Responding to fierce opposition to a Davis Bay highway-widening plan, the District of Sechelt has confirmed that the plan will be reconsidered Sept. 1, at the first council meeting following the August council break.
The plan would widen Highway 101 to add a stoplight and a southbound left-hand turn bay at the Davis Bay Road intersection, by eliminating 15 oceanside parking stalls plus five memorial benches and landscaping which buffer seawall users from highway traffic.
Mayor Darren Inkster has notified staff and council that "based on the uneasiness amongst council members and the volume of email received from the public," he's exercising his mayoral authority under the Community Charter to require council to reconsider the highway improvement plan at that first meeting.
The week-long Davis Bay petition, meanwhile, wrapped up Sunday afternoon, Aug. 15, with a total tally of more than 3,000 signatories.
The petition asks the District of Sechelt and the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure (MOTI) to stop its current highway alteration plans and hold a meeting to hear the views of "a broad range of Suncoast residents, particularly regular seawall users, regarding the efficacy of present plans for this intersection and this intersection only."
And Doug Reid, a member of the seawall walking club whose members have spearheaded the petition, said the petition's signatories not only penned their names but stopped to voice their anger with the highway-widening plan.
"The animosity, the anger that was expressed by the people!" Reid commented. "Their oral comments when they were signing [included]: 'It's stupid. It's asinine. What's wrong with these people? Have they got rocks in their head?'"
Reid said signatories also suggested the $2.5 million allocated for the Highway 101 improvements be used for widening the shoulders on Selma Park hill "because that's a more dangerous spot than the Davis Bay [Road] intersection," or even used to widen the seawall further.
Lockie Brock, who also helped man the petition table, said petitioners want to be part of the decision-making process for the Davis Bay stretch.
"Overwhelmingly, I think the people think Davis Bay belongs to them and [the Ministry] shouldn't be the one designing the waterfront of Davis Bay," he said.
The Sunshine Coast Tourism Association (SCTA) has also written to the Ministry to voice concern about how the highway changes would impact regional tourism.
Judy Spears, SCTA president, said the current plan would harm tourists' enjoyment of a key destination that includes "the sandbar beach, which is great for families," and "the sunsets that are filmed relentlessly," as well as the much-loved seawall.
Jeff Knight, a spokesperson from MOTI, was unable to confirm if the Ministry sees any latitude to shift the plan at this point - for example, by using all the money for improvements in the Selma Park area, which are targeted as a secondary part of the plan, using any funds left over after the Davis Bay improvements. But Knight noted that the federal half of the project funds will be revoked if not used by early next year.
"At this stage it would be extremely difficult to design and deliver a totally different project with that March 31, 2011 deadline," he said.
Knight also emphasized the safety concerns at the Davis Bay intersection.
"Somebody was killed there before and it does have a higher than average crash rate so it is an important safety project," he said.
Asked if the Ministry was concerned about the 3,000-strong petition opposing the current plan, Knight said the Ministry has not been contacted by the District of Sechelt about any change to the project.
"If the District has some concerns, we would expect they would be raising them with the Ministry," he said.
