Town councillors expressed dissatisfaction with initial plans for a new bus loop produced for Chinook's Edge School Division following the town's Sept. 24 meeting.
Coun. Derek Baird called the drawings “pretty scary” and noted the town's own engineer had reservations about the plans, which were prepared by architect Robert Rabinovitch.
“There was no thought put into this one,” he said, describing the routing as “cutting through the playground, cutting the fields in half.”
At an operations and services meeting in September the town's engineer agreed to come up with a better plan, Baird noted.
While at the Chinook's Edge meeting where designs were presented, it was obvious a new plan has to be worked out, Baird said.
“We had the meeting at 3 o'clock and at 20 to three there wasn't a parking spot for parents,” Baird said. “No kids walk anymore. I'm sure of it.”
Allan Tarnoczi, associate superintendent of corporate services for Chinook's Edge, confirmed the existence of traffic flow architectural drawings, but noted no completed proposals were brought forward in regards to bus routing.
Discussions are just in their early phases, as part of a larger effort to modernize the schools, he said.
“We're currently in the middle of designing that project,” he said. “We're looking to try and have a smooth and safe traffic flow.”
Another councillor who was at the meeting where bus routing was discussed agreed the plans needed some reworking.
“We're gonna negotiate with the school board on what they're doing,” said Coun. Brian Spiller.
The town's planning department will be involved in helping come to a successful resolution on the bus routing issue, confirmed Craig Teal, director of planning and development for the Town of Innisfail.
Rabinovitch deferred to his project manager who did not reply by deadline.
