township bylaw officer and school staff have attempted to persuade parents to stop on just the south side Church Street during drop-off and pick-up, Cook said the street was previously only designated as no-parking, which meant the bylaw officer had no recourse for those who didn’t abide.

By amending the township’s parking and traffic bylaw, the bylaw officer can now ticket drivers who stop on the north side of the road during school drop-off and pick-up.

While Cook said he expects this bylaw amendment to be effective in improving student safety and traffic flow along this section of Church Street, if it doesn’t work as expected, township staff may consider making that street one way.