Stopsign ordinance passes go on first Council go-around

City of Greencastle drivers are halfway to seeing a couple of longstanding traffic obstacles cleaned up after action Thursday night by the City Council.

Meeting for its February meeting at City Hall, the Council saw the introduction of Ordinance 2018-1, which would make four-way stop intersections of Vine and Franklin along with Indiana and Walnut upon adoption on two readings.

The first of those came Thursday night as Mayor Bill Dory noted that Wasser Brewing Co. owner Chris Weeks -- who had appeared before the group more than a year ago suggesting the change at Vine and Franklin streets where his business sits on the southeast corner -- had called City Hall earlier in the day.

“What doesn’t get reported,” Dory said Weeks stressed, “are all the near-misses (at the intersection).”

The intersection currently calls for east-west traffic on Franklin Street to stop while north-south traffic on Vine Street does not.

“Has anybody received any negative comments about the ordinance?” Councilman Dave Murray asked of his Council colleagues.

Hearing no discouraging words, he made the motion to approve the ordinance on first reading, which was quickly seconded by Stacie Langdon and made unanimous by Adam Cohen, Steve Fields and Gary Lemon (Councilmen Tyler Wade and Mark Hammer were absent).

Councilman Lemon said that while “people have been very positive about the stopsign ordinance” after its pending introduction was made public, he has also been questioned about why the intersection at the northeast side of the square (Franklin and Indiana) wasn’t also included, especially in light of a pedestrian fatality there in October 2015.

For one thing, as City Attorney Laurie Hardwick pointed out, there is no good place to position a stopsign for eastbound traffic without putting it in the middle of the street on the north side of the courthouse.

She also noted that the city recently added small signs below the stopsigns at the other three sides of Indiana and Franklin, reminding drivers that the intersection is only a three-way stop.

The idea of the change to four-way stops, the mayor has said, it to “slow down traffic and keep people safe,” noting that both intersections have visibility issues because of traffic congestion and parked vehicles.

The ordinance emerged after continued concerns being expressed by members of the community, along with internal discussions among city department heads and the mayor.

A number of residents have expressed concern to the mayor and other city officials about restricted visibility amid the increased activity at the Indiana-Walnut intersection which currently requires only Walnut Street traffic to stop, giving Indiana Street the right of way.

“We’ve had enough continued concern expressed,” Dory said, “that department head discussions indicated we should probably move forward with it.”

The City Council obviously concurred with its first-reading action Thursday night.

Second and final reading of the ordinance is scheduled for the March City Council session, slated for 7 p.m. Thursday, March 8.

Mayor Dory said upon passage, Street Commissioner Brad Phillips has the necessary stopsigns on hand to install them later this spring.