Friday August 18, 2023 | METCHOSIN, BC [Updated August 19, 2023]
by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends
After 18 years of stirring the pot to get a crosswalk on Rocky Point Road in rural Metchosin, the dream has finally been realized.
Current Metchosin Mayor Marie-Térèse (elected in October 2022) garnered the needed political will to make it happen. “I’m so pleased that it’s finally happening,” said Mayor Little in her opening remarks on this hot Friday afternoon. She stressed that safety is a top priority for the District of Metchosin.
Today local westshore MLA Mitzi Dean (Esquimalt-Metchosin) commended the collaborative work of the municipality, the provincial government and the school district. She pointed to the value of multiple levels of government and agencies working together. She said the local school community had been “waiting for a long time”.
New MLA for Langford-Juan de Fuca, Ravi Parmar, suggested to the crowd that the new crosswalk “is the most important crosswalk in the entire region” — tipping his hat to the obvious need for a crosswalk at that spot on a busy road but also to the collaborative politics and political will that enabled the project to move forward.
Over all the years, parents who drive their children to Hans Helgesen Elementary School have had to park across the street from the school, and then cross busy Rocky Point Road. The school parking lot is mostly taken up by staff parking and use of a bus drop-off area.
Naturally, on site at today’s announcement the folks who gathered (about 40 people!) heard from parents and even a grandparent who had taken the road-crossing risk without a crosswalk over the years.
A woman who’s been on the school Parent Advisory Committee (PAC) for seven years said it has been on the PAC agenda for that whole time: “It’s not just about complaining on Facebook. Parents have learned how to engage in the civic process,” said PAC rep Morgan Bligh.
District of Metchosin facilities workers — three of them on site today — were thanked for their important work in making the roadworks upgrade happen.
Serving 205 students:
Hans Helgeson Elementary School at 4983 Rocky Point Road in Metchosin is within Sooke School District 62 (SD62). Students are in Grades K to 5, with a student population of 205 (2022-2023).
SD62 provides public education to a wide geographical footprint of the west shore including Langford, Colwood, Highlands, Metchosin, East Sooke, Sooke, and west of Sooke (Juan de Fuca areas) up to Port Renfrew.
Hans Helgesen is the one school in Metchosin, with all the other SD62 schools being located in Langford, Colwood and Sooke (plus one in Port Renfrew).
Vision Zero grant:
Earlier this year the municipality received $14,350 through a Vision Zero grant as organized through Island Health, for the construction of the Rocky Road sidewalk.
Across BC 59 communities received Vision Zero funding (totaling to $1,030,506).
[See: Vision Zero in Road Safety Grant Program]
Rocky Point Road:
Rocky Point Road is a busy rural road for the farming, fishing and resort community that stretches from Happy Valley Road near Metchosin town centre over to the ocean by way of East Sooke Road in the Beecher Bay First Nation area (Rocky Point Road curves around Pedder Bay, serving the fishing tourism area there).
Pearson College UWC (a private school) is also in the area, generating traffic for faculty, students and visitors.
To alert commuters on that road, part of the roadwork installation is ‘crosswalk ahead’ pavement markings, school zone markings, and a roadside waiting area for pedestrians waiting to cross.
For this year anyhow, there is no button at the crosswalk for students and families to activate flashing lights. Metchosin Councillor Shari Epp said that might come at a later date.
Beecher Bay Chief Russ Chipps — who has also been a trustee on the SD62 Board of Education since the October 2022 election cycle — said today that the crosswalk will “help slow the traffic down”. But it may take some time for locals and visitors to fully pay attention to the new crosswalk; despite the crosswalk-ahead and school zone markings, there is a relatively short range of roadway visibility from either side of the crosswalk, especially in the seasons where forest foliage is in full growth.
A sensible installation:
A document submitted to the District of Metchosin from Urban Systems in November 25, 2022 stated a “key recommendation was to add a crosswalk if it is warranted at this location”. A crossing warrant is intended to provide a rational, defensible basis on which decisions regarding the installation of pedestrian crossing control are made.
There had been one traffic incident on Rocky Point Road out in front of the door — a parent who had parked her vehicle on the side of the road had opened the driver’s side door and an oncoming vehicle impacted her. That was at least a few years ago.
School crossing guards:
The estimate for crossing guards in SD62 2022-23 school year was $160,000. That’s paid for by SD62 as well as each of the municipalities.
In 2022-2023, crossing guards were active at 14 schools (13 elementary and one middle) in Langford, Colwood and Sooke. The new crossing guard(s) at Hans Helgesen will be the first at the Metchosin school.
Metchosin Councillor Epp said that a current educational assistant (EA) at Hans Helgesen will be further trained to be a crossing guard for the school arrival and dismissal times.
Who was there:
Attending today’s outdoor sunny-Friday event to officially announce the new crosswalk were Mayor Little, MLA Dean, and Langford-Juan de Fuca MLA Ravi Parmar. Three of Metchosin’s municipal councillors attended: Sharie Epp, Shelly Donaldson, and Steve Gray. SD62 trustees on hand today were Cendra Beaton and Russ Chipps. Two West Shore RCMP officers attended. Attending from Island Health was Neil Arason. SD62 Secretary-Treasurer Harold Cull attended.
Parents, kids and extended family members were in attendance.
Staff from the District of Metchosin and Mitzi Dean’s office attended.
Media in attendance today: Island Social Trends Editor Mary P Brooke and Times Colonist photographer Adrian Lam.
ICBC not involved:
Editor’s note: As there has been only one incident (considered minor) and no fatalities at that stretch of Rocky Point Road over the years, there was no involvement or contribution from ICBC to the funding for the crosswalk. Metchosin being proactive to try to provide safety to prevent any such serious occurrence is a big part of today’s crosswalk news.
===== RELATED:
- Metchosin gets provincial funding for school crosswalk (June 19, 2023)
- Recent SD62 angst about student road safety begs review (April 29, 2023)
- Crosswalk safety near SD62 schools (March 8, 2023)
- SD62 promotes walk-to-school (August 31, 2022)
===== ABOUT THE WRITER:
Mary P Brooke has been covering news of Sooke School District 62 (SD62) in detail since 2014. She ran as a school trustee candidate in the SD62 Belmont Zone in 2022. She is the proud mother to her four now adult children who attended schools in SD61 and SD62 (where she served as on elementary school PACs in 2004-2008).
Ms Brooke was nominated this year for the Jack Webster Foundation’s Shelly Fralic Award to recognize a professional woman journalist who contributes to her community through active journalism.
Mary P Brooke is the founder, editor and publisher or Island Social Trends which is a daily news portal at IslandSocialTrends.ca. The publication launched in mid-2020, as the next rendition in a series of news publications about the growing communities of the west shore region of south Vancouver Island: MapleLine Magazine (2008-2010), Sooke Voice News (2011-2013), and West Shore Voice News (2014-2020).