To the Residents of Belfountain
On January 26, 2017, The West Caledon Visitor Traffic Management Committee met to discuss the impact that the many tourists who visit or pass through Belfountain have on our community during peak seasons.
The committee heard from business owners that they rely on these busy weekends, especially during autumn colour season, for the bulk of their annual revenue.
Residents are concerned that their voice regarding this traffic/tourism issue be addressed as well. One item was addressed at the January meeting. We heard that some residents have had their driveways blocked by tourists’ cars. The O.P.P. have indicated that they will ticket and tow these vehicles if there is a complaint.
If you have other concerns that you would like the committee to address, and/or if you have ideas that would help mitigate any negative effects of peak season traffic in the village, these too will be shared with the committee at the next meeting. We need your feedback in order to address the issues.
This is your opportunity to have a voice. We are striving to balance resident needs with those of the businesses through a collaboration for our mutual benefit.
We would appreciate any feedback you can provide and we thank you in advance for your concern.
Click the Leave a comment link below to enter your comment.
Mauriça Connell
B.C.O.
Re: Traffic Safety on Forks of the Credit Road (speeding has become out of control)
Cars, trucks and motorcycles are using this part of the highway as a race track!
We are writing this letter to express our concerns regarding the lack of safety measures in place on Forks of the Credit Road. (between Main Street and Mississauga cut off) Speeders in cars, trucks and motorcycles share the same road with pedestrians. The situation becomes very dangerous when drivers ignore the road speeds. We are zoned a 40 k traffic speed. Some speeders will drive 80K to 100K in front of our house with no thought of caring about visitors to our town or residents of Belfountain. Few drivers care about the speed limit that has been posted. This highway is being used as a race track. We are afraid if this situation isn’t addressed someone will be injured or killed!
Also motorcycles have their mufflers set so screaming loud that my husband and I can’t sit outside to have a conversation. We can’t hear each other!
Belfountain is a very pretty quaint welcoming little hamlet. Visitors coming to our town is to be expected. Can we make it a safe experience? We don’t want anyone to be hurt or killed.
How can we make Belfountain a safe place to visit?
1. We need more police presence! We have talked with police. We expressed our concern. But they always have somewhere else they need to be.
2. Use of radar will slow speeders down. If they have to pay they will stop speeding.
3. Flashing light signs
4. Use of cameras showing speed and license plate numbers
5. There is a noise bylaw in Belfountain. Why are motorcycles allowed to come into our town using mufflers that break our laws!
SPRING IS COMING SAFETY IS IMPORTANT THIS ONGOING, CONSTANT,CONTINUOUS SPEEDING NEEDS TO BE STOPPED!!
Our regards,
Cherie and Al Cavanagh
Forks of The Credit Road
Belfountain, ON
As a long time Belfountain resident, I have seen the traffic “situation” in the village become increasingly problematic. For myself, the increase in volume and noise, and demand for parking is having a negative impact on the quality of my life as a resident and clearly I am not alone in feeling this way. With the steady increase in the population of the Greater Toronto Area, the pressure on Belfountain will continue to become more problematic.
Personally, and as a past president of the Belfountain Community Organization who has had to look at this issue from all angles, it is my opinion that a workable solution must consider the demands and desires of village residents, local businesses, tourists and commuters. It should include the needs of vehicles, pedestrians and cyclists. Roads are NOT built only for vehicles.
We are all in this together and need to come up with a workable solution that will consider all parties and undoubtedly not be perfect for any one group.
As villagers, we benefit from some of the businesses in Belfountain and I know enough of these enterprises to be aware that they require tourist and commuter traffic to be viable. So if residents want a coffee shop in the village, then we have to put up with some inconvenience. But villagers should not bear the brunt of the problem.
Similarly, local businesses should not expect there to be no limits on village traffic because it’s good for their businesses. There need to be limits on where tourists can park, the noise associated with motorcycle and truck traffic, and the number of tourists and commuters who frequent Belfountain. Similarly, drivers need to share the road with cyclists and pedestrians.
So here are a few ideas to explore:
Back in my BCO days, we discussed implementing a “parking by permit only” system in the village and combining this with finding a spot outside the village where tourists could park and walk or be bused into the village. They do this in St. Jacobs. At the time I wasn’t keen on this idea, but I think we need to re-visit it. Maybe implement it for weekends only. The Town of Caledon could be asked to supply a shuttle from a parking lot to the village on weekends. Think how great it would be if you could actually walk down Bush or Main streets without having to zig zag through parked cars. Village residents could be issued parking permits. Pedestrian and bike lanes could be added to provide safe passage and to narrow Belfountain’s roads, thereby calming traffic.
I suggest we investigate a “no trucks” policy so that trucks over a certain size must bypass the village. Having enormous trucks pass through what is Caledon’s primary tourism village is incongruous. I would begin by banning all Town of Caledon and Region of Peel trucks from the village unless they are working inside the village.
I suggest the Belfountain Conservation Area limit the number of visitors who can visit the park on a given day. This would be good for the environmental health of the clearly overused park, help with the limited amount of parking in the park and alleviate traffic. CVC could have a sign on Highway 10 and Mississauga Road that tells tourists whether or not there is room in the park and redirects them to other conservation areas thereby spreading out tourist use. CVC could also put a notice on its website. Many parks only allow a limited number of visitors. This is not rocket science nor is it unprecedented.
If the parking limits suggested above are implemented, this will alleviate some of the issues associated with the motorcycles that sometimes overwhelm the village. I suggest the BCO discuss with the coffee shop, the possibility of figuring out how it can discourage its parking lot from being used as a motorcycle meeting place. While I appreciate the desire for motorcyclists to congregate in this way, I wonder if this is the best use for the limited parking available in a crowded village.
I recognize that speed is a problem in the village. There are far more effective and attractive methods of dealing with this concern than speed bumps. Ways of calming traffic abound and range from narrowing the roads with planters, trees or other attractive objects to bicycle lanes. It’s time for our local governments to be more inventive. They need to adopt the idea that roads, particularly roads in a small tourist village, are best shared by pedestrians, cyclists and vehicles. Cars and trucks do not take precedence over other users.
After reading your email let me first say that I have never heard of “The West Caledon Visitor Traffic Management Committee”, how long has this been in existence and why have I never heard of this? I would like to know when this committee meets so that I could possibly attend a meeting.
We ( Elsie & Heide Miller ) have lived in Belfountain since 1980 and have seen the traffic increase enormously since then. We live on Forks of The Credit Road near the CVC Park and the Cool Scoops Ice Cream Parlor.
I have spoken up about the traffic problem several times between 2010 and 2013 to no avail in listening to what we have to deal with regarding traffic. I feel that the village of Belfountain consists of not only the Business area, which seems to be what you are ONLY concerned about, but the community as a whole.
Just like everyone else we look forward to Spring because of the warmer weather, BUT this only makes us long for late fall and winter because we know we will have some peace and quiet. It is only the beginning of March and we already have the young and foolish flying through the hills in front of our house. We would really like to be able to sit on our deck and enjoy our back yard but it makes it difficult with all the noisy motorcycles and loud car mufflers, to the point that you have to stop talking because you can’t hear what the other person is saying to you. This happens every weekend and evening. Every night after it gets dark there are groups of cars that race up and down the hills turn around and do it again and again and again. This has to stop. By the way we are not the only people in our hamlet that feel this way, but when no one listens you give up. I am taking up the charge again.
We have lost a fence 2 years ago right after we had it stabilized and many years ago before there were guardrails we had a car down the embankment from the road. All because of the foolishness and stupidity of drivers.
Yes we need speed bumps!!!!! BUT not the way they were previously situated, and we need them down and up the hills by the CVC park and also where they were before, but more of them, coming into town from all directions (three to be exact).
If you look at anywhere where there are speed bumps, there is not only one, there are several in fairly close proximity to each other and they do not have a space in between them that is large enough for a motorcycle to drive through. That idea was absolutely ridiculous. I suggest you look at towns like Kleinberg ON even though their speed bumps are permanent, which is also an option. The residents in my area of Belfountain also have to deal with the people from the park stopping and unloading their vehicles. Last year a cyclist was injured because of all the traffic in front of my neighbours house, and had to be taken away by ambulance. The other option would be to have either Police Officers at four different points in town which will be expensive more so than speed bumps I would assume or By-Law Officers. One other option has occurred to me, that being traffic cameras for speeding.
If no action is taken soon, one day someone will get killed. Between the speed of vehicles and pedestrians walking through our town it is an accident or death waiting to happen.
We wholeheartedly understand that we are a day trip tourist destination but that doesn’t mean that we can’t do whatever is needed to make our community a safe, desirable place to live and visit.
Thank you for taking the time to read this email and we hope that we will receive some sort of response to it.
Best Regards,
Elsie and Heide Miller
Forks of the Credit Road
Belfountain
519-927-3301
We, on Bush Street, have a drag strip, at times, during the good weather. Cars and Bikes race from the General Store up to the stop sign at Shaw’s Creek- and I mean race. I have informed the OPP a number of times suggesting they bring it up at their next meeting. We had a temporary speed bump for a short period, but that seems to have disappeared along with the speed limit. What is required are two speed bumps, strategically placed along this stretch of road along with a cardboard cutout of a Fake Policeman with a radar gun. Please be advised and make note…………..Neil.