(Photo: Swastika Trail sits on the edge of Puslinch Lake.)

A street in Puslinch, Ont. will keep its name after council voted 4-1 against changing the controversial street name during a meeting on Wednesday evening.

B’nai Brith Canada launched an online petition last month calling on the township to change the privately owned street name.

According to The Canadian Press, members of the neighbourhood association held their own vote nearly two months ago in which a slight majority of residents said they wanted to keep the name.

On Wednesday, council members said they did not want to overstep the democratic actions already taken by residents.

Many residents who voted in favour of keeping the name say the roadway was named in the 1920s before the rise of Adolf Hitler in Nazi Germany.

Others argue the name is associated with hate and genocide. Jewish groups had urged council before the vote to change the name, saying the swastika symbol is still used by neo-Nazi groups and continues to appear in antisemitic vandalism.