Tuesday, July 9, 2019
by Mary P Brooke ~ West Shore Voice News
Last night at Colwood Council, Mayor Rob Martin achieved unanimous support from his council for supporting in principle the location of a passenger ferry terminal on the Royal Bay waterfront.
The approved motion at the July 8 meeting declares that support being subject to further studies regarding potential impacts to the shoreline and the capacity of the local transportation infrastructure.
Mayor Martin was straightforward about the long haul of this endeavour, first in awaiting the BC Government’s South Island Regional Transportation Strategy (now expected in Winter 2020), and working through design studies and all the practical matters of dealing with zoning and construction and local impacts of traffic flow should this all come to pass. The process could take as many as five years, or longer.
There was concern that a go-ahead for the west shore passenger ferry would produce a large parking lot at the waterfront, which is land that has taxable value for commercial and residential real estate. There was mention of having a parking lot farther away, with a shuttle service taking foot passengers to the ferry terminal.
Councillor Michael Baxter said he could see interest in use of the west shore ferry by those who are already willing to use public transit and cycling, but that getting a lot more people out of cars to reduce commuter traffic was probably not likely. As such, a west shore passenger ferry should be seen as part of a larger transportation network.
Councillor Cynthia Day noted the necessary impact on road infrastructure planning if the west shore ferry goes ahead.
Councillor Stewart Parkinson said that zoning for various properties should not wait for a final decision on the proposed west shore passenger ferry.
Mayor Martin said that the City of Victoria council will be looking at a similar motion of support for looking at the feasibility of a west shore passenger ferry. He said that this sort of municipal support is important as the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure continues with development of their regional transportation strategy for the south island area.
As this was the last Colwood Council meeting ahead of a summer break (council returning for their next meeting at the end of August), Mayor and Council sported their Hawaiian shirts for the evening, July 8.