By Jason Klaiber
Staff Writer
The Town of DeWitt adopted a proposed ordinance at its Oct. 14 meeting to install a three-way stop at the intersection of Brandon Road and Sycamore Terrace.
Recommended by the municipality’s highway and police departments, the three-way stop will be established after approximately a one-month wait period, according to Town Supervisor Ed Michalenko.
The matter of whether or not to enact the ordinance was put to a public hearing.
“Typically we err on the side of safety,” Michalenko said.
Local resident Michelle Synakowski recommended an additional stop sign be put at the corner of Fiordon Road and Sycamore Terrace.
She said trees at that spot “jut out,” creating a blind spot for drivers.
Resident Erica Robinson said she has noted a couple of accidents near the corner of Fiordon and Sycamore, including one involving a motorbike and one in which a car crashed through a retaining wall and landed in her next-door neighbor’s front yard, narrowly avoiding a utility pole.
“It’s imperative to get a stop sign right there,” Synakowski said. “They’re already barreling up the hill at 40 miles an hour.”
Michalenko said that state law prohibits the “rural” Town of DeWitt from setting speed limits on secondary roads, thus keeping all unmarked streets 30 mile per hour zones.
“We as a board recognize that that’s untenable for most neighborhood settings,” Michalenko said.
Synakowski said in her nearly 20 years spent living on Sycamore Terrace she has seen people speed on her street at all hours of the day.
One town resident, who lives on the corner of Brandon and Sycamore, said he did not want the stop sign on his lawn, calling it “unnecessary” and an object that would be “unsightly.”
He said not much traffic originates from Brandon Road, since there are only four houses on the street.
Dan Sieburg, who lives on Sycamore Terrace, said he collected more than 30 signatures over the summer for a petition supporting the installment of the three-way stop.
Sieburg said he wants to look out for the safety of the dozen or so children under the age of 10 who live within a square block of the location where the stop would be installed.
“I’m in favor of the stop sign in and of itself,” Councilor Karen Docter said. “The people going up Sycamore or coming down Sycamore are smack dab in the middle of the road rather than to the right where they’re supposed to be or to the right going the other direction. When there is a stop sign, people are more apt to be on the proper side of the road when they’re driving.”
Councilor Kerin Rigney said people in the vicinity of the intersection should assemble a neighborhood watch to maintain regular contact with the town’s police department and notify them in cases of speeding drivers.
The town board voted to close the public hearing and enact the ordinance to institute the three-way stop.
Michalenko said he plans for the town to also expand the traffic study of the area to look at the entirety of Sycamore Terrace.
