A somewhat controversial plan to pave Mason, Heritage and Sandpiper roads at a cost of $625,000 has stalled this week, as the District of Sechelt has learned not every portion of roadway is owned by the municipality.
"Essentially yes, there are some regulatory issues that we have to resolve and these involve some parts of the road that are apparently on Crown land rather than District land and some of them are these roads that fall under Section 46," said Sechelt Mayor John Henderson explaining the Section 46 portions of roadway are privately owned, but are used by the District. "So the idea, of course, and the part I really want to emphasize, is the reason we want to do this is in large part to encourage both safety and better public transit."
He expected paving the roadways that provide a link between West Sechelt and West Porpoise Bay would make the route a natural for the transit system to use; however, he admitted those conversations with transit have not taken place.
The paving plan was first proposed by Coun. Doug Hockley and it gained support of the majority of council, however councillors Mike Shanks and Alice Lutes took exception to the idea.
During the April 25 committee of the whole meeting Shanks said the idea came "at the 11th hour" and that the large expenditure would take away needed funds from the Davis Bay Wharf upgrades and airport expansion.
Lutes echoed those sentiments adding that she wanted to see more public consultation on the plan.
"I don't know if the public wants the changes to that road. We haven't had that conversation and that's an awful lot of money without knowing from the public that it's something that they're even concerned about," she said.
Henderson said this week that he had some complaints from the public about the plan, but that the majority of comments have been positive.
"We have had several, not lots, but I've seen five or six emails or letters where I have to say the majority are in favour," he said. "We've had people, one I recall talking about the dust and that paving it will make it more enjoyable for him to live there, but clearly there are some people who appear to not be fully in favour."
One concern Henderson said he's heard is the fear the newly paved roadways may be used for racing.
"We're looking at different traffic calming methods to make sure that it doesn't become a two-kilometre racetrack," he said.
He said council hopes to move forward with the paving project this year, despite the issues with road ownership.
"We're proceeding with the regulatory stuff we have to do. We're mindful that there are both supporters and there are some who have concerns, and we're going to do our best to address those concerns as we become aware of them," Henderson said.
He noted the District of Sechelt has already received a "very cost competitive quote" from a local company to do the work.
"It's in our budget to be done this year. We would like to do it this year," Henderson said. "For a bunch of reasons council thinks it makes sense to get this done."
