No name change for Robertson Road
Posted Jul 13, 2011 01:52:49 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Ottawa City Council has reversed a controversial street name change.
Last April, council agreed to change the name of a portion of Robertson Road in Bells Corners to Lloyd Francis Boulevard on the request of area Councillor Rick Chiarelli.
Chiarelli, however, had a change of heart and put forward a motion to keep Robertson Road all the way through Bells Corners.
The motion passed Wednesday afternoon with a vote of 19-4.
Chiarelli needed at least 18 votes for the motion to be successful.
The new plan does mean switching Richmond Road to Robertson Rd.
The vote is upsetting for Nancy Robertson who set up the original petition against the name change.
“It’s a unnecessary change and it’s a cost to taxpayers,” she says. “Really it’s a disappointing decision to see that councilors have such little disregard for how they spend taxpayer money.”
Chiarelli, however, sees things differently. He says it’s a good compromise that will help out businesses in Bells Corners.
“To do that we need to make some fundamental changes, they aren’t all going to be popular but in the end the result is going to be far better then if we just do nothing,” he says.
A survey done by the Bells Corners Business Improvement Association found that 70 per cent of members are in favour of the name change, but Robertson says the survey was flawed from the beginning.
“They didn’t give an option other than Lloyd Francis Boulevard or all of Robertson Road,” she says. “They didn’t even on their survey have an option for maintain the roadway as is and just improve the signage.”
