Questions for council

Dear Editor: My questions could not be asked on January 19 at Centre Stage regarding the proposed bylaw changes for Banks Crescent and Official Community Plan Amendment, as the question period was stopped.

I would like my questions to be part of the official record from that night and await responses to my questions from Summerland’s mayor and council.

My question relates to road designation as defined in the “Transportation Master Plan (2007) District of Summerland”. If you refer to the Rural Collector Cross Section, Figure 9, you will note a discrepancy in road width. One shows a width of 13.6 metres, and one shows 12.4 meters. I went with 12.4 meters.

Solly Road is a “Rural Local Road” Figure 12, with no heavy trucks permitted. Solly Road just meets the travel portion standard of 7.5 meters, the standard is 7.4 meters.

A “Collector Road” requires a travel portion of 8.4 meters, with paved shoulders of another 1.5 meters on both sides, with gravel shoulders of 0.5 meters on both sides, thus making an overall width of 12.4 meters, without sidewalks, which requires another 2.0 meters.

Where is the District going to get the dollars and width in meters to make it a Collector Road for Truck, Vehicle and Pedestrian Traffic to service this proposed development?

Latimer Ave. is even narrower at 6.5 meters, not meeting the Rural Local Road requirement by 0.9 of a meter. Traffic flow of more than 1,000 vehicles per day will require it be designated a Collector Road as well, in that case you will require 12.4 meters of width to make it a Collector Road.

Stakes and flagging tape have been implemented on Solly and Latimer to give the residents, council and staff, a visual of the extent of this change to the overall road extensions, with the 2.0 meters for sidewalks, it is a minimum of 14.4 meters, 2.0 meters beyond the stakes.

If this new zoning by-law is brought into effect and you amend the present OCP, who will pick up these costs, the tax payer? Or will Council just ignore the OCP and the safety of the residents? Orv Robson Summeland