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West Howe Sounder

West Howe Sound

When the Langdale ferry terminal is redeveloped, there will be no reconstruction of its perimeter roads that would impact West Howe Sound residents – unless BC Ferries changes its mind. 

Darin Guenette, manager of public affairs for the ferries, explained this to me at an information night Oct. 26 as he pointed toward a board showing the ferries’ proposed rezoning plan. He said a couple of years ago BC Ferries considered switching the flow of the terminal’s entry and exit roads. 

That would have required extensive road construction and inconvenience for many Langdale residents. 

The idea was abandoned, Guenette said at the event at the Cedars Inn. 

The latest redevelopment proposal for the ferry lands includes repositioning of the toll booths, new washrooms, and a modernized terminal building with retail space. The entry and exit roads would keep their current configuration. Guenette stressed that the goal of the redevelopment is to accommodate hourly sailings in the future – probably well beyond the construction period, expected to begin in 2019. 

However, he said the rezoning, if approved by the Sunshine Coast Regional District (SCRD), would allow subsequent changes to the plan. 

“When we get the new zoning we can change the [traffic] flow,” he said, “but we can’t see any logic in putting it that way.” 

Still, there’s a message here to be learned about rezoning applications in the SCRD – or in any regional district, for that matter. A proposed development plan may seem fine, but once a property is rezoned, the developer doesn’t have to stick to the plan. It just has to keep to the zoning rules and obtain the proper permits. 

I learned this the hard way a few years back, when a proposed small parking space near my property in Langdale led to a zoning change, which led to a hillside being replaced by a road – with a wall blocking my driveway. It took two stressful years to get a partial remedy from the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure. 

Mark Hiltz, secretary of the West Howe Sound Community Association (WHSCA), had a beef with that ministry last year about a trench along Stewart Road. It was hard to get information from officials, he said. 

Hiltz, WHSCA president Maura Levarty, and I recently met with Nicholas Simons, our Powell River-Sunshine Coast MLA, at his office across from the beach at Davis Bay. Hiltz asked him what Coasters should do when they have such problems. 

“Come to me right away, when you’re hitting a brick wall,” Simons said. He explained the brick wall as an impasse that occurs after a person has taken the proper steps to solve a problem with any level of government. 

“When you can’t rectify a situation or get information about something through the regular, proper channels, write a letter,” he suggested. “Put a CC at the bottom of your letter to me, to Nicholas Simons. 

“Two weeks later, if I get a phone call from you saying ‘I haven’t heard anything,’ I can take that letter, put a covering letter on it and say, ‘This is a letter I received.’ It’s subtle, but it will get attention,” he said. 

If you’d rather see Simons than write to him, you can hear him speak at the WHSCA’s next general meeting, on Feb. 7. 

Until then the association will be busy conducting a survey of Area F residents called “Let’s Talk about Composting!” You can find a link to it at westhowesound.ca. Also, at a directors meeting Oct. 30, the WHSCA decided to revamp its website and create a Facebook presence early next year. 

WHSCA directors also talked about erecting a “Welcome to West Howe Sound” sign by the road exiting the ferry. They envision an artful sign with an image that shows the beauty of the area. 

That would be a charming addition to the ferry’s redevelopment plans. And hey, in the last column I suggested that in exchange for noisy construction, the ferries should build a community centre for West Howe Sound. Considering their gentle-on-road-construction plan, maybe they could just supply the sign. 

If you have any thoughts or news you’d like to see in this column, please contact me at Elizabeth@rains.ca