District of Muskoka acting on petition about speeding on Huntsville’s Ravenscliffe Road

Deputy Mayor Dan Armour says that the review could take up to 5 years, but the District is taking the issue seriously

Deputy Mayor, Dan Armour, reported that the District of Muskoka is acting on a petition about speeding on Huntsville’s Ravenscliffe Road, in the January 26^th, 2025, Council meeting.

Last October resident of the road, Amanda-Marie Huizinga, presented a petition to Committee with 79 signatures about the speeding concerns. She said, “the demographic is growing and will be problematic.”

She added that the issue is so severe that “even children are feeling insecure to bike on their roads.”

The OPP and District have also been contacted about the matter, and the District brought in a flashing light notifying drivers of their speed limit which helped improve it, and residents want to see it permanently implemented in addition to signing.

Huizinga indicated that signing alone doesn’t seem to be working, as “most people do ignore it.”

She said people are uncomfortable with the road now. “It’s like getting a little spooky…[people] are feeling very unsafe out here.” She added that she can easily get 5 more pages worth of petition signatures if allowed more.

Deputy Mayor, Dan Armour, who sits on the District’s Engineering and Public Works Committee, advised “The District is currently in the process of evaluating all the speed limits on all of their roads and this is a District road.” He added, “They are taking it very seriously and looking at it.”

However, Armour also indicated that the review could take up to 5 years to complete.

He said that next possible steps could be mentioning the petition to the District in hopes of resolving the issue.

Committee agreed to forward the speeding concerns to the District of Muskoka and request the District to continue to work with residents on measures to reduce the speed of drivers on that road.

Today Armour confirmed that the matter was brought to the District’s attention in the last meeting. He said, “Because the District’s now looking at a new policy on how they’re going to direct these new requests, this one here is actually requested that before the policy is actually done that we do something to prevent the speeding on that area.”

He added, “They’re looking at some calming measures or possibly signage out that way to reduce speed, to remind people of the speed they’re doing because it could take a few months before they actually get that done.”