He endorses a bypass outside Sechelt and is open to considering one for Gibsons, but when it comes to a new highway through Roberts Creek, Area D director Andreas Tize does not approve.
“Do we need an alternative to cross Chapman Creek and bypass Davis Bay? Absolutely. Do we need to bypass Gibsons? Maybe. Do wee need a four-lane highway through Roberts Creek? I don’t see the need for that right now or in the medium term,” Tize said at a May 16 Sunshine Coast Regional District (SCRD) committee meeting.
“Without extensive community consultation, I can’t endorse this request and will be voting against it.”
Those remarks came in response to a letter to the SCRD from advocacy group SC101 asking for the board’s “full support” in their efforts to convince the provincial government to construct a “new, state of the art, spectacular scenic highway from Langdale to Sechelt.”
The local group collected 6,400 signatures for a petition asking for a new highway that was presented at the B.C. Legislature by MLA Nicholas Simons and delivered to Transportation Minister Claire Trevena in March. Trevena recently responded to the group, “The review of traffic volumes did not support the significant cost to build this highway.”
As for his rationale, Tize said: “Roberts Creekers value their unimpeded access to the nature uphill and a highway along the power line will create a much different feel in our community.”
He acknowledged that a highway “would be a good fire break” and that it would create an incentive to focus density below the highway, but ultimately, he said, SC101’s proposal “is not what our current OCP envisions.”
