Sechelt council scrapped the one-way Cowrie Street plan at their May 22 committee of the whole meeting after hearing the businesses they were trying to help clearly didn't want it.
A staff report to that effect showed the majority of downtown merchants don't support a one-way option for Cowrie Street, despite the plan's promise of more parking stalls.
Seventy-seven percent of those polled by the Sechelt and District Chamber of Commerce were against the idea and 38 of the 55 stores located on Cowrie Street were also against the plan, the staff report stated.
The report also noted that every group asked for comment on the Cowrie one-way plan including Sunshine Coast RCMP, the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure (MOTI), Sunshine Coast Transit and Sechelt's accessibility committee were against the idea, citing safety concerns.
"The community has spoken. We're clear that in this case I attribute that to be the business community because those were the people we were attempting to support and if they don't feel they need it then we move along," said Mayor John Henderson.
Coun. Doug Hockley was less happy to leave the idea, which he first brought forward, behind.
"The good news is that through my proposal we've solved some problems and saved some money. We of course won't need to spend any money on painting lines for 86 new parking places and moving bus shelters," Hockley said. "We've discovered that the Cowrie merchants are happy with the business they get regardless of the passing traffic on Highway 101. We'll never have to consider the closing off of Cowrie or even a small portion of it for a pedestrian mall as BC Transit and MOTI and the SCRD wouldn't like it and most of all, we can forget about the long standing complaints about the lack of parking on Cowrie as it apparently isn't a problem.
"What I'm taking out of this whole exercise is apparently I need to ignore the complaints of those that find parking on Cowrie difficult and who state repeatedly to me, 'how can I shop local if I can't find any parking?'"
Coun. Darnelda Siegers said she would support scrapping the one-way plan with the proviso that the conversation around changing Cowrie doesn't die.
"There are a number of people, of businesses and others who indicated that closing Cowrie to be a pedestrian mall is another option that they'd like us to look at," she said.
Coun. Alice Lutes suggested setting up a shuttle service to help shoppers get to and from downtown merchants' stores more easily.
"I think we need to have some more discussions and more planning around it," she said.
"So though this idea didn't fly I think there probably could be some other changes made."
One change Coun. Mike Shanks suggested was to ticket those who are currently parking over the two-hour posted time limit in downtown Sechelt, noting the issue "needs addressing."
When the vote was called all were in favour of not proceeding with the one-way Cowrie Street option, however a change of some sort appears to be on the horizon.
"I'm sure it will come back and I'd encourage everybody to keep thinking and come up with even better ideas," Henderson said.
