BY ADAM ATKINSON
North Country This Week

POTSDAM — The village plans to amend its code to install stop signs at the intersections of Grove and Waverly and Grove and Leroy streets.

However, one village board member wants to rescind the requirement that the board of trustees hold a public hearing and approve a local law to amend village code, and then submit the change to the state for approval, every time they wish to install a stop sign to try to control high speed traffic issues.

The village board of trustees held the required public hearing Nov. 20 on its proposed amendments to Chapter 168, Vehicles and Traffic, Article X, Schedules, Section 168-66, Schedule VIII: Stop Intersections of the Village of Potsdam Muncipal Code. The amendments would change the intersections to full stops and the municipality plans to install stop signs at those locations.

During the hearing, the only member of the public to speak about the changes, Larry Zuckerman of Grove Street, thanked the board for taking up the issue to install stop signs at the intersections.

“I live on Grove Street and I walk my dog at different hours and it’s crazy. And, it’s not just one person,” Zuckerman said. “Hopefully the stop sign will help, the enforcement of the stop sign will help.”

During the hearing, Trustee Steve Warr questioned the need to go through what he called a “convoluted” process involving the state just to allow the village to install stop signs on its own streets.

“To me it's common sense. Why do we need a local law to decide where we want to put stop signs?” asked Warr during the hearing.

Mayor Ron Tischler said he thought that the requirement was in place to provide a record. Warr suggested that a resolution by the board without a local law would also provide a record.

“Why do we have to have a local law, and pay all the money to the state to update the local law to revise the local law?” Warr said. The trustee said the village could rescind the local law requirement which would allow the board to approve and install stop signs more efficiently.

Warr said he was in favor of the stop signs considered at the public hearing, but raised the issue that there were other intersections on Leroy and elsewhere where high rates of speeding were chronic. He specifically mentioned the need for a four-way stop at the intersection of Leroy and Bradley. Warr said the people who live near those locations may also want stop signs installed to slow traffic speeds and the village would have to go through the lengthy process yet again. “All of a sudden we are going to get all the people up the other side of Leroy Street going ‘They’re going 55 miles per hour across Leroy Street,’” he said.

“We have kids coming over the hill and all four tires are off the ground,” Warr said.

“The easiest way to slow people down is stop signs, but if we have to do this every time? It’s such a convoluted process, that I don’t think we need it. It’s a stop sign,” he said.

Tischler suggested the board look into whether or not the village could drop the local law requirement with the state.

The board is expected to approve the amendments for full stop intersections at Grove and Waverly and Grove and Leroy streets at a future meeting.