By Megan Kelley
Staff Writer
LAKE ORION — The Lake Orion Village council unanimously approved a request from interim police chief Todd Stanfield to place stop signs just south of East Jackson Street on the east side of Florence Street and just north of East Jackson Street on the west side of Florence Street at the entrance to Blanche Sims Elementary School.
Stanfield had previously implemented a temporary traffic control order for the area but was requesting the council take action to make the order permanent.
“From what I understand, there have been concerns about people driving into the elementary school property at excessive speeds,” said village Manager Darwin McClary.
While village documents cite the reasoning for the stop signs as a way to prevent people from driving onto the school property quickly, the reasoning is actually two-fold as it will also allow for better flow of traffic during pick-up and drop-off times before and after school.
“I requested the stop signs because the school driveway is now twice as long as the driveway used to be. So, we’re having a problem with the cars coming from Flint Street, northbound on Florence. Now it’s a longer drive, probably almost an eighth of a mile back to the school. So, we’re trying to stop that flow there so people can come off of Jackson and leave the school property because as soon as you come around Jackson going north, there’s another driveway just south of the baseball field, so now you have another driveway to contend with,” Stanfield said.
The school now has a new sidewalk that is much closer to the entrance of the driveway and stop signs would force drivers to stop, become aware of their surroundings and potential pedestrians before moving through the intersection.