The following was sent to the District of Sechelt and copied to Coast Reporter
Dear Mayor Inkster and councillors:
You're going to do what to the waterfront at Davis Bay?
I feel assaulted. Sechelt's waterfront is mostly lost to condos and other private development; Gibsons' ditto, sooner or later. Now the main place on the Lower Coast where Joe and Jane Public can enjoy a view and sea-level beachfront, by car or on foot, will be greatly compromised, to widen the highway so we can speed through - in an area where I understand speed is already a problem?
Where is the vision for these communities that were built on the water?
Have you never been to White Rock, whose pier and long beach-side promenade draw thousands, who also flock to local restaurants and other small businesses? Or the spacious park and walkway in Crescent Beach, city-length lakeside park in Nelson and expansive riverside parks in Castlegar and Enderby? I'm sure there are other towns also that have honoured their waterfront locations, creating public spaces that invite locals and visitors alike to enjoy their natural beauty. And their heritage: all the above-named include a museum or other historic feature in or near the park.
Yes a bypass is needed. In the meantime, may I suggest installing a few pullouts along the existing highway, to enable frustrated drivers to pass slower ones safely and legally? And significantly improving public transit so people will use it willingly, thus reducing the number of cars on the road? If there's money to spend on widening the highway in Davis Bay (undoing part of the recent refurbishing that cost a considerable sum), please spend it in ways that will have more lasting and widespread benefit, and leave the precious Davis Bay beachfront as it is.
Sheila Weaver
Gibsons
