An appeal for a Pride crosswalk in View Royal has been shot down.
On Feb. 18, council voted to reject a motion calling for the installation of a rainbow crossing outside View Royal Elementary at the intersection of Helmcken and Rudyard roads. View Royal staff estimated the project would cost between $15,000 and $25,000.
Coun. Alison MacKenzie submitted the motion, which was informed by a 2024 discussion with the View Royal Elementary parent advisory council (PAC). There, the group encouraged the town to consider installing Pride crossings when refurbishing older crosswalks thoughout the community, particularly around the school.
“They identified that there was a need for traffic calming and safety in that area and that’s why their preferred option was the crosswalk across Rudyard,” said MacKenzie. “They’re the ones who know best and I weigh their opinion the most."
The PAC noted that it was not specifically calling for the crosswalk at that intersection.
"We did not ask for a crosswalk to be put in at Rudyard, but this was a suggestion along with the option of a Pride bench that was given back to the PAC after this discussion," said the group's president Jocelyn Carter-Sim. "We are very much in support of the View Royal council considering putting in Pride crosswalks, but we are not driving this ask."
Coun. Damian Kowalewich argued a crossing might not be the best way to bolster safety there.
“If there are concerns about traffic calming in the area, I would probably make the point that a Pride crosswalk would not be a remedy for that,” he said.
Coun. Ron Mattson expressed a similar sentiment.
“I certainly agree with Damian that the Pride crosswalk won’t slow down traffic. If we need to slow down traffic there, we should find another way of doing that that’s effective,” he said.
Kowalewich, who noted he is in favour of diversity initiatives, later submitted a new motion calling on staff to conduct a "light" traffic study to assess whether a crosswalk would indeed improve safety outside of View Royal Elementary. It passed unanimously.
"If that's approved, we can discuss whether that's a Pride crosswalk at the time," he said.
