Motorists traveling down Fennell Street in the village of Skaneateles likely noticed a minor change to the street last week. The stop signs on Fennell at Kelley Street are gone.
The signs were removed from the Kelley Street intersection Tuesday May 11 following the village board’s adoption Monday night of Local Law No. 2 of 2010. The law rescinds Local Law No. 3 of 2009, which created the three-way stop.
According to Mayor Bob Green, there were nine letters sent to the board for the record, eight of which were in opposition to having the three-way stop.
During a public hearing on the matter, several residents spoke in favor of eliminating the three-way stop, while only a few opposed taking the signs down.
“There have been incidents of people not seeing the signs,” said Joel Levine. “They really weren’t given a chance. … Frankly I think people drive too fast in this village.”
Levine said he was happy to see the signs go up because, like others, he walks around the village a lot. He asked the board to replace the signs with crosswalks if they were going to remove the signs.
Also in favor of keeping the signs, Mary Leonard said she has found it much safer to exit the P&C parking lot with the signs there to break up the flow of traffic.
Some residents, however, think the three-way stop created more problems than anything else.
“I think the corner is more dangerous now,” Sally Holben said, adding she’s nearly been “wiped out” by motorists not paying attention to the stop.
West Lake Street resident Dana Baldetti, who walks to work at Key Bank every day, said she never has a problem crossing the intersection and the intersection simply is not the place for a crosswalk.
“There’s a lot of traffic already moving in a stop and start [pattern] because of all the businesses,” she said.
Due to traffic entering and exiting businesses, the interrupted flow makes for easier crossing.
John Haggerty said he doesn’t think the results “have been satisfactory” or that putting in a crosswalk would make the intersection more pedestrian friendly.
“White painted lines across an asphalt highway can give pedestrians a false sense of security,” Green said.
According to Skaneateles Police Chief Lloyd Perkins, there has been no record found of accidents occurring at Kelley and Fennell streets.
Local Law No. 2 of 2010 was approved, 4-1. Trustee Sue Jones was opposed to eliminating the signs.
