Editor:
Re: “Driftwood hut deemed high risk,” March 9.
By all means! Let’s remove anything and everything that speaks of small-seaside-town character. It seems that Sechelt is destined to become an extension of Vancouver with its uptight rules and liability paranoia.
Locals like the driftwood hut, and it’s sort of a tourist attraction – at least my visitors are charmed by it. It’s been there for as long as I can remember and it’s never collapsed on anyone. But better spend our tax dollars calling in a high-priced consultant, maybe a structural engineer. I think chinking the driftwood with concrete would ensure “structural integrity” and would make the hut more modern looking, as befits a growing (by leaps and bounds) “city.”
I personally have never seen a cyclist on the seawall. Given the narrow width of the walkway – which is separated from the roadway by chain – and the fact that the walkway is always busy with walkers of all ages, dogs on leashes, babies in strollers, it should be obvious to any intelligent cyclist that it is pedestrian only. But “appropriate signage and surface markings” might be a good idea. Not everyone is intelligent.
I’ve never heard of anyone “falling off the edge of the walkway.” Yes, it is too narrow, but the only way to address that problem is to widen it by removing all the parking spaces beside it. Hey, there’s a practical idea! And as for cluttering up the view with railings – sure, why not, safety first. Half the railings will be taken out by winter storms, but that’ll keep the work crews busy.
The simplest, cheapest solution to avoid lawsuits would be to post signs along the seawall and by the driftwood hut, saying “Use At Your Own Risk.”
Cecilia Ohm-Eriksen, Sechelt
