The speed limit will be changing within the Tourond Creek Development at St. Adolphe.

Ritchot Mayor Chris Ewen says the municipality has been hearing complaints from residents living there, that the 50 kilometre per hour (km/h) speed limit is too high. So, Ritchot decided to send out a survey to gauge public opinion.

Chief Administrative Officer Mitch Duval says 112 surveys were delivered to property owners in that development. The municipality received 22 responses, with 13 of those requesting the speed limit be changed from 50 to 30 km/h.

"I was kind of hoping that more surveys would come back," says St. Adolphe Councillor Jason Bodnarchuk. "It's a very small amount that actually did the survey, so that's tough."

Councillor Joel Lemoine says a speed limit of 50 km/h is too fast for that area as there are a lot of parked vehicles on the streets and also children playing. Further to that, he says the south side of the long stretch west of the roundabout will hopefully one day be fully developed as commercial space, which will only increase traffic in that area. 

Councillor Janine Boulanger says some of those streets are so tight that it is actually very difficult to even get to 50 km/h.

After debating the issue for several minutes at this month's Council meeting, the motion to reduce the speed limit from 50 km/h to 30 km/h was approved by a vote of 4-1. With the Mayor being the lone dissenting vote. 

Ewen says his reason for voting against the motion has nothing to do with his feelings towards reducing speed limits. He notes the reason he voted 'no' is because they already have a difficult time with police presence in Ritchot.

"Are we going to have the police presence to enforce those speed limit changes? I personally do not think so," says Ewen. "And that's why I think voting on something like this is essentially redundant until we can see the solution for police enforcement fixed."

Ewen points out that at this time, any speeding infractions in Ritchot fall under the jurisdiction of the RCMP and cannot be dealt with by a bylaw enforcement officer. 

With the motion gaining the necessary support by Council, the municipality will now work towards making the change.