Email from View Royal Climate Coalition regarding Revise Active Transportation Plan
Correspondence from the View Royal Climate Coalition expressing support for a review of the Active Transportation Plan to better prioritize pedestrians and transit users.
Elena Bolster
Subject: FW: Feb 20 Council meeting, support for item 13 a Revise Active Transportation Plan and town’s road designs
From: mrs linda jeaurond
Sent: Monday, February 19, 2024 10:06 PM
To: Info Address info@viewroyal.ca; Mayor And Council Email mayorandcouncil@viewroyal.ca; Gery Lemon GLemon@viewroyal.ca; Alison MacKenzie ; Damian Kowalewich DKowalewich@viewroyal.ca; Ron Mattson RMattson@viewroyal.ca;
Subject: Feb 20 Council meeting, support for item 13 a Revise Active Transportation Plan and town’s road designs
Dear Mayor and Council,
View Royal Climate Coalition has long lobbied council for local active transportation improvements. We expressed concerns before the ATNP was received by council because we felt the process (two in-person bike workshops, none for pedestrians, or transit users) had not been inclusive enough.
Council voted to “receive” the ATNP in order to secure a provincial funding grant, but not to “adopt” it. However the plan is shared with other municipalities and the CRD, and could impact decisions beyond our borders.
So as it stands it represents council’s vision.
But this plan that would turn the sidewalk on the overpass into a multi-use trail was designed before the province drastically up zoned View Royal; previous council could not have planned for the dense car-less population north of the highway announced Dec 2023.
Pedestrians of all abilities, seeking green space and beaches, or simply trying to catch a bus, are unlikely to want to share their path over a busy highway with commuting cyclists, e scooters and ebikes. This while the CRD is moving to separate pedestrians on multi-use trails.
It’s particularly disheartening for the visually impaired to lose sidewalks and yet that’s what the View Royal ATNP envisions for our future. A very dense future that will require huge expenditures on neighbourhood sidewalks if we are to keep people safe and meet crucial active transportation goals.
Therefore VRCC supports agenda item 13a- Revise Active Transportation Plan and town’s road designs, and thanks councillor Rogers for believing that pedestrians and transit users should also be prioritized when planning of such magnitude is undertaken.
As council makes plans for the next five years in the midst of massive growth and massive cost downloading, we hope you feel it makes sense to set aside high level- high cost plans that do not serve the widest range of physical abilities, or have regional consistency.
Kind regards,
View Royal Climate Coalition core team, Linda Jeaurond, Ian Brown, Jane Devonshire, Roz Isaac