I attended the public meeting on the Stickle Road and Highway 97 intersection. I did complete a comment form but would like to add some further input.
The week we arrived in Vernon from Toronto in December 1970, the headline in the local paper was “Vernon to get second traffic light.”
The gist of the article was Vernon was growing and progressing. Nothing has changed. Growth and progress requires more traffic lights.
The last commercial development area in Vernon is the Swan Lake corridor.
If this area is to develop safely, a light will be required and I’m sure you know this as well as I do.
We are also critically short of campground sites in Vernon and an expansion of the Swan Lake Campground is the obvious solution.
It’s not often that a good RV park can be located in close proximity to a commercial/industrial park. But once again, you need a light to make it all work.
The 20th Street connector is a no-brainer and needs to be built regardless of what happens at Stickle Road.
It appears to me that the decision has been made so let me offer some suggestions to save time, money and aggravation in the future.
There will eventually be a light there, so plan for it now and design it to allow for Stickle to cross the highway and have left-turns on both sides.
Do all of the underground prep, wiring, sensors, etc. so when the light comes, it can be a ‘bolt on process.'
I believe it is the ministry’s responsibility to help our city deal with inevitable growth and the impact of your decisions should be carefully considered.
Will Rogers
Vernon