By William Crooks
Local Journalism Initiative
Lennoxville Borough Councillor Guillaume Lirette-Gélinas says progress is steady on key citizen concerns following the latest Citizen Assembly held on Feb. 12. The meeting, attended by seven residents in person, covered transportation, traffic safety, and participatory budgeting, with discussions centring on both ongoing initiatives and new proposals. While three individuals registered to attend via Zoom, none ultimately joined the session.
Among the key follow-ups, Lirette-Gélinas reported in a Feb. 15 interview that efforts to reduce speed limits in residential areas are moving forward. “I brought the file to the commission of security at town hall,” he said. The city is now working on a proposal to lobby the provincial government for more authority to lower speed limits to 30 km/h in residential areas. Meanwhile, a city-supported citizen campaign encouraging drivers to observe a 40 km/h limit is showing promising results. “The average reduction so far is five kilometres per hour,” Lirette-Gélinas noted. He also confirmed that Mitchell Street traffic remains a concern, with the assembly requesting a new evaluation and potential speed bump installations. While some residents are advocating for this measure, others, including a community member who attended the meeting, pointed out that speed bumps could complicate snow removal.
Public transportation was another major topic, with Lirette-Gélinas detailing a pilot project in collaboration with local Councillor Laure Letarte-Lavoie, adapting a model from Saint-Élie for Lennoxville. If approved, the 2026 project would introduce on-demand transit with small buses operating during peak hours. “This would serve isolated areas like Huntingville and Viewpoint, but also Oxford Crescent, where seniors lost a key bus stop,” he said. The assembly is still debating whether the service should operate with fixed stops or direct-to-door pickup. While some participants expressed support for the latter, others raised concerns about its feasibility and potential cost.
